语言与文风2016aeon.co
脏话为什么如此具有冒犯性？
Naughty words: What makes swear words so offensive?
导读
这篇 Aeon 文章探讨脏话为何具有冒犯力：词本身的禁忌色彩、说话者意图与听者文化背景共同决定了它的杀伤力。对写作者来说，这是一堂关于“语域与读者预期”的课——同一个词在不同语境里可以是侮辱、玩笑或毫无感觉。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
脏话的力量来自读者/听者的禁忌预设，而非字面含义；写作中想用粗俗词制造冲击，必须先判断受众是否共享这套禁忌。
- 02
真正伤人的往往不是脏话本身，而是藏在其中的身份贬称（如“pleb”），写作中的攻击性要分清来源。
- 03
同一句话跨文化会“翻译丢失”：夸人的词可能被读成辱骂，跨语境写作要给读者足够的线索。
- 04
语域错位本身就是修辞工具，正式文本里一个粗词、粗俗场合里一个雅词，都能产生效果。
HN 评论精选
脏话的褒贬取决于文化语境，字面修饰语常被禁忌感淹没。
有意思的是，脏话的冒犯程度在 different 文化里差别极大。比如在新西兰，被人叫“good cunt”近似一种底层口吻的夸奖，意思基本就是“好人”。可在别的地方，比如英国，光是看到 cunt 这个词就火大，“good”那层意思完全丢失了。
LouisSayers查看英文原文
It is funny how swearing offense differs quite dramatically in cultures. In NZ for instance being called a 'good cunt' is like a lower class way of giving a compliment - basically 'good person'. In other places e.g. the UK, the sight of the word 'cunt' gets them riled up - the word 'good' is lost in translation.
冒犯力来自阶级蔑称而非脏话，要分清侮辱的真正载体。
“fucking pleb”那句之所以糟糕，不是因为脏话，而是因为骂人“pleb”。不熟悉的人可能不知道，这是上层阶级贬低工人阶级的蔑称。另外，后来查明那名警察在这件事上撒了谎。
Raticide查看英文原文
The 'fucking pleb' statement wasn't bad because of swearing it was for calling him a 'pleb'. For those that don't know, it's a derogatory term used by the upper class for the working class. Also it turns out that the police officer lied about the whole thing.
不懂禁忌的人感受不到脏话的冒犯，冒犯力是被文化建构出来的。
大约一年前，我日本的岳父母来做客，我哥哥问他们想不想试试他正在众筹的一款新脏话卡牌游戏。我当时有点犹豫，虽然我妻子的父母并不真懂那些词的意思，但他们知道那是“脏话”，可能会觉得不合适。结果这只是我自己对“脏话”的预设观念在干扰判断，大家玩得很开心。后来岳父母跟我解释：他们知道脏话是用来冒犯人的，但想不通它为什么、怎么会冒犯人，所以他们能像喊“土豆！”一样轻松地喊出“Cunt！”。
ranebo查看英文原文
A year or so ago while my Japanese in-laws were visiting, my brother asked them if they would like to try a new swearing card game he was kickstarting(1). I was hesitant to let this happen as although my wife's parents didn't really know the meaning of the words, they knew they were "swear" words, and that might be seen as inappropriate. In the end this was just my predefined view of what a "swear" word was, clouding my judgement, and everyone had a good time. My in-laws later explained to me that although they knew "swear" words were meant to be offensive, they couldn't wrap their heads around why/how, and as such happily yelled "Cunt!" as easily as they would "Potato!". (1) http://www.f--kthegame.com/
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