People really did cuss in the olden days

Started by bandit957, December 28, 2018, 12:40:58 AM

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hotdogPi

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Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PMAs an example, I was in a local supermarket recently and passed by the customer service counter. A man was berating the girl behind the counter using extremely foul language, including the F-bomb. (I don't know why he wasn't already tossed by security for abusing an employee, but that's another question.) After just thirty seconds, I couldn't stand any more of it and told the man to stop using such foul language in front of the children who were present. He started unloading on me, of course. "Who the F do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't say, wherever the F I F-ing well please?" I turned to the employees in customer service and said, "Are you going to allow that to continue?" They just sorta impotently raised their hands as if to say, "We're not getting involved." When those being abused think they can't or shouldn't do something, whatever I try to do will have zero effect, so I just walked away.
Unfortunately store customers have been berating store employees at Christmastime since time immemorial.  The recent phenomena of taking power away from front-line employees and taking "the customer is always right" to extremes by rewarding customers who make a stink, even when they're wrong, doesn't help.

I work at Stop & Shop. One cashier swears at the cash register*, although she tries (not always successfully) not to when there's a customer there.

Then there are the parents at their cars saying to "get the #*@% in your seat" to their children while I'm waiting for them to empty their shopping cart so that I can take it back in.

(Bonus points if you can figure out why I used those symbols specifically.)

*Not in that way, unless the cash register is malfunctioning like it does occasionally.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.


abefroman329


bandit957

I remember once about 15 or 20 years ago I was at the grocery store up the street and there was a woman cussing in front of her daughter who was only about 2 or 3. The woman was mad because someone allegedly stole money from her, and she declared, "I'm gonna f--- her up bad!" Then the little girl in the stroller said, "You're gonna f--- her up bad!"
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

hotdogPi

Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

abefroman329

Quote from: 1 on December 29, 2018, 05:30:41 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:28:26 PM
3827?

Are you using a different keyboard? The last digit is a 5 on mine.
No, you're right, 3825.

Still don't get it.

bandit957

Also, just a few months ago, I was at Kroger, and there was some kid who was about 10 throwing a huge temper tantrum. He used every word in the book, and he went on like this for at least a half-hour. I think he was mad because he got a really bad toy from one of those gumball-type machines that dispenses a random toy.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

abefroman329

Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 05:33:31 PMI think he was mad because he got a really bad toy from one of those gumball-type machines that dispenses a random toy.
Man, that's just the worst.  Also terrible: When you try to get one of those NFL stickers, but it's for a team you hate.

Beltway

Quote from: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 05:33:59 PM
Something funny happened once when I was in 1st grade, but the word in this case was "farted", which is pretty mild. Some kid in my class passed gas, and I yelled out that he "farted." Then the teacher corrected me and said the proper term is "flatuated."

From a 1960s joke book:

Drunk comes into a bar and sits down next to a couple.  After about a minute, he lets out a rude odiferous zephyr.

The man looks at the drunk and says, "How dare you flatulate before my wife!"

Drunk turns and says, "Hey, if I had known it was her turn, I would have have let her go first!"
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kphoger

Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PM
People have always cursed or otherwise used vulgar or coarse language, of course, but the difference was that they did so mostly in private, not very much in public, and almost never in mixed company or in front of children. When coarse language was heard in public, it was mild compared to today. People simply did not casually and unashamedly toss around F- and S-bombs in their ordinary speech like they do today. Could you find pockets of it? Sure (I was in the military; I could provide many examples), but that would virtually universally be in specialized populations or circumstances, not general society.

This is part of a larger phenomenon that some sociologists have called "the death of ought." IOW, a growing percentage of people do not do things or avoid things because they think they "ought to" or "ought not to" but only because they "want to" or "don't want to." They have no sense of ought, only of want. They see themselves as having zero responsibilities toward their neighbors or toward the community as a whole.

As an example, I was in a local supermarket recently and passed by the customer service counter. A man was berating the girl behind the counter using extremely foul language, including the F-bomb. (I don't know why he wasn't already tossed by security for abusing an employee, but that's another question.) After just thirty seconds, I couldn't stand any more of it and told the man to stop using such foul language in front of the children who were present. He started unloading on me, of course. "Who the F do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't say, wherever the F I F-ing well please?" I turned to the employees in customer service and said, "Are you going to allow that to continue?" They just sorta impotently raised their hands as if to say, "We're not getting involved." When those being abused think they can't or shouldn't do something, whatever I try to do will have zero effect, so I just walked away.

Because of the death of ought, a growing percentage of people self-centeredly think they should be able to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, with no consequences to themselves, and no matter the consequences to other people. Many believe it's a growing problem, with long-term negative consequences for the cohesiveness of society.

A couple of years ago, my family and I were heading from our car into Wal-Mart.  There was a couple in their car, parked along the fire lane, and the lady was just cussing up a storm on her cell phone with the window rolled down.  I politely requested that she watch her language around my children.  She then proceeded to unload on me with just as foul of language, with my wife and children standing by to hear every word of it.  Eventually, after a couple of minutes of our back-and-forth, her husband got out of the driver's side, came around the car, and asked menacingly:  "Do you have a problem?" (he a big burly black man, and I a young skinny white guy).  I replied:  "Yes, would you please have your wife watch her language in front of my children?"  He mumbled something to me and got back in the car.  Neither one of them once apologized for their behavior.

