Yikes! I can't believe I really used the a-word in my previous blog post title! I did it to stir things up a bit, and I felt it was significant that a Stanford business professor (Dr. Robert Sutton) would use that a-word in the title of his new book. I didn't get any reaction from readers. But my own face is red every time I see that post title in one of my feed readers!
Are we getting so accustomed to bad language that it loses its shock value?
Yesterday The Hubby and I saw the film Borat. Sasha Cohen is a comedic genius; his series on HBO, The Ali G Show, was brilliant. Borat was the #1 box-office hit this weekend, in spite of opening in only a few theatres. People loved it, and it is at times vulgar.
Is our culture getting more vulgar? is toilet humor really that funny? Has bad language lost its shock value and become accepted into our culture? What are your thoughts on this?
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For the generation of young adults and new professionals, yes, I believe many of the words previously associated with "school yard talk" have lost their shock value. Men and women in my generation have grown up listening to those words and while they may have been "bad words" when we were in grade and middle schools, by high school they were merely part of our vocabulary. This may not be something to be proud of but I think it is closely related to the fact that each generation, in a sense, becomes much more accustomed to certain words and actions that would have previously offended those in generations before. That that offends todays generation will probably be next generations box office hit.
Posted by: Michele | November 14, 2006 at 05:10 PM