The BaseBlog

If a certain religious text happens to contain words that other people consider swears, It isn't swearing, because It uses them according to their proper definition. (Plus, many of them were not considered curse words when translated.)

Many curse words have legitimate definitions, that are more often today used improperly as swears. But I'm not saying you should use them in their legitimate sense just to insult someone. You'd be missing my point.

I was originally going to say this in the original editorial, but I didn't want it brought up. Since it was brought up anyway, I thought I might expand on that, but the discussion ends now.

I've had too many bad experiences with borderline religious/political discussion on BZP, so I'm just not going to give it the chance.

Seven orders. One guy. All paid through cash. Took five minutes to take this ONE GUY's orders. Whipped through the next five that had been waiting those five minutes in something like two minutes.

JUST MAKE IT ONE ORDER. We'll put it in seperate bags if you would just ask.

Thank you, come again.

Continuing my rant about the issues with video games, I came upon a few secular reasons why no one should swear. Like, ever. Even around adults and teens.

Firstly, swearing is SPAM. SPAM, as we all know, are Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages. Many curse words have had perfectly decent meanings at some point, but no longer do since they've been transformed into swears. Others have meanings, but they also have 'clean' synonyms that work just as well. As Tillius described, they have no meaning. They are only meant to be offensive, and habitual or not, they are stupid, because they have no meaning. They are pointless because of the fact that they are stupid. A word without a meaning adds nothing to a sentence, unless you are trying to purposefully insult another person. (And there's no way that is ever right to do. I don't care how bad the service was, I'm just a grunt at a fast food restaurant, I don't need to have you spit swears in my face because you didn't get everything you wanted because you were talking on your phone instead of taking three seconds to check your screen. Sorry. Wanted to blow steam there a second. )

Anyhow, back to the subject. Because they have no meaning, swear words are stupid. Because they add nothing to the sentence, they are pointless, and thirdly, they are annoying because they are unnecessary.

Really, there are some movies that the only reason they get PG ratings is because of swear words. Now, granted, this is totally relative. What's annoying to me would not be annoying to someone who grew up around swearing. Nonetheless, these would be entertaining films that I could watch with my little sisters, and though they may get bored of it because they don't understand, the older of my younger sisters and brother would still enjoy it.

Another example is the one I used before. Arkham City is an amazing game in almost every way. (My personal favorite part was fighting Mr. Freeze in Story Plus, harder, yet less stressful since I didn't need to wait for the Batcomputer info to show up the second time around.) However, the swearing is the main part of the game that makes it annoying for me to go through. The thugs, in particular, can be funny without swearing ("It's not like he has a reputation for breaking out of traps and smashing people's faces. Oh, yeah, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE DOES!") but so often they do not. Look at this (probably not exact) quote:

What's next. Arkham County? Arkham Country? Big-%*&# Arkham World?

Granted, he's a thug. A goon, bad guy, punk, hood, crook, thief, murderer, etc. But somehow the DCAU managed to get away from swear words and still make a compelling story with thugs who were still goons, bad guys, punks, hoods, crooks, thieves, murderers, etc. Curse words are totally unnecessary, and therefore, to me and others of like mind, annoying.

I don't think I need to go into the last letter to finish my point. Curse words are SPAM.

But I have another reason besides SPAM that swearing ought to just be gotten rid of. It's juvenile. "Juvenile?" you might say, "But swearing is offensive to people because it's something only mature people ought to know anything about." But you heard right the first time.

'Mature' does not refer to the stuff you see in M-rated games. 'Mature' refers to a style of behavior. A mature person does not behave like a child. When in a disagreement over, say, the last slice of birthday cake, a juvenile will fight, shout, argue, push, and shove to get what he wants. In the same situation, a mature person would realize the unimportance of what's at stake, and offer it to the other person, or simply let them choose whether to take it or not.

