Swedish makes fucking reflexive

Tomas Zirn at Computer Sweden has a great quote from Morten Lund:

Jag gjorde ett försök med tidningar, men det fuckade upp sig

I gave newspapers a shot but it fucked itself up.

WTF?

chase utley says a curse on live tv!

I had no idea

I'm a huge fan of Larry Wilmore. I had no idea who he was until I recently listened to a podcast of Fresh Air (with Terry Gross--who I love) with him. He created the Bernie Mac Show!

And then there's this little bit from the Daily Show where he investigated the n-word.

Terry and Larry have a very interesting discussion of what went into that bit. Comedy Central originally allowed them to air it with 'nigger', but when they re-ran it they bleeped all occurrences of 'nigger'. If you follow the link above you will see that the on-line version is also bleeped. However, there is a YouTube uncensored version available:

What's funny in the Fresh Air interview is that Larry prefers the un-censored version but uses "N-word" during Fresh Air.

Anyway a great discussion. Listen the Fresh Air podcast!

Survey offensive language

Cognitive Daily is surveying people on their attitudes towards the following offensive words: dick, penis, cunt, vagina, bitch, ho, nigger, suck, fag, gay, and another word I can't remember. Check it out.

Set your TiVo

Richard Dawkins will be on O'Reilly on Monday.

Why I'll never be employed by a politician

(Well, this and the fact that I have like 2 readers.)

Gavin at Sadly No! has the reaction from John Edwards and staff to the criticism of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen. If you don't know, Edwards hired Marcotte and McEwen to work on the online part of his campaign. Since the two bloggers have a personal blogging history (Pandagon and Shakespeare’s Sister)they've of course said some impolitic things.

There seem to be two things that have gotten people upset. One is the use of obscenities (Marcotte has said "fuck Bush" for example) and the other is disparaging comments about religion.

Gavin is happy with the response. Not me. The foul offense at obscene language thing is just ridiculous posing and no one should ever have to apologize for saying fuck or shit. We're adults, deal with it.

But their response to the religious thing bothers me. All three walk the fine line between disparaging religion and disparaging someone's personal belief. All making the claim that the former is ok, but the latter is not. (Emphasis mine.)

Edwards

they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone’s faith,

Marcotte

My writings on my personal blog, Pandagon on the issue of religion are generally satirical in nature and always intended strictly as a criticism of public policies and politics. My intention is never to offend anyone for his or her personal beliefs, and I am sorry if anyone was personally offended by writings meant only as criticisms of public politics.

McEwen

We do, however, share many views - including an unwavering support of religious freedom and a deep respect for diverse beliefs. It has never been my intention to disparage people’s individual faith, and I’m sorry if my words were taken in that way.

I see no reason to make this distinction. Here I agree with Sam Harris. Some people beleive some stupid shit. And in public discourse it should be fair game to call them out on that.

Who is responsible

for this fucking bullshit? I just can't understand you people.

Man, I hope this thing has legs.

Today's Super Bowl Office Talk: Genitalia Suggested In Prince Behind The Curtain?

Update: I can't believe this is going nowhere. I've lost all faith in the religious right.

CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said Tuesday that the network has received "very few" complaints on Prince's performance. CBS last aired the Super Bowl in 2004 when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's "wardrobe malfunction" sparked criticism and a subsequent crackdown on broadcast decency from the Federal Communications Commission.

But this time, it was the NFL that produced the halftime show (MTV had in 2004). Spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has received no complaints.

The guy masturbates on the Superbowl halftime show--Wake up America! Where are the congressional hearings? What about the children?

Speaking of printing offensive words

THe January 4-11, 2007 issue of the Nordstjernan (the weekly newspaper for Swedish-Americans) has an article on Marjaneh Bakhtiari, a young Swedish-Iranian author. Marjaneh has a book out called Kalla det vad fan du vill (Lit: 'Call it what the devil you want').

There are two funny things about the article. First, the headline is simply the title of the book, except rather than print fan they print 'f-n'. But in the body of the article and the caption to the photo of the author they print the full title without disguising the offensive word. I'm not sure what is going on with the editorial staff at Nordstjernan.

