Bad words (Re: Some finer points of grammar)

[Unknown User]

still lookin 4 the face i had b4 the world was made wrote:
> 
> _M&D_ spoilers, sorta...
> 
> On Thu, 8 May 1997, Jeremy Osner wrote:
> >
> > It's interesting that many curse words are bleeped out (for instance
> > d---l), but fuck is not. Any thoughts?
> 
> This would be the distinction between profanity (religious oaths--"hell,"
> "damn," "Christ," etc.) and obscenity (relating to bodily functions--"fuck,"
> shit," arse/ass," etc.).  I have been told that northern European cultures
> have tended to frown more on obscenity than profanity, while Mediterranean
> cultures are the other way around.  This suggests a southern relaxation
> about body functions but greater seriousness about religion, and a northern
> uptightness about sex, excretion, etc., but more tolerance of "blasphemous"
> language.
> 
> Can anyone else offer any insights?  By the logic of what I just posted,
> M and D, being Brits, should be more uptight about "fuck" than "Devil"
> or "damn."  Maybe "D----" and "d---'d" are just 18th-c. conventions in
> English printing/writing...
> 
> Max
> 
>  M a x i m u s  D a v i d  C l a r k e | What a wonderful butler.
>           http://www.afn.org/~traveler | He's so violent!
>                  "Surrealist-At-Large" | --The Doctor, in _Dr. Who_:
>                       traveler at afn.org | "City of Death"
m & d do seem to be uptight about blasphemous language, and if i
remember correctly, their dialogue is characterized by hyphen-censors.
this conversation has been enlightening, since i wondered the same thing
as i read, and though i really like the idea that cherrycoke
('real-time' storyteller) and m&d (somewhat reserved brits) speak in
censored blasphemies, i'm not quite sure the book is consistent in that
respect. i am convinced that there is some method to pynchon's approach,
but i haven't figured it out yet. most helpful idea so far was the one
about cinematic sliding ie a storyteller in a movie begins a tale and we
(the audience) hear first his voice, then see what he's describing (to
his voiceover), then his voice drops away and we're there. if anyone can
pull this off (outside of stephen wright, NOT the comic), it's pynchon.
ray