The Emotional Effects and Subsequent Usage of Taboo Words Part B

[thedarksiren2]

Below you will find Part B of a poll created in the name of linguistic research. It is purely scientific, and is not meant as a means by which to offend anyone nor to judge. No names will be used in the final results, although the results are viewabled by anyone on the internet.

Please answer each question to the best of your ability. Consider each word as encompassing any and all usages.

Also, please make sure you have answered Part A. Both parts are necessary for my research.

Thank you.

[Poll #738297]

Comments

[roses-rejoice.livejournal.com]

hello,
regarding "cock", to me it is a normal term for a penis. probably because a long-term relationship partner of mine (who had one) used it in that way and that was my first exposure to the word. so to me, "cock" is just a normal slang noun and i just feel normal about using it to refer to a penis.

also, i didn't answer the "gender" question because i basically reject the concept of gender whenever i'm not forced to answer it, and there wasn't any box for "rather not say", "none", "other", etc. Gender is a meaningless construct to me.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Thanks for taking the time to answer this. I really appreciate it.


I will keep your answers in mind as I list my results. I didn't even think about listing "other/ prefer not to say." My bad.

As for your emotions re: "cock," I would consider that as "nothing" because there is no strong emotional reaction to it, as opposed to the idea of most taboo words causing strong emotional reactions (according to the research I've done, anyway).

[roses-rejoice.livejournal.com]

ok - i didn't know if ordinary usage = nothing so you can just put that down wherever you think it fits best.

[akshuman.livejournal.com]

There are some words I just don't think about using; like cock or cunt. Most of the 'main stream' swear words I don't think twice about (although I should think more about fuck). While I acknowledge that swearing at all is pretty classless of me I tend to feel that the words I don't think about using are 'beneath me' (for lack of a better term). I don't say them for shock value, or titlation or empowerment; they just seem to be the appropriate words for certain circumstances.
I suspect that that is the exact reason that I should find other words.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

That was half the point of the study. I wanted to see how emotions correlated with usage. I found a lot of words, especially "fuck" "shit" and "asshole" had little to no major emotional impact and were used fairly regularly. It's like we've been desensitized.

I'll be listing the results sometime this weekend. I'm kinda done looking at everything concerning it for now...15 pages of writing/ charts, etc. yeah. my brain is FRIED over this!

Thanks so much for your input!!!

[parchmentheart.livejournal.com]

I might have to change my answer for "bitch", cause sometimes it's really really funny. But other times (usually used in RL personal/family situations) it makes me very uncomfortable. It depends if it's being used in a way that is meant to be mean. But in a joke, it's funny. I don't know how to score that one.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I just didn't have the time to put into looking at context, etc. I just wanted to see if there was a correlation between emotions and usage, the former of which I figured people would go with their initial response to the words. I should have perhaps clarified that. Then again, I wasn't super sure what I was doing in the first place. I've never done anything so formal as this, so it was quite a challenge to put together.

Thanks for all your input though! GREATLY appreciated!

[ciani.livejournal.com]

For the most part I just don't have much of an opinion about the words.. They're just words to me.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Just shows how desensitized you've become to them, that's all. ~8)

It was important to have that factor...thanks for helping!

[limbik.livejournal.com]

Haha yeah I think I was pretty useless to this :/ nothing bugs me anymore.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

As I told ciani, those who had little to no emotional reactions basically just showed that society has become very desensitized. It was interesting to see the correlation between your lack of emotional involvement and really high usage. Totally pertinent and useful to my study!

Thanks for taking the time to participate!

[und1sk0.livejournal.com]

for all instances of "other," the effect of the word depends greatly on the context under which it is said. for "cunt," the word usually is off-putting, however its meaning and effect can greatly vary due to context and gender make-up of of those within earshot.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Sorry it took me a bit to get back to you on this. I wanted to avoid impacting people's answers, so i didn't discuss it much as the poll was still being taken. Now that I've gathered the data/ written the paper, however...

