I hope Cable TV can use fuck and shit, I am tired of movies being edited for broadcast, they always do it really bad, the word doesn’t match the face, or it just doesn’t sound right.
It’s not just the “forget you” on shows that’s annoying. Don’t you hate watching a sequence with a bad guy, a real tough, mean bastard who kills and maims people for fun, a guy that ought to be cussing his fool head off, and he says, “You’re frickin’ dead, man”?
NO! You’re not FRICKIN dead, you’re FUCKING dead! Bad guys don’t use cutesy little substitutes for bad words – bad guys use bad words!
I can definitely see the argument against overswearing in real life. But fact is, real people DO overswear in real life; real people DO use bad language. And when television shows use little workarounds, it ruins my suspension of disbelief.
Daniel
Well, having moved to the US from Australia, i dunno what all the fuss is about.
“The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City” were both released in Australia in the year before i left, and both aired on free-to-air, network television at 10pm. In no episodes were any of the swear words cut or dubbed, even in the infamous “Sex and the City” episode that used the word “cunt.”
I don’t have cable here in the US, and the ridiculous practice of dubbing out even the most innocuous words on network television means that i don’t even bother to watch movies on TV any more. It’s not that i have a desperate need to hear those words–after all, i can say them whenever i want–i just think the nannying censorship is an insult to the audience’s intelligence.
I mean, when the actor in a gang movie says “freak you, man” or “forget you” (!!!) it’s not like we don’t know what he’s really saying. It’s almost as ridiculous as those people who write “f*ck” instead of “fuck,” because that somehow disguises the word completely. :rolleyes:
Fuckheads.
I am for it. I would enjoy seeing Donald Wildmon vomit up his melted skull.
I’m not sure I want my kids to hear the someone saying fuck when they’re flipping between Cartoon Network, G4, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet and Nick on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Will they start saying it after ten? If so, I don’t have a problem with it.
I started a thread about it in Cafe Society. Since the episode hasn’t aired yet at the time of this post, it’s mostly a thread speculating what Matt’s reaction is going to be when he finds out the truth. You can find that thread here
Back on topic, I find the bad dubbing to be endlessly hilarious. “Forget you!” Hahahaha. But I still would prefer they didn’t do it. It’s about time too.
I’m with Ponder. Does anyone really give a fuck?
I mean, the only reason the word has any power at all is because it’s “forbidden.”
When no one gives a fuck, then Fuck will be fucked, so to speak. It will be no more powerful than “doo-doo.”
I personally think that’s prolly a good thing.
<gasp> Wang-Ka said the ‘d’ word!
Haven’t they been saying fuck and shit on South Park for ages?
I’m against it, I guess - at least without some reasonable limits (after 8:00 pm local time, etc). I don’t want my kids using language like that I I’d rather they not be exposed to it.
The word isn’t bad - anymore than any sound can be. It comes with a long list of implications that make it like trash in the gutter. The trash in the gutter doesn’t directly hurt me but I don’t want to look at it either.
I didn’t like “shit” being used three times in 45 minutes on “Nip/Tuck” the other night, either. It was unnecessary and was added just to be edgy or similary. “Hey, look! We’re almost like cable.”
I’ll do this in certain contexts, like if it’s in a thread on a public message board, which people might reasonably expect to be work-safe based on the thread-title or subject. In a thread about flower-arranging, for instance, I think it’s considerate to disguise your profanity a bit, ifif you feel so strongly about the subject that you can’t actually tone down the language itself. If a little subterfuge like “Enough with the f*cking baby’s breath, people!” reduces the chances of folks receiving stern e-mails from the IT department, I’m all for it.
Caricci, do I know you? Probably not, but that reminds me of a long-standing fuckbuddy of mine. The first words I ever heard from her daughter, (three at the time,) was this squeaky little voice in the morning, who asked, on encountering a closed bedroom door, “Heeey… are you screwing in there?”
I hate being uncertain about what actual dialogue is. The other night I watched Mad Dog & Glory, which I hadn’t seen before, on a U.S. channel. After seeing De Niro and Murray exchange a volley of “Forget you’s,” I was unsure about an earlier line in which De Niro’s character admits to his buddy (David Caruso) “I peed on myself.” Should I mentally insert “pissed?” I don’t know, since the protagonist was a bit of a Milquetoast.
For years, after seeing The Breakfast Club on television, I figured Emilio told the teach to “Eat my shit!” because the badly-dubbed “Eat my socks!” was obviously not what was coming out of his mouth. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on video much later, and learned that the objectionable phrase was “Eat my shorts!” Whatever.
Another vote to allow the word “fuck” on TV. I don’t know where you guys are hearing “shit” and “asshole”, as I don’t get cable, although once on Friends, Phoebe said “shoot” and made it sound like “shit”.
Talking about kids cursing reminded me of when I was little, my parents and I used to jokingly call each other “shitass” all the time. 
I’m pro-fuck. Not only do I think saying it should be allowed on prime-time TV, I think saying it at least once should be required of every show. Think of Dan Rather trying to work it into the nightly news! That would be great.
The words “shit” and “asshole” appear fairly regularly on NYPD Blue.
I remember as a kid hearing that the word “bloody” was considered a taboo word in Britain. Found it odd as, of course, in American English it didn’t mean anything.
So I guess it is no odder to have the word fuck allowed onto regular programming. Just another word.
And for those who are afraid their kids might hear it…well, all you have to do is take them for a Happy Meal at McDonalds and listen to the nice man at the next booth when he spills his coffee on his pants. In other words, unless your child is deaf, they are going to hear all sorts of “bad” words.
People were shocked to hear Clark Gable say, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” However, society marched on despite that lapse in polite English language usage.
My guess is the word “fuck” will be shocking for about the first two or three times you hear it on NYPD, and then you won’t really notice anymore.
“And now, some more shit from President Fuckhead.”
Whom are we protecting?
People seem to be saying the children.
In my neighborhood the children are the main speakers of the word.
Of course it should. If you don’t want to hear it, turn off the TV.
Seriously, does anyone think a kid past the age of seven isn’t hearing the word “fuck” on a daily basis? Unless you’re homeschooling your kid, she’s hearing and saying fuck on the playground, and there’s not a frickin’ thing you can do about it.
And if you ARE homeschooling your kid, why, I imagine you can control what television she watches, too.
I just don’t buy the “think of the children!” argument in this case.
Daniel
If you see Kay has become so commonplace that it really doesn’t have any shock value. We need new forbidden words, words that when used will result in a whole new generation getting threatened with having their mouths washed out with soap. Words that when uttered will cause little old ladies to swoon. Words that when uttered will blister paint and wilt cabbage.