Tag Archives: language

Interesting Links, November 20, 2011

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Here are links I found interesting on November 20, 2011:

  • How Secure Is My Password? – Want to know how long it would take a Desktop PC to crack your password? This site will tell you.
  • Police Response to Occupy Wall Street is Absurd – I can't argue this. While I'm not 100% behind the movement, I think the police are getting extreme.
  • Why Facebook’s Seamless Sharing is Wrong – My personal opinion is that Facebook knows too much about its users activities and shares too much of that information online by default. It's a royal pain in the ass to keep track of all the privacy setting changes needed to maintain a modicum of privacy. It's another one of the reasons I'm avoiding Facebook these days.
  • hello, my fucking name is… – I will be submitting an entry to this site today.

Interesting Links, November 14, 2011

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Here are links I found interesting on November 14, 2011:

  • Why Steve Jobs cried – Yet another book review of "Steve Jobs."
  • Congress: Trading stock on inside information? – "Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information – but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate." How is this legal? Thanks to @BWJones for sharing this link.
  • Bachmann: America Should Be More Like China – Yep. Republican Bachmann says we need to be more like a Communist country. Seriously: Where does the GOP find these people?
  • Bert and Ernie recording for TomTom GPS – behind the scenes – A funny video for muppets fans. (Yes, I know it's an ad.)
  • DeKloutifying – John Scalzi's take on Klout. My favorite line: "At which point I decided that Klout was actually being run by dicks…" I dropped my Klout account a few weeks ago, sick of being nagged via email by them, despite turning off notifications a variety of ways. Seriously: do we really need this kind of crap? Popularity contests are for insecure idiots who are missing the point of life.
  • Banks Quietly Ramp Up Consumer Fees – If they can't get you one way, they'll get you another. My mattress is looking better every day.
  • History of English – Fun video about the history of the English language. Thanks to @webpath on Twitter for sharing the link.

What Do You Do When the RIGHT Word is a BAD Word?

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6

Use the bad word?

I’m trying to write a blog post about a problem I’ve seen that makes the people with this problem seem….well, like assholes.

I can list a bunch of equally “bad” words here, but since I know some of my clients read this, I thought I’d keep it as close to PG rated as I could.

And that’s the problem. I want a word that isn’t one of those “bad” words. I want a word that’s perfectly acceptable in polite company.

Restrained by Niceties

The closest almost polite word I can come up with is jerk, and even that has connotations that are questionable. Besides, it’s not strong enough. These people are beyond jerks. They’re…well, what?

It’s unfortunate that certain words, on their own, should be considered so objectionable that we simply don’t utter them in polite company. George Carlin riffed on this in his famous “The Seven Words” routine. (If you have never seen this routine or haven’t seen it in a while, watch this video. It’s more than just a list of bad words. Carlin was a genius when it came to language.) The reluctance to use “bad” words just makes it difficult for people to express themselves accurately. The word I want is asshole, but I don’t think it’s right to use it because it might offend someone. So I scratch around for the right word and only come up with more of the same.

The Meaning I Want to Convey

Asshole, DefinedThe Thesaurus in my Mac, which I don’t use very often, was no help. It didn’t even include asshole (although the Dictionary did, as shown here).

When I looked up jerk, the synonyms were just as mild as jerk is. Ass was only included because it referred to an animal as well, but it also included the secondary meaning with these wimpy synonyms:

idiot, dolt, simpleton, imbecile; dimwit, halfwit, dummy, dum-dum, loon, jackass, cretin, jerk, fathead, blockhead, jughead, boob, bozo, buffoon, numbskull, numbnuts, lummox, dunce, moron, meatball, doofus, ninny, nincompoop, dipstick, lamebrain, chump, peabrain, thickhead, dumb-ass, wooden-head, pinhead, airhead, birdbrain; nitwit, twit, turkey, goofball, putz; dated tomfool, muttonhead

The word I want doesn’t mean stupid because of some kind of mental deficiency, as these words suggest. It means stupid and offensive because of a mean streak and/or complete lack of regard for other people. That’s what an asshole is, isn’t it?

How about Dick?

Phil Plait used the word dick recently in a speech he gave to a mixed crowd at a skeptics event in Las Vegas this summer. (Highly recommended folks; it’ll help you understand how to be more convincing when trying to make a point.) It might be the least offensive of the words I’ve been able to come up with. But like sucks, I have difficulty using it — partially because I’ve had friends named Dick. (Poor guys.)

What do you, dear reader, think? Is dick okay? Not quite as strong as I want, but the meaning is pretty much there.

Any suggestions? I can’t write the blog post until I have the right word and I do want to get it written. What do you think?