11 August 2011:
Much ado about F___!
Background: The whole affair started when an NTU valedictorian proclaimed "We f_____g did it!" at the end of her speech. Here's a video of the speech. (Note: although the expletive was uttered near the end, do watch the whole video for its full context.)Done? Since this video made its way through countless people's Facebook and other social media accounts, there has been two sides of the argument. One view pointed out that being in such an important occasion, she should not have used the expletive. Besides, there were professors and parents around! Another view rebutted saying that it's time people let loose regarding all these social norms, and accept a new form of expression.
A few days ago, a commentary appeared on the 2nd page of the Straits Times regarding this episode. Yesterday, a Ms Poey wrote in and - the following word chosen to represent how I felt - brag about how her mouth is not foul at all.
This to-"F___"-or-not-to-"F___" episode has to stop. It's getting boring listening to both sides quarreling through Forum letters and online, when you know that vulgarities will still be alive and kicking in the time to come.
My thoughts about the whole thing? While I am staunchly advocating no vulgarities, I believe that in this context, the valedictorian didn't mean the expletive she was saying at all! It was at most, a very badly represented burst of happiness, seeing that she would graduate soon.
Why do I not support expletives? 1. They are not needed. Expletives are being badly, badly misused nowadays. I once read: "F___ is the only word that can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, ..." And I totally agree with that! Sticking in a "F___", changing its tense a little, will give you a sentence that has its meaning emphasised in some way or another. The English language has at least& 171,476 words; and I'm rather sure that at least 1% of it could fit in as a substitute for the expletive leaving everyone's mouth.
2. It goes to show how uncouth one is. I understand that in the past, new Chinese immigrants arriving in Singapore spoke mostly dialects. Amongst them, the ones that came from Fujian province spoke Hokkien, which is a very crude dialect. Hence, the older generation's use of vulgarities can be slightly accepted, since that's what they were brought up with. Maybe if they learnt how to express themselves more eloquently, they'd cut down expletive usage as well.
But that differs from Ah Bengs and other people who deliberately mouth vulgarities as if it's a holy word of some sort. I bet they have learnt enough words to replace expletives, just that they think it is very dashing of them to use all kinds of expletives that greet people's mum and makes reference to genitalia.
But with all that said, it's not as if vulgarities will just die down when tomorrow comes. Teenagers will still use it as an easy substitute for some adjective that is at the back of their heads. And actually, almost everyone will be using it when they bite their tongue, hit their thumb, or simply failed a test.
I don't mean it as a boast or anything, but I'm glad I'm not involved in having my mouth (and brain) be taken over by expletives. It sounds stupid, but everyday, I "filter".
But to end of with maximum irony,
(sad to say, I was unable to find the uncensored version of this music video)