i’m in favour of vilifying a tiny set of words, not because i dislike them, but because in a way that vilification gives them power
if “fuck” is bascially a comma in someone’s vocabulary it’s not going to surprise anyone when they say it
but someone who’s quiet and never swears will immediately turn heads even if they mumble it under their nose, and that’s the sort of emotional response i want others to feel when they hear a swear word
by using “bad words” sparingly they gain the juicy weight, they gain an ability to convey heavy emotions without having to result to poetry
i tell stories and like having multiple tools in my arsenal to draw out the emotions i want. i don’t need to shock people with bad words to get the message i want across, in the same way i don’t need to add any spices to my food to make it edible. but in both cases i find that a little is much better than a lot
besides, the contents of what you say is often just as important as how you say it, which words you use and when affect the way your core message is understood. the easiest example is immigrant vs expat, same meaning, but one of those words, for some reason, makes a lot of people lose their minds
i’m in favour of vilifying a tiny set of words, not because i dislike them, but because in a way that vilification gives them power
if “fuck” is bascially a comma in someone’s vocabulary it’s not going to surprise anyone when they say it
but someone who’s quiet and never swears will immediately turn heads even if they mumble it under their nose, and that’s the sort of emotional response i want others to feel when they hear a swear word
by using “bad words” sparingly they gain the juicy weight, they gain an ability to convey heavy emotions without having to result to poetry
Your argument is that you want a quickly-depreciating gimmick just to turn heads the first few times?
Make the content of your speech what gives your speech power, irrespective of which words you use.
If your speech needs shock value to get people’s attention, people probably shouldn’t pay attention to it.
i tell stories and like having multiple tools in my arsenal to draw out the emotions i want. i don’t need to shock people with bad words to get the message i want across, in the same way i don’t need to add any spices to my food to make it edible. but in both cases i find that a little is much better than a lot
besides, the contents of what you say is often just as important as how you say it, which words you use and when affect the way your core message is understood. the easiest example is immigrant vs expat, same meaning, but one of those words, for some reason, makes a lot of people lose their minds