Gothamist: Foul Language Crusader Has Bar of Soap for NYC

allie25

Tue, 27 May 2008 12:41:23 -0500

this is so stupid.. words are only as bad as you want to believe they are. fucking stupid.

Mott the Hoople

Tue, 27 May 2008 12:08:55 -0500

it smells like hemorrhoids in here

Think twice

Tue, 27 May 2008 11:15:48 -0500

I like the Farscape curses: Frell, Hezmana, Yotz...

REALITY CHECK

Tue, 27 May 2008 11:12:35 -0500

Swear word replacements don't really solve the problem of the lazy speaker, because they have the same meaning as the actual swear words themselves. Just stay cool until you really need to blow the steam. And sometimes nothing compares to an icy stare.

zodak

Tue, 27 May 2008 10:43:43 -0500

i have to agree with Spiritof76 on this. i hardly ever swear, but when i let loose & curse, my friends snap to attention because they know i mean it.

HowBoutDemCowboys

Tue, 27 May 2008 10:42:09 -0500

Wouldn't calling someone a Philistine, in a derogatory way, be a slur?

Roquentin

Mon, 26 May 2008 23:58:05 -0500

This is about the dumbest thing I've read in a week.

Kevin Walsh

Mon, 26 May 2008 23:47:12 -0500

Actually in New York -- I'm not sure about other places -- "asshole" is replaced by security guards, doormen, etc. as "sir", as in: "Sir, can I help you?" Translated, this means: "Asshole, get away from there!" www.forgotten-ny.com

Anna_Merkin

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:24:27 -0500

Starrygordon, perhaps you don't recall an infamous scene from "Do the Right Thing." There was a classic case of long-winded cursing in the city.

Snoopy

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:48:55 -0500

I just love popping Spirit's cherry. Such a fine individual. NOT!

starrygordon

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:44:32 -0500

Good swearing is an art, a kind of folk poetry, containing elements of both tradition and creativity. The greatest practitioners I have run into have been old Army NCOs from the South. "Son of a one-eyed, yellow, bald, bow-legged bitch!" That sort of thing. Unfortunately the pace of city life doesn't give one much time for lengthy verbal excursions.

Spiritof76

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:27:28 -0500

Ah, the ever amusing (not!) Snoopy. Ask me if I care whether I can curse kewl. I'm not trying to impress anyone, least of all uneducated kiddies who think it's kewl to use vulgar language in polite society. As for philistine, I guess you've never had keyboard bounce, eh? And unless you're from Philistia, it's lower case. The whole point of swearing is to say something offensive. These words aren't offensive. So you want to offend people every other minute? His whole point is not that you can't use those words at all, but you should reserve them for when they're appropriate. If you say "shit" for every little thing that annoys you, that takes away its shock value, which runs counter to the purpose you're giving. If you say it all the time, what do you have left when you really need to show anger? People who know me well know that if I say "fuck this shit" even softly, they should leave the room quickly because I don't use language like that unless I'm really pissed -- not annoyed, not steamed, not peeved, not ticked.

annieuro

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:26:52 -0500

I don't like gargoyles. : [ They give me nightmares.

Brouhaha

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:06:04 -0500

Fuck him! :-)

Dave Hogarty

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:46:58 -0500

I wish Conan O'Brien's attempted popularizing of "krunk" had caught on.

interlard

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:43:59 -0500

The whole point of swearing is to say something offensive. These words aren't offensive. If Jim O'Connor wanted to improve people's vocabulary, he should be making up new, more offensive curse words. Suggestions?

Anna_Merkin

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:17:11 -0500

Splicer, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot? Fudge man! OMG LOL! *giggles like a teenager* *texts friend on T-Mobile Sidekick*

Splicer

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:59:59 -0500

Anyone I hear using these "replacement" words will get a slap from me.

fleshtone

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:53:43 -0500

i just got bungled in the gargoyle.

Snoopy

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:32:27 -0500

Spiritof 76. Your choice of words "Drat, darn, screw it, to heck with it, baloney, hogwash, horsefeathers, jerk, fool, cretin, nitwit, knucklehead, boor, barbarian, phillistine, pig, the list goes on and on" are fine for those that were in school in the mid twentieth century. Unfortunately most people today think those words "suck." Are you Kool with that? Are you groovie? I believe Philistine is spelled with only one "L". Popular slang is so boring. The combination of those "secretive" verbs, adverbs, nouns, and adjectives get so dated, so soon, it's laughable. It's kiddie language. Can you dig it?

Anna_Merkin

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:32:09 -0500

I like: F-Word - Frak (Battlestar Galactica), Farg (Johnny Dangerously - as in, "fargin' iceholes"), Flip(ping), Freaking, God-forsaken, Poughkeepsie, Frammin' A-Word - Jackal, Turkey, Cretin, Dunce, Nincompoop, Arse (does that count?), Dullard, Troll (although this is best preceded by the F-word, IMO), douchebag, Philistine, knuckle dragger, jerk, knave, etc. S-Word - Dadgummit (actually, better substitute for GD, but still...), Shucks, Sherbet, Shoot, Merde (with an American accent), Ham-fisted (as in, "that's a really ham-fisted way to go about making a point"), underwhelming, crappy, dunder-headed, etc. Spirit of 76, I presume that you mean Bay Ridge, when you refer to the "hood."

Peter

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:18:15 -0500

You can convert George Carlin's famous Seven Dirty Words to clean equivalents: Intercourse Urine Excrement Vagina Fellatio Incest Breasts

alonecity

Mon, 26 May 2008 17:39:03 -0500

I feel that Bolshevik is more offensive to way more levels than bullshit...

sonyactivision

Mon, 26 May 2008 17:31:06 -0500

CUNT. Oops, I meant to say "Jim O'Conner".

Spiritof76

Mon, 26 May 2008 17:24:15 -0500

The guy has a point. Everybody dropping the S-, A- and F-bombs every day has made those words almost meaningless. As he suggests, I use them only when the occasion demands. There are so many other perfectly adequate words that are underused. Drat, darn, screw it, to heck with it, baloney, hogwash, horsefeathers, jerk, fool, cretin, nitwit, knucklehead, boor, barbarian, phillistine, pig, the list goes on and on. The worst offenders are uneducated people in the hood, who can't seem to go one minute without using at least one of the big three cuss words.

jenspellnogood

Mon, 26 May 2008 17:19:37 -0500

what's the replacement for cocksucking douchebag faggot asshole?