The other funny thing is that the article translates the title of the book as Call it Whatever You Want. They seem not to be alone since the Iranian news site I linked to earlier calls it Name it Whatever You Wish. I would've translated it as Call it Whatever the Hell You Want.

Well, the book sounds worthwhile:

It is the story of two Iranian and Swedish families. When the Iranian father comes to Europe, it seems strange to him that no one knows Ferdowsi there. But he never thinks that he himself does not know anything about the history and literature of Sweden. He just wants to prove that Iranians are different from Arabs. But no one can understand him. Then the family lives in the past.
The mother of the family is a physics researcher and she is not interested in history and the past. She wants to learn Swedish language and their custom. But she cannot find an opportunity to communicate naturally.
The Iranian family gets acquaintance with the Swedish family. The mother of the family looks at the people as the cultural subjects which can make her life more interesting.

The nature of fuck in Swedish

Axel Theorin writes to Mark Liberman about his post about my post about the Swedes use of English swear words:

Ed Keer's feeling on the subject obviously differs, but I would say that English swear words retain most of their feeling of taboo. Especially a word like fuck since swear words on the sexual theme are virtually nonexistent in "native" Swedish, except for expressions casting doubt on the virtue of a woman (I know only two which are felt as swear words: kuk - cock and fitta - cunt). Thus "fuck" is a very strong swear word in the Swedish context and is felt even stronger in (real life) English contexts were many Swedes will refrain from using it alltogether. Even though this in turn becomes unnatural (if the context is England, according to reports). On the other hand, the prolific use of "fuck" seems to have opened some doors and lately you will here, although infrequently, Swedes swear by the act of sexual intercourse using the native word "knulla"

Now, I'm not a native speaker and I haven't been to Sweden in a loooooong time. So I accept Axel's points. I think what is surprising to me is the use of fuck in a national newspaper or the title of a blocbuster film.

Dagens Nyheter has search capabilities back to 2002. A search for the following words resulted in some interesting distributions.
118 hits for "fuck"
35 hits for "kuk" (dick)
47 hits for "fitta" (cunt)
983 hits for "fan" (damn)
761 hits for jävla (damned)
So part of what I saw was simply the Swedes are more lax using obscenities in newspapers than Americans.

But I still get a sense that "fuck" is not considered as bad as "kuk" or "fitta". In terms of number of uses, "fuck" falls between the somewhat mild "jävla" at 761 hits and the more obscene "fitta" and "kuk" both at under 50 hits. Though there may be any number of reasons for the lower numbers of "kuk", "fitta", and "fuck"

Of course, Swedes are welcome to comment on my impressions.

Swedes haven't got the memo

Today's Rocky cartoon in Dagens Nyheter:

The little bird is saying, "Did you know that the eskimos have 2500 words for snow?"
Rocky replies, "How many words do they have for fuck...snow?"
Hope Geoff Pullum doesn't see this. Chances are good, since Language Log never posts Swedish cartoons.

N-word under attack in NYC

More in the continuing saga of the word nigger.

A Queens city councilman is on a mission to abolish the N-word.
Democrat Leroy Comrie is so disgusted by the rampant use of the racial epithet that he has submitted a resolution to the Council calling for the "symbolic moratorium on the use of the N-word in New York City."

"Stop using the N-word," Comrie (D-Jamaica) demanded yesterday. "It's racist, it's negative, it's demeaning. It boils my blood, the usage, even in a personal tone between people."

Comrie said the resolution will be formally introduced to the Council Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month.

"The timing is right," he said. "Monday is Martin Luther King's birthday. February is Black History Month."

Reclamation or what?

g from Incendiary Librarian pointed me to this post on Feministe about reclaiming offensive words. It seems that there is controversy over whether cunt is being reclaimed or not. Trex at Firedoglake used cunt in an exchange with somebody (the details are really difficult to pin down) and when called on it someone replied:

“Cunt” is a word that many gay men with feminist poltics out the wazoo use all the time, a word that has been reclaimed by many on the left, though perhaps they’re not the genteel sort of folk you’re comfortable with. Don’t be so delicate, Tom. It’s a big world out there.

Piny at Feministe argues that reclaiming requires using a word with a new meaning, not simply using a word.

