I was reading a paper on the function of profanity in communication. That might seem like a strange area of study and it's really very fascinating. My language is routinely "colorful", a euphemism that's used by others to warn them that I use verbs, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, gerunds, participles and other language elements with great aplomb. To me, words are words. It's not what a speaker says, it's what a listener hears. "Profanity" is simply another form of jargon.
What makes profanity an subject of interest is that most jargons have a cultural or education basis. Profanity is a jargon (usually) of emotional communication.
I wrote in In Search of Advertising PC "Language evolves to convey the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of time. More succinctly, Language evolves to increase the rate of information transfer. This is why various professions have their own jargons and why people unfamiliar with a given jargon get upset; they're being excluded whether that's the speaker's intention or not. This is also true of profanity.I also wrote in Music, Language and Making Offshore Call Centers More Effectivethat profanity seems to work best when used in one's native language.
The native language element is straightforward enough. We develop our native language skills while we're simultaneously creating our core identity, that part of ourselves most closely tied to our emotional centers. Therefore, profanity simply doesn't work unless it's said in one's native language. Gerhardt und Andrea get a kick out of my cursing in German because I don't do it "right". However, David, Felix e Rosario blanche when I curse in Italian and I admit I've spent considerable time learning to curse in Gaelic simply because the curses are so indicative of the psycho- and socio-linguistic aspects of the Celtic mindsets. Also, it gives Calum, Eachainn agus Catriona something to applaud when I do it correctly.
Therapists and related social workers are familiar with another form of profanity, one that is expressed without words and can be terrifying for the unprepared. Most people, hearing me talk of this, think I'm going to describe self- or other-destructive behavior and nothing could be further from the truth. The use of profanity, defined as a violation of the sacred character of a place or language, that I'm describing here is really a statement of self and could be solipsism (at the extreme).
This form of profanity comes from the most primitive aspects of our being. The person who has suffered devastating loss and screams their tears from their gut, the person whose entire being quakes with the release of the most primitive emotional pains and joys, the person who laughs so rapturously that they gasp for air when they are done, ... these and other demonstrations of core emotional release are examples of profanity and the jargon is the purest imaginable.
Unfortunately, modern society rarely allows or even knows how to accept and acknowledge such demonstrations of profanity. This is why the person sobbing uncontrollably causes others discomfort, why the scream of primitive pain and rage terrifies. The beast is released in us and society's (very) thin veneer is stripped away. People having these experiences have allowed themselves to not be human for however brief or long a moment and those of us in attendance know the normal laws of social discourse no longer apply.
Pity. I have never known someone to be more real to me, more alive, more genuine than when they trusted me enough to reveal their primitive egos to me.
(with thanks to my mentors who taught me to a) not be afraid and b) profane completely)
Please contact NextStage for information on how to curse properly as well as presentations and trainings on other topics.
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