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Chris OConnor 
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
Joined: 20 Oct 2000
Posts: 6849
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Location: Florida
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 Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:20 am Post subject: Ch. 7 - The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television
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Ch. 7 - The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television
Please use this thread for discussing Ch. 7 - The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television. |
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JulianTheApostate
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Joined: 23 Jul 2005
Posts: 289
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:34 am Post subject:
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This was another good chapter. You know, had Pinker reordered the chapters, with the most dense chapters coming last, more people would have read a significant portion of the book.
I was impressed with how deftly Pinker discuss profanity without being excessively profane. It was a well written.
A few ideas stood out. As society has become less religious, curse words have switched from religious concepts to sex & filth. Swearing is connected to a deeper, more primitive, part of the brain than ordinary conversation.
Plus, there was a delightful discussion of one significant word.
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| The anthropologist Ashley Montagu referred to fuck as "a transitive verb for the most transitive of human activities," and therein lies a tale." |
As Pinker explains, the transitive variations of that word are all rather nasty, while the intransitive versions, such as make love, are much more kind. |
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