I began swearing even more when I moved to Finland
I swear a lot. I think swear words are funny. I love to write and I need my swear words. Young Ralphie’s quote about his father from “A Christmas Story” sums up my feelings quite well…
He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.
A swear word can easily turn a boring sentence into a funny sentence. For example: “I gotta go to the store.” (boring) -or- “I gotta go to the fucking store” (kinda funny!). But don’t use swear words too often - fucking like when every other fucking word is fucking ‘fuck’, then you quickly sound like a white trash moron.
I began swearing even more when I moved to Finland - It’s got nothing to do with the welfare state, it’s just that Finns find swearing funny too! Well, swearing in English that is. I’ve tried switching to swearing in Finnish and suddenly the Finns start calling me a “white trash moron”. I guess swear words in your second language aren’t quite as obscene as those in your native tongue.
And therein lies the problem - The Finns find my swearing “funny” rather than “inappropriate”, leading to all sorts of moronic white trash comparisons when I return to the states. Swearing is like smoking crack, it’s addictive, and you can’t lay down the crack pipe even when kids are around. I was back in Baltimore for a few days in June and slipped the F-bomb way too frequently at a family BBQ, it was a little embarrassing for me. I kinda felt like some sort of…uhhh…caucasion, poor, idiot, or something.
But I think comedian Lewis Black speaks my mind the best…
I realize I use the word fuck a lot, and I’d apologize for that, but I don’t give a shit.
“I began swearing even more when I moved to Finland - It’s got nothing to do with the welfare state”
That’s quite the concession.
Comment by Olli — Sun, Jul 20th, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
Satana Perkele!!…
Boy that feels good to speak my mind!
Comment by infinndel the jenkki dogg — Sun, Jul 20th, 2008 @ 3:38 pm
V** vittu.
Comment by aet75 — Sun, Jul 20th, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
“V** vittu.”
That’s a bit like bottomless bikini, I guess
Comment by Antti rn — Sun, Jul 20th, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
Swearing _is_ boring.
Comment by Anonymous — Mon, Jul 21st, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Aggressiivin tunnus on toistaiseksi hyvin vaikeasti mihinkään sanaluokkaan määriteltävissä oleva VITTU. Vittu ei koskaan esiinny yksin, se edustaa siis eräänlaista pohjarakennetta tai osamorfeemia. Vittuun agglutinoidaan aina jokin persoona- tai relatiivipronomini. Jälkimmäiset esiintyvät poikkeuksetta paikallissijoissa.
PREESENSTAIVUTUS
1.sg vittumä jaksa mitään myyydä.
2.sg vittusä rupee mulle iniseen.
3.sg vittuse tullu ees paikalle, turhaan venasin.
1.pl vittume mitään pikkulapsia syödä, paskapuhetta.
2.pl vittute mihinkään raflaan tule, kunhan jauhatte.
3.pl vittune mistään mitään tiedä.
Persoonattomia:
Vittusiellä mitään ilmaista viinaa ollu.
Vittutäällä mikään kesä ole.
Vittutäällä jaksa pitempään notkua.
Muissa tempuksissa aggressiivi taipuu saman kaavan mukaan:
Imperfekti: Vittumä jaksanu sitä kissaa pelastaa.
Perfekti: Vittumä oo jaksanu kahteen viikkoon tiskata.
Pluskvamperfekti: Vittumä ollu jaksanu ees syödä päiväkausiin ennenku jouduin tiputukseen.
Vittu + pronomini -kombinaatio muodostaa siis aggressiiville tunnusomaisen modusrakenteen. Aggressiivirakenteen rektio on sellainen, että se vaatii peräänsä joko kieltomuodon pääverbin tai vaihtoehtoisesti paikallissijamuotoisen (harvemmin partitiivimuotoisen) kielteisen liitepartikkelin sisältävän pronominirakenteen. Funktioltaan aggressiivirakenne on siis kieltoapuverbiä (en, et, ei) vastaava.
HUOM!
Lause “Vittuse tippu tohon avantoon” ei ole aggressiivi, koska lauseen imperfektimuotoinen predikaatti on indikatiivissa! Kyseessä on siis tavallinen kirosanalla höystetty indikatiivilause, jonka nimeäminen aggressiiviksi osoittaa sangen pitkälle kehittynyttä lingvistisen silmän verkkokalvon rappeumaa.
AGGRESSIIVI MODUKSENA
Koska aggressiivi on modus, se ei voi esiintyä samassa lauseessa eri modukseksi laskettavan predikaattimuodon kanssa. Aggressiivi, vanhan kansan suussa ponsitapa, ilmaisee aktiivista närkästystä, kyllästymistä, turhautumista, hermostumista ja suoranaista suuttumusta. Tarkemman taustatunteen voi vastaanottaja päätellä kontekstista.
Aggressiivin yhteydessä käytetään eräissä piireissä tehokeinona elekieltä, jonka luonne voi vaihdella sormimerkeistä aina täyskontaktimanööveriin. Tämänhetkisen tietämyksen mukaan aggressiivia ilmaistaan samalla tavalla suurimmassa osassa maailman viittomakieliä.
Comment by Hank W. — Mon, Jul 21st, 2008 @ 8:24 pm
BTW in Italian language theres an adjective form of aggressivo.
Comment by Hank W. — Mon, Jul 21st, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
A few years ago I bought a book in an American bookstore called ‘English as a Second F**king Language - it is primarily humorous, but it also served a real educational function, and I daresay provided a real public service, by teaching the proper use of swear words in American English, which is something that is rarely taught in ESL classes.
There was one omission in the book that I have actually considered writing the author and publisher about: an explanation of the fact that different cultures have place differing emotional weight on the various words. A Finnish woman I know once told me that she caused quite a stir when she uttered the word “tit” at the home of her American sister-in-law during a conversation about breast feeding. In Finnish, “tissi” hardly qualifies as a swear word at all: you can hear parents using it with their preschool children.
Some years ago YLE’s Radio Mafia had a summer safe sex campaign including condoms that were distributed at rock concerts with the Radio Mafia logo followed by the slogan “Fucking Great”. A few years earlier there was a Swedish movie running with the title “Fucking Åmål” (it had a different title for international distribution)!
While the proliferation of this kind of language does not bother me personally, it does worry me somewhat that Finnish teenagers learning English are exposed to expressions like this without truly appreciating the emotional weight that the words might convey to a native speaker. Certain very uncomfortable situations might arise: imagine some Finnish exchange student sitting down for his first Sunday dinner with his host family, who complements the food by saying “This roast is fucking great”!
Comment by K. Wilska — Tue, Jul 22nd, 2008 @ 1:20 am
“I realize I use the word fuck a lot, and I’d apologize for that, but I don’t give a shit.”
wrong ! should be :::
I realize I use the word fuck a lot, and I’d apologize for that, but I don’t give a FUCK.
Comment by Anonymous — Fri, Jul 25th, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
finlands’Ville Valo {lead singer ffor HIM }is so freaking sexy just wanted everyone to know that
Comment by domonique — Wed, Aug 13th, 2008 @ 4:51 pm