What Are Words For?

Tell me you didn't just say that -- Picture by blogSpotter

by blogSpotter
I'm reading To Kill A Mockingbird, and of course the book is an excellent read. (Review is forthcoming). The setting is Maycombe, Alabama in the 1930's. The book overflows with the N-word, and even characters sympathetic to the Finch family and the black defendant use the N-word. It has me thinking about how bad epithets evolve and develop social restrictions over the years. The words that come to mind now are the N-, B-, and F- bombs: nigger, bitch and fag. Yet another term flirts with banishment, but not just yet: Jew.

The terms can be bandied about liberally within the target group. Blacks will use the N-word liberally between themselves, even as a form of empowerment. Gays will use the F-word with riotous abandon, but if a straight person says it he will be punished with a stale dessert and a bad hair-do. The B-word has such powers that women don't really even use it with each other unless they want a hair-pulling catfight. A woman will use the B-word for a woman who is absent from the room. Coming from a man (and depending on the circumstances) the B-word is pretty much a declaration of war, or a cessation of future relations. Such is the power of a word -- and destructive power at that.

The word "Jew" has for some reason taken a negative connation, particularly used as an adjective or verb. People may opt for "Jewish", "Israeli", "practices Judaism" and other workarounds because the word itself seems somehow accusatory or racist. It should have no bad connotation, but these words only have destructive powers because of the nasty tone with which they've been delivered over the years. There are words that used to shock but have somehow gone mainstream and have mostly camp appeal nowadays: whore, slut, queer and darkie to name a few. Whore, slut and darkie reflect faded, antiquated values (by 21st century "humanist" standards anyhow). Queer has been resurrected as a valid synonym for odd and has even made its way into TV titles.

The preschool saying is, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". Words not only have the power to hurt -- they can cause wars and embargos. The King of Spain recently told Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez to "Shut up". Because of this impolitic exchange, Venezuela is threatening to cut off Spain from its fiscal dealings. You can say that someone is too sensitive and it doesn't matter. If you say something thoughtlessly, you'll be composing your apology the very next day. If you deliberately toss out one of the "bomb" words above, you've lit a fuse as surely as if you were a pyromaniac. Get ready for an explosion.

I think the words have ugliness, not at all because of the target groups but rather the ugliness of the speaker's mentality. Ugly is as ugly does; nothing reflects ugly like ugly words. In You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks' character says that he has the gift of a savage tongue. He follows by saying he has a profound sense of depression each time he uses it as a weapon. We shouldn't water down what we have to say -- political correctness is a mire to avoid at the other extreme. But by according other people their basic dignity and refraining from nastiness, we garner much dignity for ourselves. Funny how it works out that way.

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