I swear

Some interesting cultural finds come my way regularly, now that I subscribe to VSL (Very Short List).

Very Short List (VSL) is a free, daily e-mail that points to excellent new (and sometimes vintage) entertainment and media that haven’t been hyped to within an inch of their lives. Each weekday, we tell our subscribers about a single recommended gem from among the vast pile of feature films and documentaries (in theatres and on DVD), television shows, novels, nonfiction books, magazine articles, Websites and services, CDs, radio programs, and more. The focus is on products that really deserve attention but haven’t already been subject to giant media pile-ons.

Their October 9 e-mail, for example, led me to check out a very (visually) impressive commercial for Sony TV screens that I wouldn't otherwise have discovered. Other times, they recommend (or critique) books, or films, or websites, usually with good cause.

Today's VSL e-mail directed me to a very informative and thorough analysis of, well, cursing. Swearing. Using profanity. "Why We Curse. What the F***?" by Steve Pinkerton, in the New Republic, examines our propensity for, and reactions to, swearing, from multiple angles: political, cultural, linguistic, religious, etc. I liked it. He writes:

When used judiciously, swearing can be hilarious, poignant, and uncannily descriptive. More than any other form of language, it recruits our expressive faculties to the fullest: the combinatorial power of syntax; the evocativeness of metaphor; the pleasure of alliteration, meter, and rhyme; and the emotional charge of our attitudes, both thinkable and unthinkable. It engages the full expanse of the brain: left and right, high and low, ancient and modern.

I certainly swear, though mostly in very limited settings (i.e., at home). But, oh, how satisfying it can be. Growing up, I'm not kidding, the word stupid was considered a swear word and was thus banned from our vocabulary. Forget about uttering the s-word, or, god forbid, the f-word. (Silly was okay, though.) So, perhaps because of such early verbal restrictions, I now deeply enjoy the occasional godamn mother fucker! Or worse, sometimes. But that one's my favorite.

But, please, do tell me your favorite curses.