Radio - foul language

Another newsgroup has got on to the subject of foul language in war
films, usually Army.
I mentioned that the radio language during the Battle of Britain was so
bad that High Command wanted to remove WAAFS from all rooms where the
radio transmissions could be heard.
This is not depicted in films about the air war or the sea war.
I assume it was the same in the USAAF and USN at that time?

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

I assume it was the same in the USAAF and USN at that time?


Quite unsurprisingly, it occurs today, and even tends to offend some. During
Operation ANACONDA, I was given coords by an ETAC under fire. As part of our
procedures, my offense team plotted out the coords and they landed smack inside
a small town depicted on the JOG. Since I could hear some of the chaos and gun
fire in the back ground every time the ETAC keyed the mike, I felt bad asking
him, but ROE required me to verify he knew about the town. He responded; "the
target *is* the town, I'm taking heavy fire from it...level the f%$#ing town".
I came back with a quick "roger that", which was followed quickly by someone
saying "hey...watch the language on the radio". To this day I'm not sure who it
was, it could have been another jet this guy was controlling, it could have
been the ASOC or it could have been another ETAC trying to coordinate fire
control measures with "my" ETAC via UHF. It gave me a chuckle all the way home.
Hey...let's watch our language while we slaughter other human beings.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

BUFDRVR wrote:

I assume it was the same in the USAAF and USN at that time?


Quite unsurprisingly, it occurs today, and even tends to offend some. During
Operation ANACONDA, I was given coords by an ETAC under fire. As part of our
procedures, my offense team plotted out the coords and they landed smack inside
a small town depicted on the JOG. Since I could hear some of the chaos and gun
fire in the back ground every time the ETAC keyed the mike, I felt bad asking
him, but ROE required me to verify he knew about the town. He responded; "the
target *is* the town, I'm taking heavy fire from it...level the f%$#ing town".
I came back with a quick "roger that", which was followed quickly by someone
saying "hey...watch the language on the radio". To this day I'm not sure who it
was, it could have been another jet this guy was controlling, it could have
been the ASOC or it could have been another ETAC trying to coordinate fire
control measures with "my" ETAC via UHF. It gave me a chuckle all the way home.
Hey...let's watch our language while we slaughter other human beings.

What I always find silly, is the use of spaces or #@%& to replace letters in
expletives. Does anyone not know what word the writer means? If you mean
"****ing," and everyone mentally translates the word that way, what is the point of
writing "f%$#ing"? To me, this procedure makes about as much sense as children
believing that no one can see them if they close their eyes.

Guy

P.S. Because I'm feeling ornery, I will now write George Carlin's "Seven dirty
words you can't say on television or radio," with no use of spaces, asterisks or
other symbols in place of the actual letters. Those of you who will suffer
irreparable harm from the mere sight of these words in their natural form, should
read no further. You have been warned):







****, ****, ****, ****, cocksucker, mother****er, and tits.

I'm curious, so let's take a poll --

1. Was anyone unaware of any of these words (and related or modified forms of
them), or their meaning, prior to my writing them above?

2. Would anyone be unaware of what word I was referring to, or fail to mentally
translate them into their actual form, if I were to replace some of the letters
with other symbols?

3. Has anyone reading this never heard these words used in conversation?

4. Has anyone here never used any of these words themselves?

"Guy Alcala" wrote in message
. ..
| BUFDRVR wrote:
|
| Guy
|
| P.S. Because I'm feeling ornery, I will now write George Carlin's "Seven
dirty
| words you can't say on television or radio," with no use of spaces,
asterisks or
| other symbols in place of the actual letters. Those of you who will
suffer
| irreparable harm from the mere sight of these words in their natural
form, should
| read no further. You have been warned):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ****, ****, ****, ****, cocksucker, mother****er, and tits.
|
| I'm curious, so let's take a poll --
|
| 1. Was anyone unaware of any of these words (and related or modified
forms of
| them), or their meaning, prior to my writing them above?
|
| 2. Would anyone be unaware of what word I was referring to, or fail to
mentally
| translate them into their actual form, if I were to replace some of the
letters
| with other symbols?
|
| 3. Has anyone reading this never heard these words used in conversation?
|
| 4. Has anyone here never used any of these words themselves?
|
|
|



Point well made - however, just as some people would prefer not to hear such
words in conversation, possibly the same would not want to see them as
well. Veiling a word behind #$@% is tantamount to beeping out a
word on TV and now, putting an electronic patch to prevent the
tender-hearted from accidentally lipreading something offensive.


While I've done precisely as you describe, just recently, I tend to agree
with you. OTOH, part of polite discourse in the company of those of
whom you are not familiar, is not to use terms or language that will
reasonably offend anybody.



