What's A Fleeting Expletive?

Andy Rooney On Words Best Left Unspoken

(CBS)  The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.

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I have quite a few bad habits which I'm not going to talk about now because I only have a few minutes, but swearing and using dirty words is not one of my vices. I don't use foul language and I don't like to hear anyone else use it either.

It doesn't make me a wonderful person but I like this about myself or I wouldn't be telling you about it.

You don't hear dirty words on broadcast television very often except on cable and satellite because 30 years ago the Federal Communications Commission banned their use in broadcasting. It was the right thing to do but I know what words I think are okay to use and which ones are not and I don't need the FCC to tell me what they are.

Later this year, the Supreme Court will be deciding whether some broadcasters should be fined by the FCC for the brief use of those dirty words-they call them "fleeting expletives."

No one has ever explained what harm dirty words do but it's like bad manners. I mean life is a bootstrap operation and dirty words may not be much but they diminish the quality of all our lives by just a little bit.

I think if the Federal Communications Commission left broadcasters alone, there would be very little profanity on the air because most people just don't want it, and if listeners don't want it broadcasters wouldn't give it to them.

I was in the Army for four years. I know all the four-letter words, I just don't want to be reminded of them on broadcasts but I don't want a lot of government agencies trying to regulate what I can say or hear on the air either.

Language is one of the best tools ever invented for anything and English is by far the best language. So, we should be careful using it though - so, I'll damn well decide for myself what I can say and what I can't say.

[hacorn4]

Re: "English is by far the best language."

I wonder how many languages you know?
I have worked as an interpreter (from conferences to private conversations) and translator (50+ books) for many years.
On the basis of my (rather thorough) knowledge of a very limited number of languages (just 7), I would never call any language "the best."
Is English better than French, German, Dutch? Silly question...

[ralph-glorioso]

God bless Andy Rooney and to the producer of "60 Minutes" I hold you in great admiration for allowing Andy to speak passionately, without censorship, his views on immigration, welfare, gay rights, need to speak English, and many things that trouble America today. I doubt other networks would have had the courage of CBS or the clarity of thought Andy displayed.

[hollyantoun]

The Dirty Word
by Karl Shapiro

The dirty word hops in the cage of the mind like the Pondicherry vulture, stomping with its heavy claw on the sweet meat of the brain and tearing it with its vicious beak, ripping and chopping the flesh. Terrified, the small boy bears the big bird of the dirty word into the house, and, grunting, puffing, carries it up the stairs to his own room in the skull. Bits of black feather cling to his clothes and his hair as he locks the staring creature in the dark closet.

All day the small boy returns to the closet to examine and feed the bird, to caress and kick the bird, that now snaps and flaps its wings savagely whenever the door is opened. How the boy trembles and delights at the sight of the white excrement of the bird! How the bird leaps and rushes against the walls of the skull, trying to escape from the zoo of the vocabulary! How wildly snaps the sweet meat of the brain in its rage.

And the bird outlives the man, being freed at the man%u2019s death-funeral by a word from the Rabbi.

(But I one morning went upstairs and opened the door and entered the closet and found the great bird dead. Softly I wept it and softly removed it and softly buried the body of the bird in the hollyhock garden of the house I lived in twenty years before. And out of the worn black feathers of the wing I have made these pens to write these elegies, for I have outlived the bird, and I have murdered it in my early manhood).

[hollyantoun]

The Dirty Word
Karl Shapiro

The dirty word hops in the cage of the mind like the Pondicherry vulture, stomping with its heavy claw on the sweet meat of the brain and tearing it with its vicious beak, ripping and chopping the flesh. Terrified, the small boy bears the big bird of the dirty word into the house, and, grunting, puffing, carries it up the stairs to his own room in the skull. Bits of black feather cling to his clothes and his hair as he locks the staring creature in the dark closet.

All day the small boy returns to the closet to examine and feed the bird, to caress and kick the bird, that now snaps and flaps its wings savagely whenever the door is opened. How the boy trembles and delights at the sight of the white excrement of the bird! How the bird leaps and rushes against the walls of the skull, trying to escape from the zoo of the vocabulary! How wildly snaps the sweet meat of the brain in its rage.

And the bird outlives the man, being freed at the man%u2019s death-funeral by a word from the Rabbi.

(But I one morning went upstairs and opened the door and entered the closet and found the great bird dead. Softly I wept it and softly removed it and softly buried the body of the bird in the hollyhock garden of the house I lived in twenty years before. And out of the worn black feathers of the wing I have made these pens to write these elegies, for I have outlived the bird, and I have murdered it in my early manhood).

[thadschiele]

At 30 years old, I have watched 60 minutes for years. And I have read Andy Rooney segments from before the time I watched 60 minutes. He was an insightful and poignant journalist. But that creativity has expired. This segment gives me neither new information nor creative view point. I appreciate Andy standing up to censorship now, but he is a little late to the party. George Carlin was the most entertaining, 20 years ago, but recently journalists, mostly on radio, have been tackling this problem with much more relevance. Anthony Cumia spent an entire brilliant broadcast defending speech, language and tolerance during the Don Imus controversy. I don''t remember Andy Rooney standing up against censorship then; he was probably taking a look at Christmas catalogs that week.

