The Observation Deck

Gary Rice wrote:One story that I heard long ago, that seems to have at least some basis in fact is that "swear words", at least in the English language, originated in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of England.


The French word for, well you know what, and again acceptable; fornicate.

The Anglo-Saxon word? A four-letter expression beginning with "f".

This would probably be a fascinating study for anyone so inclined.

The Anglo-Saxon word - The F word stood for : Fornicate Under Command of the King

The word "f@@k" is actually an acronym. It dates back to the Good Old Days, when England was severely underpopulated due to the usual combination of fire/war/plague, and the King issued an official order to... well, to replenish the population. Hence the phrase "Fornicate Under Command of the King" passed into everyday language."

Wow!

You learn something new every day...

Interesting story about the origin of the F bomb but it is just an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/fuck.asp

Snopes is really a great reference for some of those strange stories that go around.

this is from the Aug. 11-2005 edition of The Economist ( I would link to the article but you would need to be a subscriber to view their archives) Maybe this will clear up the orgins of the 'F-word"

AISCHROLATREIAN dictionaries, which glory in the meanings of naughty words, have been around for some time. But words used to talk about sex present problems for etymologists. First, most of the good ones are coined in private and so are deliberately hard for outsiders to understand. Second, there is usually an unknowable delay between when a word is first shouted across a bar and when it is written down, making its origin doubly mysterious.

Like the rest of the English language, many dirty words can be traced back through Latin and Greek to a common Indo-European root. A second infusion of surprisingly catchy ones came via the Vikings, who gave English some of its best ways to curse. One of the most common probably derives from the same root as the Norwegian word fukka and the Swedish focka (to copulate), and was first recorded in the early 16th century.
Largely thanks to Chaucer, whose poetry is full of naughtiness, some of the best-sounding words come from old English. Some, like swonken (the past participle of swink, meaning “to toilâ€Â￾, but also used to mean coupling), have disappeared. Others, like chode (a schlong or penis) are now enjoying a revival. Sadly, Mr Morton does not offer a theory as to why some words are current, while others have withered.

New sex words are often spawned by innovations in other fields. From 1591 to 1603, for example, ten new words to denote a man who has sex with another man appeared, probably thanks to the comedies of the late-Elizabethan stage. Much later, uranist lost out to homosexual as a way to describe a baedling. Technology has left its mark too: in the 1970s, some prostitutes used 78 as slang for a client whose efforts were shortlivedâ€â€￾a reference to the faster speed and shorter playtime of those records.

In Regina Brett's article today she quoted an essay winner for the shortest article on "what is wrong with the world" and the winner's essay was "I am". I thought that was the most profound thing I had read in awhile and it did make me think of Lakewood and the Deck.

In addition to offensive language on the Deck, it does seem different lately in more damaging ways. I loved to read the Deck for what was really going on in Lakewood and for all the different opinions. While the overwhelming majority of posters seem genuinely involved in the Deck because they care about Lakewood, some posts just seem filled with anger. It is one thing to debate different issues, but when there are personal attacks it changes everything. And also when the deck is used solely for political ambitions with posts that generalize all LO contributers together in a hostile or resentful tone, it takes aways from the Whole.

Anger is as contagious as Love and instead of competing with anger for the better of Lakewood it would be nice to see all that passion and energy work together for the better of Lakewood. Group consciousness is more powerful than people know and can be the ugliest or most beautiful thing we have in this Universe.

So Gary, while I agree the curse words should not be allowed, I think some of the hostility in some of the posts are much more damaging and push me personally toward reading a good book instead.

Three thoughts attributed to the great Edmund Burke:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.

Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.

Kumbayah, all.

Gary Rice wrote:Three thoughts attributed to the great Edmund Burke:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

There it is is a nut shell.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Gary Rice wrote:Three thoughts attributed to the great Edmund Burke:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

There it is is a nut shell.

.

I agree too, but don't mistake not engaging in dialog that can be catty or filled with insults and generalizations, is doing nothing. Sometimes our energies might be better spent in direct service.

What is wrong with Lakewood? I am. So I can only change that.