* * * This message was from Joseph DeMartino to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
         * * * and has been forwarded to you by Lord Time * * *         
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{at}MSGID: 
{at}REPLY: 
Rob Perkins wrote:

> Ah, the irony is that that comes out of my being unable, due to my
> upbringing, to type that word.

It is probably too late to start now.  You'll never get quite get the
hang of using it.

Mark Twain's wife hated his habit of swearing.  One day, in an effort
to shock him and show him how ugly the words sounded, she rattled of a
long string of every profane, blasephemous and obscene word or phrase
she'd ever heard him use.  When she was trough, he smiled.

"Ah, my dear.  You have the words, but you do not have the *music*."

I have the same inhibition regarding the "n" word, which can also lead
to odd circumlocutions at times, as when studying Joseph Conrad or when
discussing rap lyrics.  (Brian Lamb of C-SPAN had a similar problem
when interviewing the autor of the book "N***er: The Strange Carreer of
a Troublesome Word".  He had once promised his mother he would never
utter the word, and he managed the keep that promise through a
sometimes awkward hour.)

I myself more-or-less conciously set about learning to swear after
dropping out of college and working various blue-collar jobs where you
stuck out like a sore thumb if you *didn't* curse every third word.
But when I worked in a more corporate setting, I basically stopped
doing so, even in the break room and in private conversation.  Once
upon a time I was working in a tech support phone bullpen. It was a bad
day - a flu bug was going around and we were very short-handed.  Each
caller seemed dumber than the last, and the calls were coming in almost
non-stop.  Finally I finished a call with total moron and, after
hitting the "end" button said, "And f**** you very much,
sir."   It was
like a moment from one of those old E. F. Hutton commercials.  All
conversation around me stopped and every head swivelled in my
direction.  Finally I asked, "What?"  And someone said, "We didn't
think you *knew* that word."  

 

Regards, 

Joe
         
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