rara-avis@icomm.ca wrote:
> Doesn't Marlowe at one point say something like "He
snarled and
> called me something nasty." Would that sentence
really have been
> better if Chandler had written: "He called me a
motherfucking
> asshole."
Perhaps not, but I think Marlowe would have liked to have
used stronger language than he was allowed to by his editors
and the mores of the time.
> By the way, it's a sad day in the "sincerity of the
language of the
> street" when the word "nigger" has become so
devalued that it's
> applied to a white dude like yourself.
Actually, I think this is a good thing. When that word
becomes devalued enough that it can be thrown around in a
cavalier manner between whites and blacks, it means it has
lost its venomous edge. And that means that the racists of
the world have lost a weapon. They have others, but...well,
it's the same with the swears you mentioned. When they're so
commonly used, they become far less meaningful. In the case
of vulgarities, that's a bad thing; we need something to
shock and offend. But in terms of racist slurs, I think
that's a good thing.
jess
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