Allow innocuous usage of f-word!

[hoom]

Hell really can't be considered a curse though, I don't think. I mean, it's a noun, like heaven. Is heaven a curse? I don't get it.

Thoroughly agree with this.
Nothing wrong with hell being used.

[PseRamesses]

I do agree with Tosa, and others, and firmly belive that a proper and correct usage of the english language should be maintained at all times. If uncertain, when posting, use spell check or a dictionary, I do. H_ll ;) it has even increased my vocabulary.
What worries me though is the total degeneration of the spoken language. Not even the english but even my own, Swedish, is getting corrupted and brought down to a level of language that illiterates or uneducated people speak. Ex: Why should I copy the language of the hip-hop culture? Why should I replace all adjectives with swears or cursing when there is a whole range of my language to be used and explored. I´m trying to explain this to my two teenage daughters that constantly comes home from school saying sh_t, h_ll, f_ck, what, dude, sort of etc etc in EVERY sentence. So starting this summer I introduced a game, that my grandfather thought me when I was a boy. At breakfast, every morning, they read a dictionary and learn 10 new words and have a goal to use them during the day to some extent. This is turning out so well that their friends actually comes to them asking them what an unknown word means which really is a confidence booster.
The Swedish academy predicts that at least one swedish word disappears per day due to unsatisfying education, street-talks and the invasion of english words in our daily lives. This is not acceptable. We have to fight to keep the diversity and richness of our languages alive.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
I tell you, there's NOONE left speaking Turkish proper over here. Even worse than vocabulary and all, the unique phonetics is gone.
.

[Simetrical]

Change in language should not be shunned. Our languages are built on the slang and informal talk of centuries past. How many people cringed at the use of pea as a singular when it first developed? How many people railed against the increasing usage of the plural you to refer to even peasants in the singular, when it was formerly a mark of respect and deference? For that matter, what about the people who complained about the shifting of the traditional [p] and [t] and [k] of Proto-Indo-European to the [f] and [ð] and [x] of Proto-Germanic, giving us father instead of pater?

There is no reason for language to be static.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Change of the language is one thing, degeneration of it along with mindsets and reduction of the amount of daily used words and phrases to severe mnimums is another. The prior is natural and inevitable, the latter should be prevented at all costs.
.

[Reverend Joe]

Why does this keep coming up? It will not get anywhere!

As I can personally attest, cursing is not allowed, nor should it be allowed, on the Org. If you feel the urge to curse, just take a second, and think, should I even be posting here? There is a reason that I just stopped reading the politica/social threads in the backroom: that is how I got my warning level, and I do not want another. Also, note how many warning levels regular backroom posters have, like PanzerJaeger.

[Simetrical]

.
Change of the language is one thing, degeneration of it along with mindsets and reduction of the amount of daily used words and phrases to severe mnimums is another. The prior is natural and inevitable, the latter should be prevented at all costs.
.

What's the difference? What are the criteria for "degeneration"?

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Oversimplification, in terms of the average number of words and phrases used daily (we're talking about less than 500 here); disconnection between mind and speech (rudimentary use of random words/phrases to mean anything anytime); overuse of "side words" (made up the term to mean words with no meaning alone but in context); a total absence of semantics; diminishing of binding structure (ie grammar, syntax etc.) to chaos...

If we believe that language evolved from meaningless sounds of early primates, then it's now returning back to its roots in my land.
.

[Reverend Joe]

Is Turkish getting that bad? Or are you talking about English? Because English I can understand.

[Simetrical]

.
Oversimplification, in terms of the average number of words and phrases used daily (we're talking about less than 500 here);

How is simplicity bad? And how did you count that, did you do a study?

disconnection between mind and speech

That has nothing to do with the particular kind of language used.

(rudimentary use of random words/phrases to mean anything anytime); overuse of "side words" (made up the term to mean words with no meaning alone but in context)

What's wrong with nonce words? They can often be very useful. I believe Germans like using them a lot, by combining multiple words into a neologism.

a total absence of semantics

There's no such thing as a total absence of semantics. There is such a thing as large shifts in meaning such that it would be difficult for you to understand someone speaking this way, but these "degenerates" can understand each other perfectly well, no doubt.

diminishing of binding structure (ie grammar, syntax etc.) to chaos...

Again, change is not diminishing. African-American Vernacular English, for instance, is every bit as regular in grammar and syntax as Standard English, it's just different. One who is not attuned to the nuances of AAVE may miss out on a significant amount of the meaning, but that doesn't reduce the dialect's intrinsic value.

If we believe that language evolved from meaningless sounds of early primates, then it's now returning back to its roots in my land.
.

Measured how? As I see it, the only really worthwhile property of language is the ability to communicate effectively. These people you speak of can communicate with 100% effectiveness with each other, I assure you. I challenge you to provide any evidence to the contrary. They can't communicate as easily with you, perhaps, but that's no more their fault than yours.

[L`zard]

What's the difference? What are the criteria for "degeneration"?

'Just my take': Anything that would aggrevate your parents, yet adds no additional content to your message, in this case.......

I vaguely remember some quote that runs: "Anyone that cannot offer a response without swearing is an illiterate M*+%#@&@*&" or something like that. Prolly george carlin or similar.....

For myself, 'twould seem that the additional effort of typing swear-words into a msg would be it's own penalty, but some folk don't find it so, which makes me wonder what else dispicable efforts they're willing to go to, eh?

Euphimisms were made for places like the .org forums, and can often have considerably more 'hit power' if used with cunning.