I agree totally on the context issue. Unfortunately, with the time and format I was given by my professor, I simply couldn't put THAT much info into the paper/ study. I had to keep the paper to five pages, which I did in so far as the writing itself. The charts/ graphs I created as a result of the poll however, amounted to nine pages in and of themselves. In as much as I want a good grade in this class, I have other classes to attend to, ya know?~;)

Actually, and this is my own fault (I know better now...yay hind-sight), I had hoped people would not think too hard about what they wrote. It was more of an initial reaction I was looking for. For instance, your "cunt" reference. Most people take the word as highly offensive, but will blurt out "go to hell" without a second thought. When you look into the etymology of the former, it first showed up as merely a snippet of street name in London, "Gropecuntelane," where mostly prostitutes and other lowly creatures lived around 1230. I also found it is derived from the German word for female genitalia, kunton, which gave rise to Old Norse kunta (ancestor of Norwegian and Swedish dialectical kunta and Danish dialectical kunte), Old Frisian, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch kunte, and the English doublet quaint. It wasn't considered offensive until modern times.

However, if you take the very straight-forward meaning of "go to hell," it's really considerably more offensive within its own context. It is highly dismissed, however, and all of its more serious connotations have gotten lost in societal desensitization.

So now that I've blathered on and on about this, my point was basically that I appreciate the context component, but it just complicated the study too much for me to utilize it.

Thanks for helping me and for your input overall. ~8)

[dv8productions.livejournal.com]

in agreeance with roses_rejoice, I also did not answer the gender question.

I think it would be more interesting to perhaps look at people's reactions to these specific words versus their own self-percieved social class, income, and education levels, but of course I have no idea what your assignment encompasses. I'm just happy to help. :)

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Mostly it's just a comparison/ contrast on people's reactions and the subsequent usage of the terms, mostly based on gender differences. It's a linguistic study; your ideas are more sociological (although interesting nonetheless!). I initially thought about doing it in age groupings, but that got too complicated to work with here on LJ. The gender thing was the easiest. For you and roses_rejoice, as well as one other person, I'm just going to put "other/ prefer not to say" as your gender. I wouldn't care except that I have to present it in class and will have to explain to them some odd numbers if I don't include you all in something.

Thanks for your help! Always appreciated!

[dv8productions.livejournal.com]

Right, it's a discussion / debate better to be left out of linguistics class. Save it for psychology or anthropology... You're quite welcome, though. :)

[marzipan9.livejournal.com]

I really really really really do NOT like the c-word (and I'm not talkin' penis, here). It's a nasty nasty, derogatory word, and I always yell at people when I here them say it. It's not a nice word no matter how you use it.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

A lot of people agree with your view.

However, just for some fun-facts, read my response here (http://thedarksiren.livejournal.com/840142.html?thread=3895758#t3895758). It's just some info on the origin of the word.

Thanks for your input! I appreciated it!

Cunt..

[lwashu419.livejournal.com]

I don't like that word very much. I believe it's all the negativity surrounding the word. I am proud to be a woman and when someone says that word it's a insult a negative on a part that is special and should be treasured. I don't even like cock or retard being said. We should be proud of our bodies male and female alike. Though i have no problem with fuck, ass, asshole, bastard, or anything else.

Re: Cunt..

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your input/ insights!

[evilshell.livejournal.com]

For all of my "other" selections (except bitch and cunt, see below), they are just words which are part of my normal vocabularly - used for extra punctuation, perhaps. They don't fall into the "doesn't do anything for me" category though, there is emotion there, but not extremely strong emotions.

Bitch is a word I will say and use with pride - but I mean it to be as a strong, independent woman who asserts herself. Not as a degrading term as it is often used.

Cunt is the most in your face of all words on the list, the most offensive.

FWIW, from a European perspective, asshole is a really nasty word. Josef would freak for the first year I knew him every time I'd flippantly say "don't be an asshole" or "what an asshole" - asshole here seems to be a lot like cunt in the US.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your input!