Now, it's not that I can't tolerate profanity.  I work with cable guys for a living, after all, and some of them can rival sailors when it comes to language.  But there's a difference between shooting the breeze among friends and conducting yourself in a public space.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
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Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

NE2

I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.
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MNHighwayMan

Quote from: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 06:36:49 PM
But there's a difference between shooting the breeze among friends and conducting yourself in a public space.

I think it's really this difference that is deteriorating. My parents find a narrower band of language acceptable in public than I do, and I think it comes from the difference in what we perceive as acceptable audiences for our respective language.

kphoger

Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.

That was quite before my time.  My grandparents' era.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kevinb1994

Quote from: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 06:49:20 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.

That was quite before my time.  My grandparents' era.

Yes, that was way back in the day. Also my grandparents' era.

abefroman329

Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.
Probably the same number that lionize the Confederacy.

bandit957

Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.

Probably not many. This isn't Facebook.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

abefroman329

I can't say I've ever seen one of my Facebook friends use a racial slur, but if they did, they'd cease being my friend shortly afterwards.

ErmineNotyours

My mom was an emigrant from Georgia to Seattle, from not the richest family.  She remarried a more formal Boeing engineer and had two more children.  My mom let my half-brother watch R-rated VHS videos with language and violence--but not sex!  When my half-brother was three, there was a grocery strike, and my step dad had to shop in the more formal QFC, because they settled the strike early because, at their prices, they could afford to.  With my half-brother on my shoulders, he was shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs in the produce section, and my step-dad was trying to maintain his dignity without doing anything about it.  Baby's first words!

Later it was fun listening to him try to curse.  He would invent new combinations such as, "you box of shit!"  When we were watching Saturday Night Live time shifted on VHS, a Chris Rock character was hawking a cologne called "Bitch Come Runnin'".  So my half-brother repeated in a sing-song kid voice, "Bitch Come Runnin'".  It's funny when your younger brother learns to curse.  It's not so fun when it's your son.

bandit957

About 20 years ago, I used to invent funny sounding words that sounded like cuss words, in order to evade censorware at libraries.

I did not invent 'skeezewocker', though I did propagate it. I did however invent 'vivvlyvoovler' and 'noxawoxawoxawoxalism'.

Apparently, Mad magazine used to do the same thing.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

abefroman329

Quote from: ErmineNotyours on December 29, 2018, 07:44:30 PMIt's funny when your younger brother learns to curse.  It's not so fun when it's your son.
It was adorable when our niece had a potty mouth, ESPECIALLY since she has an English accent, but I'd be horrified if it was my son.

kphoger

Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 07:49:23 PM
About 20 years ago, I used to invent funny sounding words that sounded like cuss words, in order to evade censorware at libraries.

I did not invent 'skeezewocker', though I did propagate it. I did however invent 'vivvlyvoovler' and 'noxawoxawoxawoxalism'.

Apparently, Mad magazine used to do the same thing.

Am I the only one who thought of this? ...

Quote from: The Simpsons, Season 12, Episode 13
Kent, the young people today, they think comedy is dirty words. It's not. It's words that sound dirty, like "mukluk."
- [Both Laughing]
- [Krusty] Mukluk. You like that? No charge. Mukluk. [Laughs] Mukluk.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 07:49:23 PM
About 20 years ago, I used to invent funny sounding words that sounded like cuss words, in order to evade censorware at libraries.

I did not invent 'skeezewocker', though I did propagate it. I did however invent 'vivvlyvoovler' and 'noxawoxawoxawoxalism'.

Apparently, Mad magazine used to do the same thing.
These don't sound like curse words.
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bandit957

I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.

Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.

Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

triplemultiplex

Quote from: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 08:03:56 PM
In theaters, they were less followed - my mom bought tickets for the neighbor kid and me to see Demolition Man in the theater (I was 14, he was 12 or 13). Things got so tight post-Columbine that I couldn't buy a ticket for my brother and me to see BASEketball (I was 19 and he was 15). We both had to sneak in.

Baseketball came out in 1998, the year before Columbine.
But you're not wrong about movie theaters post-Columbine.  The South Park movie dropped a couple months afterward and the pearl-clutchers out there made it harder for youths to get in to see it. In fact, South Park ended up making a shit-ton of money for that crappy Will Smith movie "Wild Wild West" because teens would buy tickets to that PG13 shitpile and then sneak into South Park.

Which, if I may; what exactly was the logic there?  "Duh, I heard some swears so now I'm gonna shoot everyone..."?
Ironically the central plot in the South Park movie is an ad-absurdum about censorship going too far to the point of literally fighting a war because of a movie.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

qguy

Quote from: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:16:01 PM
Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PMThis is part of a larger phenomenon that some sociologists have called "the death of ought." IOW, a growing percentage of people do not do things or avoid things because they think they "ought to" or "ought not to" but only because they "want to" or "don't want to." They have no sense of ought, only of want. They see themselves as having zero responsibilities toward their neighbors or toward the community as a whole.
Yeah, who would've thought there'd be a downside to rugged individualism.

The death of ought is not a downside to rugged individualism, it's a downside to rugged individualism when it's decoupled from responsibility to the community. Big difference. Both operating together is a force of composition. Either without the other is a force of decomposition. The latter without the former tends toward tyranny. The former without the latter tends toward anarchy.



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