It started with the occasional bit of ironic emphasis while telling stories. Something something something, bitch." Then it became something closer to a running joke, but without the humor, or even hint of humor. A verbal tick almost. Nothing meant by it, which isn't a defense at all, since why something if it means nothing? Worse, why say something if it means nothing but will be perceived as meaning something, something which you'd not want people to thick you mean? So, I cut the bitches out of my diet.
I wonder what else there is in speech which "means nothing" to the speaker, but which others hear as meaning something. I wonder what the cost is of those words.
I wonder what else there is in speech which "means nothing" to the speaker, but which others hear as meaning something. I wonder what the cost is of those words.
4 comments:
Here you go:
http://cake-pie.com/women-gamers-gaslamp-games-forums-are-amazing/931/
If you take the would-be bewildered response from the initial idiot as honest (which I doubt) it's a great example of someone using words or phrases that are (intentionally) hurtful from a position of privilege that prevents understanding that hurt. Or ask Joe Biden about making a slavery crack in VA to a mixed race audience.
when i was a kid i was told "stick and stones will break bones but names can't hurt you"... I'm not passing that gem of folklore on to my children because names can in fact hurt you. Describing something as "gay" means it's somehow less. Describing something as "retarded" implies a derogatory comment on intelligence. "Raping" in PVP takes no account of the actual word and it's impacts to anyone affected by the act.
Words can hurt and I applaud the awareness. Not a post I expected to read on a 'gaming' blog, but very cool to see and read.
@Anonymous: That was an interesting read. I don't think I'd have responded the way she did, still working out what that means.
@Chris Pearson: If anything it's the opposite: what others think and say about you matters much more than physical injury, since injury can heal, but a society which attacks you can eliminate choices in life.
If I had to nominate one word for excision from human speech due to causing misunderstandings, conflicts and general human misery, I'd pick "is" (and other forms thereof).
E-Prime FTW
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