From: utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!tim Newsgroups: net.flame Title: Re: watch your language Article-I.D.: unc.4764 Posted: Sun Mar 13 14:28:22 1983 Received: Mon Mar 14 02:15:18 1983 References: ihuxn.225 What is it about people that causes them to identify words as "foul"? I suggest that it is childishness. They snickered these words as babes, evading the wrath of adults. Finally, when they became adults themselves , they did not bother to throw off their juvenile attitudes towards these words. Instead, in their rush to throw off all they felt was childish, they abandoned, not the immature attitudes, but the manifestations. Words are not dirty, intents are dirty. "Clean" language is no more an indicator of clean intent than "dirty" language is evidence of dirty intent. The crusaders against language that they perceive as foul are merely imitating their parents and teachers. The true obscenities are in such statements as "when something is that controversial -- I know it must be wrong" and other idiocies that we see daily, not in the casual use of four-letter words. I repeat my exhortation to the crusaders: Grow up! Tim Maroney duke!unc!tim