[johngoodnews]

Andy Rooney can use the foulest language in the world and still evoke a smile of understanding and appreciation. But not everyone is an Andy Rooney.

Oh chill out people, Andy is a four letter word. Made sweet with a C, made fine with a D, given legs with a B, given talent with an H, beached with an S, and made suggestive with an R. Please tell me again how English is not an expressive language?

[knyghtwolf]

I remember when the word "bush" referred to a woman''s genitalia, not the appointed prez, and that the word "d*i*c*k" referred to male genitalia. we lucked out and got BOTH in one administration!!!!

[jjp735i]

The FCC has become another tool for the morels police. You know, people like Cheney. You cannot use a dirty word, but they can. It''s like when they but hookers, take bribes, lie. You are not allowed. Only the morels police are allowed.

Enough already. What is the differance between hearing poop from a two year old and sh*t from an adult? Nothing. They mean the same thing and one does not sound any more dirty than the other. There are many other words just like those two. People take offense at the stupidist things any more. Swear words are not dirty. They are just words that people like to complain about because they have nothing better to do. Whether I say poop on the FCC and it''s rules or I say sh*t on the FCC and it''s rules, they meaning is the same.

[manu3131]

Wait a second folks.
The beauty of the English language is that it is so flexible, adaptive, and for so many reasons, international. If you travel in many countries, English words are incorporated as idioms in the local language. Inversley, the beauty of English is the inclusion of so many other words from other languages in common usage. Swear words of the most base use are in every language and dialect. I remind you all that ''swear words'' derived from the most basic frustrations of everyday activities modern man has been able to express. Those words are in every language and dialect. Most likely, religious piety and societal regiments brought a halt to overt expressions of commonly expressed profanity. Our (US) Victorian heritage advises saying "fooey" instead of "***". In common home and street language "fooey" is rarely, if ever, spoken. I suggest the word "***" (and other delightful explitives) is applied to innumerable situations rather than other pietus words. Gosh, I just can''t seem to express how firmly I feel about this silly problem without making a firm expression. As my forebearers would say... "What the ***?"

[manu3131]

Wait a second folks.
The beauty of the English language is that it is so flexible, adaptive, and for so many reasons, international. If you travel in many countries, English words are incorporated as idioms in the local language. Inversley, the beauty of English is the inclusion of so many other words from other languages in common usage. Swear words of the most base use are in every language and dialect. I remind you all that ''swear words'' derived from the most basic frustrations of everyday activities modern man has been able to express. Those words are in every language and dialect. Most likely, religious piety and societal regiments brought a halt to overt expressions of commonly expressed profanity. Our (US) Victorian heritage advises saying "fooey" instead of "***". In common home and street language "fooey" is rarely, if ever, spoken. I suggest the word "***" (and other delightful explitives) is applied to innumerable situations rather than other pietus words. Gosh, I just can''t seem to express how firmly I feel about this silly problem without making a firm expression. As my forebearers would say... "What the ***?"

[alanrobisch]

I wish you had more responsibility in the way you speak about language and its worth, especially when making a judgement on censorship.


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Posted by S-Scarff at 09:14 PM : Mar 30, 2008
+ report abuse

I hate to remind you but that is how the french feel about their language and won''t even allow any new words to come in from other languages we do. The chinese have felt for millenium that they were the center of the universe and their language is among the most difficult to learn in the world .

I think the advantage of English is that it is derived from many languages each adding its own to ours,English is a germanic language significantly influenced by latin and added to by many other languages directly or indirectly.( It really helps to study greek and latin to understand English Loving the culture or language you speak is not a bad thing but trying to exclude all changes seems backwards .

[s-scarff]

I am just wondering how Andy Rooney knows that English is the best language out there? I understand his frustration with censorship, and his arguments against %u201Cfleeting expletives%u201D, as I am an English Language Arts teacher and I am always asking my students to try to find better words to express themselves. I also love the English language, I have to in order to teach it, but I argue against the ethnocentric idea that it is the best language. Asian languages are beautiful in the characters they use, and the further meanings and concepts that they can express that do not exist in English. Japanese has three very complicated alphabets. I tried to learn it, and found it impossible. Arabic is another beautiful and expressive language. Though there are many people in the world trying to learn English because English is the language of power, these English as an Additional Language learners would certainly not be willing to trade their own languages for English. Language is intertwined with culture; studies have shown that the two can not be separated. When you say that English is the best language, you insist that English culture is the best culture. This idea disturbs me greatly, though I know it is the view of many, in that it suppresses the worth of other cultures, and once again puts the Eurocentric culture at the top. I wish you had more responsibility in the way you speak about language and its worth, especially when making a judgement on censorship.

[pi4ckbd]

Kudos on your sign off, but why a pitty-pat instead of a KO?

Expletives often, unfortunate though it may be, serve a legitimate purpose, witness our shock jocks.

Other prevalent practices in this society are akin to that renowned definition of pornography, and have no social redeeming merit.

For example, our elective process. Is it anything less than peeing into the wind to hold ourselves out to developing countries of the world as examples which they should follow given what standard practice dictates the candidates must do during their campaigns for office!

Similarly, four letter words are verboten in courts of law. Obvious, fixing of juries and prosecutorial characterizations which amount to slander and libel are routine.

For my money, they led with their chin, and you threw a powder puff at it.