Is it all in our heads?

[Dark Mind]

I think that if small children are never taught that "bad words" are "bad" then they will eventually lose their negative connotation and we won't have a need for blockers and bleeping on the internet and TV.

The child only thinks of the word as being bad because they are taught that it is and it then brings forth a sense of rebellion and andrenaline every time they use it, knowing they might get in trouble. I propose to stop teaching kids that the "F" word and others are "bad" and just let them think of the words as being exlamations, kind of like a reflex.

When you are hurt you say "Oww!", reflex. When you are hurt you say "FXXX!", reflex (for some). If you are a child and in the presence of adults instead of peers your natural reaction might conflict with what is expected of you, like a twelve year in the presence of friends/peers might say "FXXX! That hurt!" after falling off a bike but when in the presence of adults know that when they say that they will get in trouble for saying a bad word; so the child goes through those thought processes, realizes they were about to say something they shouldn't, stops themself and thinks that they are a bad or immoral person.

If the child is never taught that the word is bad it just becomes a reflex and *just another word* to say. It will not connotate any negative thoughts or feelings when the word is said and it will not make the child/person think they are "bad" for using a "bad word".

Sorry it's not very clear, just getting some ideas out there for debate and off of my chest, I"m tired of "bad words" being "bad"!!

Bottom line- They're just words and they are only bad if you perceive them to be so.

[bumab]

Originally Posted by Dark Mind

....if you are a child and in the presence of adults instead of peers your natural reaction might conflict with what is expected of you, like a twelve year in the presence of friends/peers might say "FXXX! That hurt!" after falling off a bike but when in the presence of adults know that when they say that they will get in trouble for saying a bad word; so the child goes through those thought processes, realizes they were about to say something they shouldn't, stops themself and thinks that they are a bad or immoral person.....

Bottom line- They're just words and they are only bad if you perceive them to be so.

I like your thinking, and agree. But maybe the reason words can be "bad" is not something intrinsic in the word. Maybe, you should consider them "bad" because they offend others in some way. What's bad is not the word itself, but the effect your saying that word has on others is.

To often we think about what's "right and wrong" as far as actions go and forgot why we even care about right and wrong in the first place.

[bumab]

Oh, and to get it back on track- sometimes a word is just a word.

[Biochemist]

Originally Posted by Dark Mind

Bottom line- They're just words and they are only bad if you perceive them to be so.

It is not the word that are the problem, it is the intent. It is one this to say "Oh S***". It is something else to say "take your F-ing hands off my car or I will knock the s*** out ot you". Unfortunately, the loss of decorum that is endemic in folks with crass language typically extends from the former to the latter.

It is easier and more effective with young people to establish an understandable rule until they are old enough to discriminate.

[UncleAl]

What is the purpose of language? To seduce, to complain, to deny. Your thesis is therefore without merit. Get thee to an academic library and look up Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression. Learn something about that upon which you pontificate.

http://www.sonic.net/maledicta/

[TINNY]

If kids are not taught that bad words are bad, they will discover for themselves.

Originally Posted by Dark Mind

When you are hurt you say "Oww!", reflex. When you are hurt you say "FXXX!", reflex (for some).

Any sort of grunt would be regarded as reflex. But saying "FXXX!" is not a reflex, but a learned behavior, which normally occurs through 'modelling'. World society has deviated so far from positive moral practises that they find it cool to be bad. So when young children see bad guys saying "FXXX!" and being seen as cool, they will follow suit.

[Dark Mind]

Originally Posted by bumab

I like your thinking, and agree. But maybe the reason words can be "bad" is not something intrinsic in the word. Maybe, you should consider them "bad" because they offend others in some way. What's bad is not the word itself, but the effect your saying that word has on others is...

I know, and I think that if just one generation of kids were not taught that some words are bad and the older generations just learned to accept it until they die, bad words may become extinct. Oh, happy day .

Originally Posted by bumab

To often we think about what's "right and wrong" as far as actions go and forgot why we even care about right and wrong in the first place.

I believe that is what has happened in our generation.

Who was around when the words actually *started* and *became* "bad? "Anyone know the first person to say the "F" word? And why was it considered bad? Were the people who used it "bad", and the word became associated with them, like today's gangs and their gang signs?

[orbsycli]

west coast, mang.

[Dark Mind]

Originally Posted by Biochemist

It is not the word that are the problem, it is the intent. It is one this to say "Oh S***". It is something else to say "take your F-ing hands off my car or I will knock the s*** out ot you". Unfortunately, the loss of decorum that is endemic in folks with crass language typically extends from the former to the latter.

But the word doesn't need to be perceived as bad, nor does the intent need to be bad. The person may just get really angry about a certain person touching their car and in their anger be at a lack of more... eloquent language to use, such as "May you please remove youre hands from my car?". It's all a mental thing, and I agree with the fact that the intent may be "bad" when yelling like that, it may also just be part of you, and your up-bringing or surroundings. You don't have to think of the words as "bad" when you use them, they can just be filler in your speech without someone ever knowing other people consider the word "bad" or "wrong".

Originally Posted by Biochemist

It is easier and more effective with young people to establish an understandable rule until they are old enough to discriminate

But if there is a rule, there is somewhere to err. If the rule is broken the child is filled with a sense of andrenaline(possibility of getting caught for doing something "wrong") or maybe failure(failed to meet expectations of others and feels like they disappointed others), either one can break self esteem or create a habit in which the child feels like they are rebelling and doing something "wrong", which makes it easier for them to do things that are *actually* damaging/hurtful to others because it creates a pattern, and patterns are easy for humans to follow.

[Dark Mind]

Originally Posted by UncleAl

What is the purpose of language? To seduce, to complain, to deny. Your thesis is therefore without merit...

As are most philosophical statements, and statements of human behavior. But research is possible, and has given merit to many such statements.

Originally Posted by UncleAl

Get thee to an academic library and look up Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression. Learn something about that upon which you pontificate.

That last sentence... Is it an oxy-moron? Never mind... True, it is a pontification (If you perceive my beliefs to be "unprovable"). It is also no more than an observation of daily human behavior and my beliefs on how to end at least a small part of daily stresses/nuisances/annoyances caused by nothing more than language.

Maledicta didn't really help too much.