Same same with 'g_d', 'G_d' and 'god'. My Baptist roots go way
back; if you have to use his name in vain - at least spell it correctly.



stepping down from pulpit



Cheers


Dave Kearton

Dave Kearton wrote:

"Guy Alcala" wrote in message
...
| BUFDRVR wrote:
|
| Guy
|
| P.S. Because I'm feeling ornery, I will now write George Carlin's "Seven
dirty
| words you can't say on television or radio," with no use of spaces,
asterisks or
| other symbols in place of the actual letters. Those of you who will
suffer
| irreparable harm from the mere sight of these words in their natural
form, should
| read no further. You have been warned):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ****, ****, ****, ****, cocksucker, mother****er, and tits.
|
| I'm curious, so let's take a poll --
|
| 1. Was anyone unaware of any of these words (and related or modified
forms of
| them), or their meaning, prior to my writing them above?
|
| 2. Would anyone be unaware of what word I was referring to, or fail to
mentally
| translate them into their actual form, if I were to replace some of the
letters
| with other symbols?
|
| 3. Has anyone reading this never heard these words used in conversation?
|
| 4. Has anyone here never used any of these words themselves?
|
|
|



Point well made - however, just as some people would prefer not to hear such
words in conversation, possibly the same would not want to see them as
well. Veiling a word behind #$@% is tantamount to beeping out a
word on TV and now, putting an electronic patch to prevent the
tender-hearted from accidentally lipreading something offensive.


While I've done precisely as you describe, just recently, I tend to agree
with you. OTOH, part of polite discourse in the company of those of
whom you are not familiar, is not to use terms or language that will
reasonably offend anybody.



Same same with 'g_d', 'G_d' and 'god'. My Baptist roots go way
back; if you have to use his name in vain - at least spell it correctly.



stepping down from pulpit



Cheers


Dave Kearton





I always thought #$*& %#@& $#*&@ translated as "Friggin, fraggin,
riggin, raggin!" as expressed by some Looney Tunes character who, at
this time, I forget which one it was. Yosemite Sam maybe??

Mark and Kim Smith wrote:

snip

I always thought #$*& %#@& $#*&@ translated as "Friggin, fraggin,
riggin, raggin!" as expressed by some Looney Tunes character who, at
this time, I forget which one it was. Yosemite Sam maybe??

That's my somewhat hazy memory, as well.

Guy

Mark and Kim Smith wrote:

Same same with 'g_d', 'G_d' and 'god'. My Baptist roots go way
back; if you have to use his name in vain - at least spell it
correctly.

By which you mean YHWH, right?

Dave Kearton wrote:

snip

Point well made - however, just as some people would prefer not to hear such
words in conversation, possibly the same would not want to see them as
well. Veiling a word behind #$@% is tantamount to beeping out a
word on TV

I'd have to disagree: if there is no doubt what the word is, how are anyone's
presumably tender sensibilities being protected?

and now, putting an electronic patch to prevent the
tender-hearted from accidentally lipreading something offensive.

I guess it's time to stock smelling salts again, to revive all the fragile souls
who will be swooning into a dead faint from the mere knowledge that someone has
used an anglo-saxonism. Where is Queen Victoria when we need her?

While I've done precisely as you describe, just recently, I tend to agree
with you. OTOH, part of polite discourse in the company of those of
whom you are not familiar, is not to use terms or language that will
reasonably offend anybody.

Certainly. Just because one may have the vocabulary of a teamster doesn't mean
that it's appropriate to use it on all occasions. I _am_ a teamster, but being
around people every day who repeat the words I listed in my previous post (with
numerous minor variations) hundreds of times a day, I'm not shocked by their
use, just bored. Most people who can't manage to string more than three or four
words together without using one of the aforementioned anglo-saxonisms are
either suffering from a limited vocabulary, are lazy, or else feel that it
somehow makes them seem more macho.

Overuse of these words removes much of their force, which is a shame. Used
sparingly and in the right circumstances, cursing can be appropriate and even an
art form, and it's not necessary to use profanity. TM Oliver and Eugene
Griessel over on r.a.m. manage to be far more entertaining and much less
repetitive than my fellow workers. Well, perhaps they to tend to ascribe a 'wee
bit ower much' to the cursee (or his/her antecedents) bestial practices
involving camels, but that's a minor criticism.

But I digress. All I'm saying is that I find it hard to believe that any
rational person who would be offended by hearing or seeing the more vigorous
english swear words, is less likely to be offended if the word is disguised with
asterisks, dashes or just misspelled. Were the people who would be offended by
seeing the word '****' and its variations in print, any less offended when
Norman Mailer bowdlerized it into 'fug' instead in the "Naked and the Dead",
because it was a close as contemporary bluenoses would let him come to
accurately conveying the dialog of his characters? When Dr. Evil or Grace
("Will and Grace") uses 'Fricking' in place of '****ing,' is anyone fooled?
Like the current hullabaloo about Janet Jackson at the Superbowl, this is pure
hypocracy, brought on by silly censorship.