When you reclaim an epithet, you take it and use it against its meaning in order to deflate its meaning. You are practicing verbal civil disobedience. You are refusing to maintain the original, hateful sense of the word and attempting to force the word to carry a new meaning, your meaning.

I agree with Piny here. However, there are other methods than reclamation to try out.
And that is what I was trying to get at in my recent discussion of nigger. The question for me is, where does the meaning of epithet come from? Is it the intent of the person using it? Or is it in the mind of the hearer?
See Randall Kennedy for a nice essay on this.
I was quite surprised to learn when I underwent workplace sensitivity training, that language is determined offensive entirely on the reaction of the hearer. The speaker's intent has nothing to do with determining whether something was sexist or racist.
I'm not sure if I have anything to say about any of this right now.
BTW Firedqaoglake has posted something about language useon the site.

I'm not a big fan of the word nigger. As I've mentioned before, it's one of the few taboo words that I have difficulty saying. But some of the reaction to the Michael Richards thingy really makes no sense.

Black leaders on Monday challenged the entertainment industry, including rap artists, actors and major studios, to stop use of the racial slur that triggered the Michael Richards scandal.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and others said they will meet with TV networks, film companies and musicians to discuss the "n-word." They also sought an effort by the public to stop using the term.

The regular use of nigga as an in-group identifier has confused white people to no end. And some African-American leaders as well. But it has managed to get people to see the word in a different context. And maybe that has taken a little of the sting out of it.
What's interesting is that Richards use of nigger was not one of these cases. He clearly chose the r-full version, the offensive version. I'm not sure what his point was, but he was not trying to catch somebody in a prescriptive double standard, or use the word to signify in-group status. He wanted to insult his hecklers.
But like most prescriptive language rules, If doing it sometimes gets them in trouble, they should be told not to do it at all..

Laugh Factory owner Jaime Masada ... said the comedy club will ban comedians from using all "hateful words" including the "n-word."

"We want to be the first place in the world to ask all of the comedians if they go on stage and use the 'n-word,' (it) comes out of their paycheck," Masada said.

Not letting people make fun of taboo words and those who use them is a bad idea--for comedy and language. I understand the need to feel like you are stopping people from having bad thoughts.

More c-word

Boredoom lent me a very cool book, Famous men who've been in Sunne by the contemporary Swedish author Göran Tunström. I'm in the middle of reading it now, and if I didn't fall asleep on the train so much I'd be done already. The story centers around a main character who has spent his entire life in Sunne, a small Swedish town in Värmland. He's a bit of an oddball. His hobby is collecting autographs. One of the secondary characters is a man named Ed who is American (from New Jersey) and spent some time as a boy in Sunne. The two become friends but then part ways. Ed returns later, after going to the moon.

I thought this passage was particularly interesting (translation mine):

I was very proud to know an American. And I wanted to keep him for myself, exhibit him to others. Of course it didn't happen. Down by the lake--the real lake, he built a raft, a real raft, I brought logs and planks, brought hammers and nails, he put on the rudder and mast, placed a homemade flag on the stern. I was an easy seaman and language tutor:
--A bobber, a fishing rod, bait
--Bass, perch, pike.
Ed learned quickly:
--Girl, breast, cunt.
It was harder for me, I only remember those three words, because I got hot when I said them:
--Görrl, brest, kannt.

Things I won't say

I'm pretty liberal when it comes to curse words. I'm not foul-mouthed, but when appropriate I can let loose with the blue language. But there are two words I have difficulty with, the n-word and the c-word. (I'm not going to use them here, this is afterall a family blog.) It's not just that I won't say them, the way I won't use the term sub for hoagie or boombox for radio. Instead, I have a very visceral reaction to these words. When I say them, I feel both embarrassed and awkward. I feel like I'm blushing, even though I have no idea if I blush or not.

I don't know why it's these two words. I imagine it has to do with being born in the 60's and coming of age in the 70's and 80's. Race relations and feminism were both very big topics. I imagine the n-word is less charged for kids growing up today, but no matter how much rap I listen to, I still can't use it. I'm sure there are riot grrrls out there reclaiming the c-word too. More power to 'em.

More racist Swedish treats?

I love licorice!

