Take the current Hardcover nonfiction bestseller list, 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck' by Mark Manson. I checked this one out on an online Huffington Post and there's a picture of Mr. Manson, who is far too young for me to be a credible person to wax and wane on how to live life. But he's got a bestseller, for whatever reason, good or bad.
Then there's 'Fucking Apostrophes' with no attempt to disguise the word. Also, no author on the cover of this little baby, which is not much bigger than an address book (remember those?) There is an author, Simon Griffin, and is subtitled: 'A guide to show you where to stick them.'
The book is a guide dedicated to where to put the apostrophe, and might actually be a modern version of 'The Classic Elements of Style' by William Strunk Jr. It is also about the same size.
The examples and suggestions inside are legitimate. It is actually a good reference book, but one I don't leave out when the grandkids are over.
The text frequently adds the f-word to coincide with our frustration on trying to decide where to stick them. Of course, continued use of texting keyboards will eventually erode anyone's interest in using apostrophes at all, let alone correctly. But for now, the Twitter handle @fingapostrophe can be looked at for some posted examples of the misuse of what is probably the most demonic of all the punctuation marks.
Take a recent posting that shows a British tabloid's headline about what I guess is their announcement of the latest sex scandal to befall one of their MPs, member of parliament.
MARRIED MP BONE'S PHYSIO LOVER
Maybe it's me, but I think the headline would have been more appropriate if it turned out that the female was an archaeologist. Oh well. The British.
FUCK
YEAH
LET'S
FUCK
NO
SHIT
SHIRLEY
I'm not sure if someone is missing the market here or not.
But underneath the salty pill is the subtitle 'The Amazing Science of Bad Language' with the author's name. The operative word here is 'science.'
Our oldest grandchild is named Emma, and when I showed the book to my son-in-law I told him that perhaps this is what he had to look forward to: The now 10-year-old who grows into a swearing sailor.
But Emma Byrne is not some potty-mouth for the sake of competing with the most vulgar person you can think of. No. She is from the U.K. and has a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and does work with robotics. She is primarily a scientist who quite seriously takes on the subject of cursing a blue streak.
Who but a scientist would categorize profanities into four categories: religious, copulatory, excretory and slur-based. Imagine those 'Jeopardy' categories.
There are 12 pages of footnotes...10 pages of Bibliography, and an index which does not lead you to the names of any comedians, alive or dead, you might think of who seem to favor salty sailor words in their routines.
My Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) daughter who is familiar with examples cited n Ms. Byrne's first chapter: 'The Bad Language Brain: Neuroscience and Swearing.' You might not think someone who survives a railroad spike going through their brain would give us someone who becomes a great study on where salty language comes from, but in 1848 when Phineas Gage take one clear through the noggin' while setting dynamite charges in a rail tunnel, science is there to pay attention.
In her introduction, Ms. Byrne explains how she was attracted to study the science behind swearing. when she read Dr. Richard Stephens was conducting an experiment on using volunteers to take a version of the "ice bucket challenge." His challenge was how long could they keep their hand in a bucket of ice water without swearing, or with only uttering a neutral, plain word, vs. keeping their hand in the water while letting loose with their favorite swear word, either audibly, or to themselves.
Turns out, the volunteers were able to keep their hands in the water longer when they were swearing up a storm. Swearing to high heavens of course would not have prevented Leonardo DiCaprio from freezing to death in the North Atlantic after he slid off the stern of the Titanic on that fateful night into the frigid, inky drink. There is only so much you can expect when you're letting loose with language.
Ms. Byrne repeats the experiment with a volunteer from the audience in a spirited January 18, 2018 Google talk in the U.K. found on YouTube. Proof is in the stopwatch.
Curing in the workplace is bad? Well, think again. Ms. Byrne reports that "jocularity" amongst team members actually improved team performance. Call your teammate a "Limey bastard," in a non-threatening way, and you might well have established a friend for life. A member of the club, rather than someone who is going to run off to HR and complain about you.
Will swearing extend your life? Consider Sonia Gechtoff, an abstract expressionist painter who has just passed away at 91. Ms. Gechtoff's husband was also a painter, James Kelly, and it led their daughter Susannah Kelly to remark that Ms. Gechtoff was "not an average mother in that we as her children learned to curse form her and to never hold back in our opinion." An email response from Ms. Kelly tells of her mother cursing at the TV whenever Lyndon Johnson was talking about the Vietnam war." (In that, she was hardly alone.)
Swearing and curse words do not cross all borders. The Japanese apparently don't really see a pile of shit as something that is a pile of shit. They think it's so cute they even made an emoji out it, something I wish I knew when we bought our granddaughter a Carvel ice cream cake with a poop emoji on it. So the Japs (jocularity) are creating all those emojis! Who knew?
Do women curse more than men? Where does swearing come from? Is it really okay to sound off? Read the book.
Bottom line is swearing has a place in our lives. Ms. Byrne concludes, "swearing is like mustard; a great ingredient, but a lousy meal."
Variety is the spice of life.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
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