Same same with 'g_d', 'G_d' and 'god'. My Baptist roots go way
back; if you have to use his name in vain - at least spell it correctly.

It's not exactly a new phenomenon. Maybe depression-era audiences really were
that naive, but somehow I doubt that audiences had any trouble translating W.C.
Fields' exclamation "Godfrey Daniels!" when he was expessing exasperation. Such
silly games are brought on by people trying to evade the usually illogical and
often idiotic dictates of censors, such as those of the old Hays Code or the
Broadcast Standards department of a TV network.

Guy

even though we all know what's going on inside a bathroom, we dont
necessarily want to see it.
It's not the end of the world if we hear/see the words , just that
sometimes we would rather not. And I agree cursing has rendered the words
ineffectuall for the shock value that we once used them for, now they are
just a nuisence vulgarity, like Christina Aguilara lol.

"Guy Alcala" wrote in message
. ..
Dave Kearton wrote:

snip

Point well made - however, just as some people would prefer not to hear
such
words in conversation, possibly the same would not want to see them as
well. Veiling a word behind #$@% is tantamount to beeping out a
word on TV

I'd have to disagree: if there is no doubt what the word is, how are
anyone's
presumably tender sensibilities being protected?

and now, putting an electronic patch to prevent the
tender-hearted from accidentally lipreading something offensive.

I guess it's time to stock smelling salts again, to revive all the fragile
souls
who will be swooning into a dead faint from the mere knowledge that
someone has
used an anglo-saxonism. Where is Queen Victoria when we need her?

While I've done precisely as you describe, just recently, I tend to
agree
with you. OTOH, part of polite discourse in the company of those
of
whom you are not familiar, is not to use terms or language that will
reasonably offend anybody.

Certainly. Just because one may have the vocabulary of a teamster doesn't
mean
that it's appropriate to use it on all occasions. I _am_ a teamster, but
being
around people every day who repeat the words I listed in my previous post
(with
numerous minor variations) hundreds of times a day, I'm not shocked by
their
use, just bored. Most people who can't manage to string more than three
or four
words together without using one of the aforementioned anglo-saxonisms are
either suffering from a limited vocabulary, are lazy, or else feel that it
somehow makes them seem more macho.

Overuse of these words removes much of their force, which is a shame.
Used
sparingly and in the right circumstances, cursing can be appropriate and
even an
art form, and it's not necessary to use profanity. TM Oliver and Eugene
Griessel over on r.a.m. manage to be far more entertaining and much less
repetitive than my fellow workers. Well, perhaps they to tend to ascribe
a 'wee
bit ower much' to the cursee (or his/her antecedents) bestial practices
involving camels, but that's a minor criticism.

But I digress. All I'm saying is that I find it hard to believe that any
rational person who would be offended by hearing or seeing the more
vigorous
english swear words, is less likely to be offended if the word is
disguised with
asterisks, dashes or just misspelled. Were the people who would be
offended by
seeing the word '****' and its variations in print, any less offended when
Norman Mailer bowdlerized it into 'fug' instead in the "Naked and the
Dead",
because it was a close as contemporary bluenoses would let him come to
accurately conveying the dialog of his characters? When Dr. Evil or Grace
("Will and Grace") uses 'Fricking' in place of '****ing,' is anyone
fooled?
Like the current hullabaloo about Janet Jackson at the Superbowl, this is
pure
hypocracy, brought on by silly censorship.

Same same with 'g_d', 'G_d' and 'god'. My Baptist roots go
way
back; if you have to use his name in vain - at least spell it
correctly.

It's not exactly a new phenomenon. Maybe depression-era audiences really
were
that naive, but somehow I doubt that audiences had any trouble translating
W.C.
Fields' exclamation "Godfrey Daniels!" when he was expessing exasperation.
Such
silly games are brought on by people trying to evade the usually
illogical and
often idiotic dictates of censors, such as those of the old Hays Code or
the
Broadcast Standards department of a TV network.

Guy

I'd have to disagree: if there is no doubt what the word is, how are anyone's
presumably tender sensibilities being protected?


Because there are youngsters that visit newsgroups as well as us old pharts -
personally, I'd rather not be the one to add select words to their vocabulary.
Will they learn them? Most certainly. Hopefully, not from me.

The way an English teacher once explained it, "F-words" are for people with
limited vocabularies - if thats the best word you know for a given situation,
it shows your lack of education." I probably thought , "What the #$^% does she
know??" at the time....

v/r
@#$%%# Gordon