Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Giving a ... Darn

I just read that on this date in the year 1939, one of the most famous film scenes in history was filmed - the scene in Gone with the Wind in which Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) leaves Scarlett O'Hara (played by Vivian Leigh) ...


Today, in a time when it seems that nobody ... including children ... can express an opinion without using lots of four-letter words, it seems quaint that the use of the word damn in the movie was considered virtually scandalous ... film censors allowed the use of the word, but fined producer David O. Selznick $5000 for the privilege.

Nowadays, even the priests and nuns probably use worse language than that.

Here's how bad it's gotten, as shown by this street sign in Virginia Beach ...


And so, Dear Readers, if you give a ... uh ... darn, take a stand against the use of foul language in public. As my mother would have said, the use of four-letter words just tells people you aren't intelligent enough to think of anything better to say.

Have a good day. Speak properly ... children may be listening.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

8 comments:

Duckbutt said...

Wow! I didsn't know that david Selznick was fined for it! A d****d shame!

Amanda said...

I find it annoying that some of my friends, who don't swear in a face to face conversation, seem to think its cool to use all sorts of words in IM.

eViL pOp TaRt said...

To me, the off-putting part about profanity is the subtext of hostility behind it. It's like the person is attempting to spread metaphorical fertilizer on a clean carpet.

The unintentional verbal slips are not the problem; it's the studied use of the unacceptable words.

Mike said...

I'll bet when the term 'freedom of speech' was written the writers never envisioned this argument.

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

As a person who swears like a sailor and never seen Gone With the Wind I guess I am the exception to your readers.

I do not speak like that in public because I would not speak like that in front of my grandparents or nieces or nephews so I wouldn't want to offend anyone. I feel I would be disrespectful if I did that loudly in public. I hate when I hear people do that. Especially with children around.

But having said that at home or with my friends I'm a bawdy broad. Sorry. Yes, there are other words to use but sometimes a good cuss word feels so @#$! good.

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

gee Bill that should have been never saw not seen.....so maybe I am just stupid. :-)

Bilbo said...

Duck - stick around...I'm a veritable fountain of useless information!

Amanda - people who curse in IM or SMS-speak are at least creative in coming up with the short versions of their curses.

Angelique - good point. I have been known to use rather salty language, but I generally try to save it for the times when noting else will quite do.

Mike - I think they had their own sets of four-letter words, just different from ours.

Peggy - there's nothing wrong with swearing like a sailor as long as one is with a lot of sailors, and not among children or strangers. As I admitted to Angelique above, I can let loose with a good broadside, too ... but I try to save the really "good" stuff for the times it's really needed. Oh, and you are most certainly NOT stupid. I don't hang out with stupid people.

Big Sky Heidi said...

I like your post, and the sign!