h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think this is a valuable discussion, SoRB, and was glad to see the question asked.

One of the removed postings recorded my surprise that I personally find the word "shit" to be more offensive than the f-word.

I will use the f-word casually, if I drop a book on my foot for example, even at work. And I certainly hear it used at work, even if it is only used partially as in "king hell".

I think it might be because - for some strange reason "shit" sounds louder than the f-word when spoken at the same volume. I am sure a linguist could explain why.

Anyways - in answer to your question - yes, the word "shit" is offensive, and more so than a lot of the words that are not actually permitted here.

B

I never knew before that shit was allowed and would asterisk it out. I reckon the main reason I find it more offensive than the f-word is simply the difference in original meanings.


az

If someone held me down and wrote it on my forehead then I would probably find it offensive. But if they just said it, I wouldnt.

Well, my point was that I find shit more offensive than the f-word, if asked to make a comparison. I don't actually find either word all that offensive. For example, either would do just fine as an expletive if I dropped a book on my foot.


az

Incredibly, I find that posting 40 has been hidden. The moderation email makes clear that I can rewrite and repost it to "solve the problem", so here goes...



To those rather p*tronising and s*nctimonious people who have turned up merely to say "Oh not this again ", you are of course welcome to [go away], and I wonder why you bothered to post at all.

This IS a significantly different discussion, in that it's focussed, or at least *intended* to be focussed, on the (to me) baffling decision to allow the word "shit" to be used in full while other (to me) less offensive words are stopped by the filter.

I did NOT intend this to become yet another discussion about the Polari entry, which does not contain the word shit, or about Little Richard lyrics, which do not contain the word shit. If anyone does want to discuss those anomalies, I and apparently others would appreciate it if you'd ride those hobby horses elsewhere.

My sole aim with this thread was to try to discover whether I was in some sort of minority in thinking that shit was almost as offensive as the f-word, or whether the decision to allow the word was baffling a lot of people.



One observation, additionally - BEFORE the filter was introduced, I don't think I ever even tried to post the word shit in full. I just starred it out, thus: s**t. I did so because I recognised that it was offensive. However, the filter is now in place, and since there are some words I can't even post with asterisks in them, the unstarred word "shit" is probably going to feature more heavily in my postings in future if I ever feel the need for an expletive.

Is this progress?

SoRB

Can I just point out that I don't have a hobby horse, I had a genuine and fairly unique concern which was spotted last friday, discussed with the eds and resolved on monday. If I have mentioned it at all this week it is to point out that the eds *can* be reasonable about some things.


I have already (post 2) commented on this subject so will now unsub.

Here's a suggestion - it's has not been used often enough to be on the list of words with which problems have been experienced in the past.

It's just not, currently, above the radar.

Maybe because more people find it more offensive, maybe it just doesn't naturally get typed in this media, or in personally aimed invective that's most likely to lead to the yikes button being pressed.
Waz

PS it's not progress if we substitute the filter's standards in place of our own, whatever those are, no.

I don't find it offensive, although if I was told that my last week's effort in work was a heap of shit, then I would be offended. But that's in a different context. So it wouldn't be the word itself that would offend me, more the application of it to things I value.

That said I registered a slight pang of discomfort typing the word "shit" into H2G2. There - it just happened again. Oh shit.

I dont find the word 'shit' offensive at all, nowadays its part of our slang language that has taken over if you want to use them, plus many others

But i do find 'big job' or 'poo' very funny

How you can use them in sudden speech maybe difficult.

Bloke falling off ladder shouting "oh poo", doesnt work

'poo', who the hell invented that word

No SoRB, you're not alone. In my personal offensiveness list shit sits just below f--- and just above wa----.

I think that the 'C' word must be the lowest

BK, you have hit the nail on the head in my case. I cannot possibly use the word 'poo'! In company, I do not discuss my 'footsies' or my 'handies' or even my 'wee-wees'. Alone, I don't think of these words either. I am not 2 years old (to be honest, I find even 2yr olds saying 'poo' very strange. And until someone comes up with a better alternative - shit it will be!

Oddly or otherwise, the 'c-word' in Spanish is not considered offensive in the slightest. It is often used as an expletive but usually in the same sense as 'well heck!'.


az

The notion that someone could for rational reasons find the word shit the least amount offensive is an unlikely one and nothing noted in this thread has changed that - as has been noted on this site before, there are some fragile people out there, being offended by a word because one's mother wouldn't like it or because it's short and sharp or even because it's not as elegant as a word with a latin history are nothing but attempts to rationalise the irrational.
I find the idea that the use of the word is grounds enough to make the detailed assumptions about another person that some have outlined laughable.

I'm not offended by the word shit because my mother wouldn't like it. In fact, I'm not offended by it at all. However, I was and remain prepared to accept that it IS offensive to significant number of people. Whether their reason is rational or not is irrelevant. The only criteria I have or had for moderating my language are:

1. Do I find the word offensive? (Answer: no, I don't find ANY words offensive. Not one.)
2. Do significant numbers of other people find it offensive?
3. Do I have any respect or concern for those people?

If the word shit only offended one h2g2 user, it would not and should not appear on the list of banned words.

If that one person happened to be a friend of mine, I would take care never to use it "in front" of them, out of consideration for them.

It's true that the whole concept of there being certain combinations of letters and syllables that some people find offensive is inherently ridiculous to the rational mind. However, much as we may wish the world and the people in it were rational, they are demonstrably not, and we must live with that fact.

SoRB

You asked for a personal view - I gave mine.
What I hoped to get at with the mother comment I made was more along the lines not being offended by something merely because of "recieved wisdom" or because peers or the masses say you should be.

I'll admit that I consider some words to have a power they don't deserve to do harm when applied at the end of thought process I consider idiotic and would respond to that use on principles unrelated to finding an actuall combination letters offensive.
Double standards?

When I was a young kid and I first heard the word 'shit', I asked my mother what it meant. She nearly had a fit and told me it was only a word used by 'dirty people'. Her reaction affected me for many years and made it seem like a really powerful swearword. I don't find it in the least offensive now, but I still wouldn't dream of saying in front of my mother. I would say w followed by op, in front of her. But I wouldn't say it in front of most my acquaintances - as I feel it has certain racist connotations, and would be worried how they might interpret my saying it. But I might well say it to a close friend who knows me well, and would know I have no truck with racism.

I must admit I'm very surprised that we can still say shit on h2g2, when there's so many more mild words, (in my opinion), that we can't say.

Unbelievable. You lot are all shitting me, right?

RF

As has been said, context is all important & that seems to me to be the flaw in any filter/word check system.

I don't find the word itself offensive, but then I can't immediately think of any word that I consider offensive in itself. Words are merely labels, it's how & when they are used or the tone of voice that can offend as far as I'm concerned.

Shit is not a word I would choose to use as a slang term for faeces, though I do use it as an expletive (generally only in private). I think it's generally considered less offensive than some other words probably because it's been more publicly used for longer.