POLITENESS WILL ALWAYS BE A VIRTUE

Assalamu'alaikum,

PROFANE   ???

According to Universiti Malaya Department of English Language head and expert in sociolinguistics Professor Dr Faridah Noor Mohd Noor  "Foul language would have been around since humans could talk...........

These days, the commonly accepted expletives  don't just derive from blasphemy, but sexual acts, body parts, excretions, animals, and possibly even more depending on one's creativity.

In terms of words we've commonly accepted as expletives, Dr Faridah believes it is society's perspectives on propriety that comes out tops.

"Religions will always teach us to be polite and not  to harm, even verbally. But in terms of what language is acceptable, ultimately, society will be the judge. Whether a word is considered profane differs from one place to another and one time to another, as it depends on the culture within which it is spoken. Even within that culture, a lot of it depends on the setting, your age group, your social status and even your gender.

This might be music to the ears of all "pro-cussers", but the time period determines the severity of a particular word.

"Language is always evolving. Words will fall in and out of popular use, so the severity of certain cuss words will also change in time. For example, the word "bloody" would make most people cringe uncomfortably when use in open conversation a few decades ago. But now it's used quite regularly.

The severity of profanity might change, but it will always be a word that's in a

taboo category. So, though a word might not be as severe as it was in a different time period, but it will continue to be impolite and inappropriate for general conversation. People who curse might think it's cool, but after a while they will realise that people judge others based on firstly APPEARANCE, and secondly LANGUAGE; and I'd say language gives a better reflection of a person.

Important values: Professor Dr Faridah Noor Mohd Noor believes that even though a word is only considered foul based on cultural setting in which it used, POLITENESS will always be a VIRTUE valued by society. 

....STARTWO Wednesday 11 March 2009

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