Monday, June 04, 2007

Let's define our terms, shall we?

I believe that language is important.

Words, are important.

Even in profanity.

Words like sonofabitch, motherfucker (or the more colloquial 'muthafucka'), whore (or 'ho'), bitch (or the more acceptable 'BIATCH')

These words can be powerful modifiers. When appropriately applied, they have the power to remove ambiguity and clearly and concisely express one's thoughts.

They are a boon to communication.

The lack of such words in the workplace, while widely viewed as a "good thing", actually hinders communication and can lead to costly misinterpretation.

Let's examine the word "sonofabitch" for a moment.

At thefreedictionary.com, which is the most authoritative dictionary in the world (because it's free), a Son Of A Bitch is defined as follows:

"son of a bitch
Vulgar n. pl. sons of bitches
A person regarded as thoroughly mean or disagreeable.
interj.
Used to express annoyance, disgust, disappointment, or amazement."


The Thesaurus (also free, so equally definitive) lists the following synonyms:

"Noun 1. son of a bitch - insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous
dickhead, mother fucker, motherfucker, prick, asshole, bastard, cocksucker, SOB, whoreson, shit
dirty word, vulgarism, obscenity - an offensive or indecent word or phrase
disagreeable person, unpleasant person - a person who is not pleasant or agreeable"


While this scholarly analysis of the word is informative, sometimes a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

In the photo below, the guy on the right is a member of a bomb squad in the middle of deactivating an explosive device. The guy behind him, well, he's a sonofabitch.




8 comments:

crse said...

Ok thats just pee your pants funny. In a "I really hope thats photoshopped" way.

Trelvix said...

Heh heh. Love the Thesaurus bit - that rolls off the tongue!

Here's my favorite sonofabitch. It's a classic but still funny:

The Shocker (Safe For Work)

Lunatic Biker said...

Very well put. I think the word fuck should no longer be considered a swear word because of its general usage these days by people from all walks of life. However, it is comforting that I have never heard my mother use the word fuck in any sentence.

Satyavati devi dasi said...

This picture made me laugh my ass off.

You know, if you're out training and all that, you have to be able to not react to extraneous noises and distractions....

I'm sure the guy with the bag was just trying to enhance his parter's education.

Anonymous said...

Have to tell a funny story. My husband returned from Viet Nam with "fuck" one of the most common words in his vocabulary. Sitting down to dinner with his saintly mother upon his return, he unconsciously said, "Please pass the fucking salt". He told me his mother literally fainted. Now, you have to know that this woman was the very vision of an elderly June Cleaver at the time. I had a good laugh over that one.

Needless to say, he had quite an adjustment to make upon returning to the motherland.

Fiery said...

travelingal -
BWAHAHAHA I can just imagine the battle hardened soldier's look of chagrin at causing his mom to faint. Probably took him a second to figure out what the matter was?

frog pajamas said...

that was the greatest post ever written. you lead me to the most awesomest punchline you sonofabitch. nicely done!

Joe said...

Goddamn you X, I laughed out loud and I'll be poaching the pic with all due credit!