Language is universally acknowledged as one of the most crucial and representative components of culture. Except being able to express thoughts, language is also used to show emotions, such as dirty words. However, it is common sense that using bad language is extremely offensive and impolite, which should never be encouraged. Therefore, how they came into being and why they are widely accepted and used become a myth, and largely trigger my curiosity.
DDEUBEL, “Teaching Swear Words,” Edublogs, Published October 5 2015, Accessed May 25 2016, http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/2015/10/05/teaching-swear-words/
In Chinese, dirty words are always related with sexual intercourse and female. Although this association can also be seen in other culture, Chinese one has its own historical origins. It is conventional that people feel ashamed to talk about sex even today because Chinese is a quite conservative nation. Meanwhile, women tend to be less respected and valued due to the influence of patriarchal culture. These facts result in people’s perspective of how dirty words should look like.
The pronunciation of the words in the picture is Ni Ma Bi, which means “your mother’s pussy”. The original characters should be 你妈逼, which are changed varying from person to person because of typing habits and/or the intention to become milder or more interesting.
Sanhaoxuesheng Yuanchunyan, DuiTang, Accessed May 25 2016, http://www.duitang.com/blog/?id=160483348
Personally, I believe that while bad language is not supposed to be frequently used, people today using it are more likely to seek an outlet to express strong feelings rather than swear someone indeed. Censorship removes its opportunity to step into the mainstream though. So I intend to create a project reminding people of the situation that it is time for public perception of dirty words to “move on”.
“25 Surprising Facts You Might Not Know About,” Wave Avenue, Accessed May 25 2016, http://waveavenue.com/profiles/blogs/young-copic-doodles
