Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Introducing Bleu

I'm introducing a new tag tonight: "bleu." This is my tag for posts that contain an especially large amount of vulgar language. I'm not inclined to overuse it in ordinary conversation, but 1) there are times when my opinions are best expressed in words of four letters, and 2) I happen to be intrigued by the linguistic and xenolinguistic aspects of vulgar language. I know that some of my more avid fans are averse to vulgarity, so it seemed useful to have a tag for it.
Tags: bleu, blogging, linguistics
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  • 4 comments
tonithegreat

tonithegreat

January 28 2008, 05:17:39 UTC 13 years ago

Of course, now one wonders if there was something particularly annoying you were pondering tonight that may have been about to inspire you to write a bleu post!
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

January 28 2008, 05:45:38 UTC 13 years ago

Yes, I'm working on a requested sample of xenolinguistic vulgarity.
ditenebre

ditenebre

January 28 2008, 05:41:35 UTC 13 years ago

I also am not inclined to use vulgar language in most circumstances, as I rather look at it as being a bad habit more than anything else. And, at times, a sign of linguistic laziness -- there are so many more colorful phrases that could be used, if I bothered to expend the effort to think. But that's just it ... sometimes, if I'm reacting in the moment, I am not thinking, and don't always want to slow myself down to think. I just want to vent my spleen, and once I've been able to do that, I can return to rational thought and creative use of language.

Umm, that would be for angry vulgar usage. Then, there are other, non-angry, kinda raunchy times, when earthy vulgar language is exactly what fits.
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

January 28 2008, 05:51:27 UTC 13 years ago Edited:  January 28 2008, 05:54:20 UTC

For me, vulgarity has many uses.

1) There is the fast, casual use of idle conversational decoration.

2) There is the fast, reflexive use in response to disaster.

3) There is the carefully thought out, baroque use of obscenity to express a negative opinion in sophisticated detail using original phrases and/or rare words. This is a form of linguistic art.

4) There is the use of terms which are sometimes considered vulgar, but which were originally just ordinary terms for body parts/functions/etc., returned to their original context. This is the "raunchy" or "earthy" use that you mentioned above. In this context I don't consider those words vulgar. One of the things I like about my desert language is that it has a lot of words for erotic situations that have positive connotations. Of course, it covers the other categories too.

Anyhow, I tend to use a minor to moderate amount of vulgarity. I don't mind other people using it moderately. What irks me is when people do it with the intent of being shocking (yawn) or overuse it to the point where it makes their language hard to parse (charmingly described as "people who have mistaken 'fuck' for a comma").