I actually mentioned your "asshole" story today while we were doing our presentations. My teacher is from Turkey, and she said that saying "go to hell" in English over there is really looked down upon/ offensive. I thought your story and hers were both very fascinating. It's amazing how desensitized we all become to our own language.

[beautifulpyre.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure what to put for "retard" and "faggot" - to me, these seem way more offensive than "cunt." To me, none of these words are taboo per se, but I try to avoid these two words because they seem especially hateful. I do not feel uncomfortable or embarrassed when I hear them; what I do feel is kind of sad because of the way they've been used to pick on people who are "different."

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

I chose many of the terms based on other similar studies/ my textbook, and although society in general doesn't think of them as taboo anymore, many of the terms were considered so when they first emerged. I found it interesting how little effect some of them had while others were still considered very offensive/ derogatory.

I agree with your thoughts, though. The word "cunt" does little to bother me anymore, but I tend not to use it for decorum reasons. I never use "faggot" or "retard" however, for just the reasons you stated. In fact, it's very difficult for me not to wince when someone else does.

Thanks for your insights and for participating.

thoughts

[sweetdan.livejournal.com]

i think so much of these words depends on the context they are used in. for instance, if my roommate were to call me an asshole because i ate the last twizzler, it would be different than if he called me an asshole for not ever doing the dishes. therefore, the two instances of the word would evoke different feelings. in one instance, i would feel an overall sense of humor to the situation (the twizzler) whereas, i might feel both guilt and embarassment in the other (the dishes).

Re: thoughts

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Agreed overall.

I have written an explanation here (http://thedarksiren.livejournal.com/840142.html?thread=3895758#t3895758) should you want to know why I didn't address the context issue. It's nothing amazing, just my reasons.

Thanks for taking the time to participate/ offer ideas. I appreciated it tremendously!

[(Anonymous)]

The word "faggot" usually makes me angry when I hear it (I never use it).

I also think that "cunt" is one of the more vulgar words in the English language.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

thanks for your thoughts!

[jjjiii]

I feel funny saying "God damn it" as an atheist. It's kindof meaningless, but due to the social relevance of theistic religions it still has some power or meaning behind it. I find this amusing as well as something that makes me feel better when upset.

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

I had considered making it possible for people to check several options, but as I said above, the paper had a max of five pages, so I had to keep it relatively simple.

Thanks for your input, guppy! I hope you had a nice birfendayee. Did you see the pics I posted for you?

[jjjiii]

angelhipster showed them to me while we were in Toronto over the weekend:)

[orangeale.livejournal.com]

i feel like context is everything as many people have already noted. in certain contexts i would find the term cunt off-putting, although i've been around people who've disarmed (at least to me) words like that, for instance pepper went through a phase of saying "cuntstumper" a lot, and therefore the word also raises some amusement in me. and although words like fuck dont offend me, if people overuse them it gives me an impression of a lack of intelligence or creativity. although i think maybe your poll was on actually using the words rather than hearing them?

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

The basic ideology was to find a correlation between basic emotions, ie- initial emotional response (without context) and usage. I also looked into the differences in usage between the genders.

It's funny how much people correlate intelligence with language. Although cussing isn't as creative/ interesting, it's not much different than slang and word-substitutions otherwise.

Thanks for your help!

[tete6871.livejournal.com]

Ihave such a trucker mouth, only one of the words offends me!! I know the controversy "retarded" causes...I try my best not to say it around you and jay...I do not mean in it in a derogatory sense...the same as I love the word queer but would never use it to bash anyone...does that make sense? either way...good luck w/ your LAST DAYS!!!!!!!! & survey!

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

I have come to terms with the fact that most of the people I know use the word "retard" in many contexts and do not mean it in the same way as someone speaking it twenty years ago. I think that, much like most slang/ fashion terms, it's just become popular and an easy substitution for calling someone/thing/ oneself dumb or unreasonable. It still makes me cringe though.

Thanks for your input Tete!!!

re: words

[tulpa-team.livejournal.com]

Where's the 'aroused' option?

Re: words

[thedarksiren.livejournal.com]

Heh, forgot about that one!
LOL

Thanks!!!