Is Profanity Becoming The Way of Life?

When we open up the newspaper today, a politician is quoting the phrase "sh*tty deal" from a Goldman Sachs memo recovered in the recent fraud investigation. Then another movie advertisement "Kick Ass" appears on the overleaf. You can easily get a T-shirt that prints "Starf*cks" (certain alphabets in this article have to be * for safety reasons). All these words were considered vulgar not too long ago.

It is also common to see rappers using profanity. The famous rapper Eminem has a song named "Still Don´t Give A F*ck". Kanye West also labeled his latest album "Good Ass Job". According to Elizabeth Monk-Turner, a Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University, studies reveal that the word "F*ck" was used by 124 rappers in their songs. Words such as "B*tch" and "Sh*t" were used by 109 and 124 rappers respectively. However, the professor did conclude that female rappers seem to use less profanity compared to male rappers. This observation is somewhat consistent with our society, where men are more likely to swear than the ladies are.

It is without a doubt that profanity is creeping into our daily lexicon. Language researchers are warning that we are heading down a disturbing path. Their worries are not unfounded. As language reflects our identity, so how we use English now will change who we are tomorrow.

Nevertheless, some experts argued that this so called "degradation" of the English language is in fact a natural evolution. They suggested that the use of the English language has always been changing and evolving. What we considered vulgar 20 years ago is now society norm. Phrases such as "suck" and "ass" are being used by the younger generation in daily conversation. This is because each generation would want to differentiate themselves from the previous generation, so they become more creative in their use of language. As a result, leading to mass adoption of different slang or so called dirty phrases. However, the way young people perceive the meaning of these phrases is not necessarily the same as the older generation. To them, words such as "suck" just means lousy. Movie title such as "Kick Ass" is just another trendy slang. The history and original meaning of a word does not limit how it is being used as time goes by.

So the big question is whether we should curb the use of profanity. In the West, we still enforce strict censorship rules on certain dirty words on mass media such as television broadcasts and newspapers. Most television live telecasts are in reality 2 minutes delayed telecasts so that anything inappropriate can be muted or deleted.

Yet, many have argued that media censorship on profanity is like ostriches burying their head in the ground. We just cannot avoid unpleasant situations by refusing to acknowledge that they exist. Movies and TV series will not stop using profanity because that language is relevant to their target audiences. When we leave out words where they are relevant, the message is no longer authentic. Linguist experts suggested that the use of colourful language is like a cycle and words carry different meanings in different eras. It is a fashion that will keep changing and we cannot stop it. But sooner or later, it will come to a full circle.

It just so happens that profanity is the style of our days. Prime Languages is happy to translate any document, nomatter what the language.

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