Now, to explain why swearing is juvenile. BZPower's Comedies forum rules/guidelines (though I do not advise going to the comedies forum to find maturity. ) has a rule against the following

"Potty humor." Scatological stuff, like jokes about flatulence or defecation, are on the other end of the spectrum, namely that they're way too immature for BZPower. There are kids here, but let's not treat each other like fools. Respect!

"Yeah. So?" you say. Well, consider it. Why do mischievous kindergarteners think potty humor is funny. *crickets* Anyone?

It's because they know it's taboo, and disgusting. Toilet humor, and words involving what people do in the bathroom is a kindergartener's version of a swear word. And just because they're not "official" swears does not make them 'clean'. When one of your coworkers tells a dirty joke, sure, it may be something only adults would know about, but it's just as immature and tasteless as a little kid on the playground making some foul joke about what happened at potty time. And potty humor is also stupid, pointless, and annoying, even in its mildest form. (See the grand epic "Toilet Tahu" for what I mean)

My point is that under any situation, cursing is aggravating to others, and a sign of immaturity to those that use them.

EDIT: I would also describe it as disrespectful to whoever you are talking to. Going back to the Comedies Forum Standards:

There are kids here, but let's not treat each other like fools. Respect!

Because we are (mostly) all mature, we should be able to treat each other as adults who have a vocabulary that expands beyond four letters per word.

Especially when you go through the drive-through at Mickey D's.

I'm not a big videogame person. Part of the reason is because my family owns an XBOX 360, and the only games we ever buy are sports and LEGO. Outside of that, the only games we see in the store are either garbage or are inappropriate. A few months ago, I got Arkham Asylum, and outside of the swearing (which I could mute anyway), I could still have fun while keeping the swearing out (which was no worse than watching any kind of prime-time TV).

Then I decided to go ahead and get Arkham City. It's not that the vocabulary of the game grew worse, but rather the sheer number of times they appeared. I couldn't beat up any random thug without one of his gang swearing. (It got worse any time they discussed a woman in the game, since they couldn't seem to ever use a polite term for them) Not that the game wasn't fun, but it's both aggravating and disappointing that I can't even play a Batman game without having my Mom and Dad glare at me any time a curse is thrown out. And I spent $80 between the two games, so I'm not getting rid of them, but I don't want to spend that much on a swear machine again.

So lately I've been looking more into what's worthwhile in the games that are for all ages. What I found was not much. Since Microsoft, like Sony are primarily focused on gaming fanatics who can afford to buy multiple $50 games all the time, they include things that place any of the good ones in something I can't let my brother/sisters play or watch me play. (And it would take something else as awesome as Batman to get me to play any.)

That's not to say there aren't plenty of good family games out there. They're just all made by Nintendo, for Nintendo. I would love it if we could play something like New Super Mario Bros. or something, but they're only for Wii. I've considered getting one, but that's another $160, plus the amount for games/controllers. Wii U is out of the question. I could just get the console/controllers, and use the games from the Public Library, but still, that's more than $200, and I've only got eleven months to save up as much as possible towards college, (though I don't count any possible scholarships or the money I'd earn working while at college). It's not absolutely necessary to save all I possibly can, but I would like to not have to face money troubles in college. (or any other time)

Christmas isn't much of an option. A family of six kids makes Christmas expensive right off the bat, and money's starting to be something of a problem. Granted, it would take me less than a week to get $200, but I need far more than that for just tuition, not to mention room/board, and maybe gas, unless I use a bike instead of a car. Plus, Wiis are going to become irrelevant so long as the Wii U is successful, and they'll stop making games for it altogether soon.

So, to all of you people who are video game people, considering all of this information, what would you suggest?

You know that episode of the Andy Griffith Show when Barney Fife is doing his job, writing speeding tickets, and ends up giving the Governor of North Carolina a ticket?

That's sorta what happened to me today. I was just following the rules, doing my job, but I ended up inadvertently crossing my boss. (The one that owns all the stores in the area who I've never met) Unfortunately, he wasn't as happy about it as the Governor was.

Fortunately, he seemed not to mind as much when he was told that I didn't know who he was. but still, a bad day overall.