Watch what you call your chocolate balls

I know this is old, but I just got around to translating it today. It's from an article in the Sydsvenskan on a discrimination case in Sweden involving the name of a baked good. Some swedes refer to them as negro balls. The EU has a law against marketing products or services with offensive names or words and the Swedish authorities ruled that negro balls fell under this EU law. Interesting case on so many levels.

Here is my translation of the article:

'Negro Ball' is offensive but Skåne bakery is not fined

Selling your chocolate balls as "negro balls" can become an expensive proposition. The Ombudsman for Discrimination (OD) will institute fines of 100,000 SEK ($14,000) for companies that sell their baked goods as negro balls. In spite of that, the OD has has decided not to pursue charges against the the Sjöbo bakery that was reported last summer.

In July of last year someone noticed that a bakery in Sjöbo had the controversial name negro ball on a sign. After she tried in vain to get the shop to change the name of their baked goods, she turned to the OD.

The complaint was one of 700 complaints about ethnic and religious discrimination that came into OD last year. Some complaints are noticed more than others. The woman's complaint about whether it is ok to call the the little round baked good "negro balls" has drawn a lot of attention and the OD has received many comments. Margareta Wadstein (ombudsman) is surprised. "I didn't think it was very important. But the interest generated shows that people don't accept words that can be regarded as disparaging and insulting to another person," she said.

The question tested the new law which became effective July 1, 2003. The law forbids discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or physical disability when goods or services are marketed. The law affects all people within the EU and is meant to get people to rethink and reevaluate the use of words which can be offensive to some people.

After six months deliberation, the DO is closing the case. The case is being closed because the complaintant has not herself been disparaged, something which the law requires. But at the same time, the DO explains that if someone had felt personally insulted by the sign and filed a complaint, it could have led to the bakery having to pay a fine.

"It is up to the courts to decide whether the word 'negro' is discriminatory. But I think the ruling would stand," says ombudsman Margareta Wadstein.

The DO believes that the name negro ball should not be used at all, nor should the word negro be used in combination with other words. That way people will avoid insulting the worth of other people. To defend use of the word by saying "It's what we've always said," doesn't work either according to the DO.

Margareta Wadstein explains that the word negro, because of its historical background, is strongly connected to slavery, oppression and lack of respect for the equality of others. She says that there is also a broad desire among people of color to avoid the label and that a good starting point when you want to describe or label a person is to do just as the person themselves wishes. Words like African or Black are not disparaging. The DO even recommends not using the word lapp for people of Sami origin, nor the word gypsy for people of romany origin.

"Those who continue to use the term 'negro ball' don't understand the seriousness of insulting a person's or a whole group's humanity," says DO Margareta Wadstein. Although the DO isn't saying that someone who uses the word must be a racist or have bad intentions. Rather it's use can be the result of ignorance or thoughtless. Is it now illegal to use negro ball?

"You won't break the law simply by using the word. But as a food purveyor, to market something as a negro ball can offend another person. The risk is then large that that can lead to a crime," says Margareta Wadstein.

The Sjöbo bakery refused to comment.

Fucking Jävla Skit Language!

Taboo swear words are probably among the first thing a second language learner learns if they have a teenage mentality. But while it's easy to master swear words, I don't think you ever really internalise the depth of feeling associated with the taboo.

As a case in point, a few years ago, a movie about a teenage lesbian stuck in stifling a small town was all the rage in Sweden. The Swedish title of the movie is Fucking Åmål! Since Åmål is just the name of the small town in question, this Swedish movie title is really in English-and probably offensive to some.

I have heard that the original title of the movie was Fucking Jävla Skit Åmål! mixing some Swedish curse words in with the English. That title literally means fucking devil shit ... and can be loosely translated as Goddamn fucking shit ... Now if we could somehow objectively measure the degree of offensiveness of words across languages, I would bet that jävla skit is less offensive than fucking. But apparently the Swedish film board did not see it that way. They balked at jävla skit but allowed fucking!

Most Swedes know English. But surely, they don't really know the power of fucking.

When Fucking Åmål! was released in America, the title was changed to Show me love. Ugh! Talk about a tin ear translation. They could at least have gone with Damn Jävla Skit Åmål! I wouldn't have been offended.

BTW This is a pretty good movie-go rent it.