tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post2586156502908636497..comments2024-03-15T02:04:18.672-05:00Comments on My Pants: No Cuss, No Mussbullethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12649812197402491992noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-45746790087307769872008-03-25T19:16:00.000-05:002008-03-25T19:16:00.000-05:00Happy to report that you can still attend the New ...Happy to report that you can still attend the New Year's Parade, catch the Rose Bowl Game and "cuss" your fucking ass off.<BR/><BR/>South Pasadena is an actual city - not the southern part of Pasadena (well, it IS that - but it's an individual city with their own cops, mayor, etc).<BR/><BR/>I think you'll find Pasadena a bit more cosmopolitan than the sleepy, backwards town to the south.John Evohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10868904051881865159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-61366292485243182272008-03-19T08:15:00.000-05:002008-03-19T08:15:00.000-05:00Also, in fairness to the kid that started the No C...Also, in fairness to the kid that started the No Cussing Club, I have since seen several more articles phrasing the title of the official week as "Cuss Free Week" as opposed to "No Cussing Week." While a little more positive to the ear, that is still thinly veiled. Again, the importance of Black History Month could not persist if it were White History Free Month. I still wholeheartedly believe that the lot of club members and Pasadena "Cuss Free Week" supporters, as well as Americans on the whole, would be better off calling it something like Maturity Speaks Week.<BR/><BR/>The kid has since been on Dr. Phil and I've heard tell of other T.V. programs. Not too shabby for a youngster who wishes to inspire. I do hope they follow up when this kid reaches college age, see if it's the same story. <BR/><BR/>Not to mock him, but I had a difficult time becoming a better poet betwixt this kid's age and college age. Sure, that's to be expected just as vocabulary and education expands. Yet, my particular difficulty stemmed from the fact that in junior high in the 80s, it seemed the only "poets" getting published in our school rag were introspective, Goth, necrophiliacs. All the pieces were about black tears, the decaying corpse of society, and amateur devil worship. I had particularly picked up the pen to try to make as much of an impact with a more positive tone and message. I thought my schoolmates had completely forgotten that poetry can be inspirational and thought-provoking beyond images like a chalice of misery.<BR/><BR/>Years later, still on that positive tack, the quality of my poetry had faltered. It took some heavy reading and study and a few real mentors on the college level to help me to reach a personal conclusion. Both were wrong. Limiting poetry to either the strictly positive or the strictly negative was a blight on the art itself. Poetry, among other infinitive observations, is a celebration of the multiplicity of all thoughts, ideas, and images. It is an acknowledgement that the positive does not exist without the negative and all contributing factors beyond that perceived duality. The challenge was balancing the two, but still making a statement. The book, THE DARK SIDE OF ROBERT FROST, helped me most in understanding this and even to present day, my poetry has turned out pretty darned great here and there.<BR/><BR/>This kid, McKay, will have a similar dilemma even if he carries the same intentions into adulthood. He is going to find situations where his practice proves lesser by virtue of being a little off balance. He may well succeed at "cusslessness" long term, but the practice will cause other problems, scotoma, and imbalances that hinder education and the open mind. I'm curious to hear about how he'll resolve them as I did.Pocketshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15848521756656735185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-69601730758482980392008-03-17T11:16:00.000-05:002008-03-17T11:16:00.000-05:00For all my complaints, I should mention that a rec...For all my complaints, I should mention that a recent study resulted in near brass tax proof that films with fewer curses in them earn almost twice as much at the box office.<BR/><BR/>While I do not believe that studies like this should in any way, shape, or form, impact the creation of art, I'd be remiss if I did not point out that if one wishes to address personal feelings about cursing in a public forum, ticket sales are a pretty decent and healthy way to do it. Pasadena might be holding No Cussing Week and St. Louis may still be batting around the idea of a No Swearing Law, but simple parental choice of movie tickets is a far louder statement. It is one that asks nothing of Hollywood or the government, but also exercises good judgment in mo/fatherhood. Simple dollars and cents are a passive statement, one worthy of study, without pontificating.Pocketshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15848521756656735185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-19138418391389349622008-03-17T11:07:00.000-05:002008-03-17T11:07:00.000-05:00LOL! Yes, I agree that "cuss" is derived from "cu...LOL! Yes, I agree that "cuss" is derived from "curse" and I know that you are personally aware of my distaste for words finding their way into our lexicon strictly via improper usage or pronunciation. Nonetheless, I've always acknowledged that this is one of many ways in which language evolves. Plus, "cuss" has been around for nearly 200 years now. I think I can cut it some slack. Personally, for no logical reason whatsoever, in speech I've always preferred "curse" as a verb (as in "stop cursing at me") and cuss as a noun (as in "you miserable, loathsome cuss.")Pocketshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15848521756656735185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-28184595140987182882008-03-15T12:34:00.000-05:002008-03-15T12:34:00.000-05:00Good post. I like your idea of taking an idea like...Good post. I like your idea of taking an idea like this and re-stating as a positive ideal rather than a negative one.<BR/><BR/>If all of the the curse words that are currently in use disappeared from the language, others would be created to serve the same purposes. Such words exist because they fulfill particular expressive needs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-32195804455383340202008-03-13T18:09:00.000-05:002008-03-13T18:09:00.000-05:00I hate the term "cuss." When did we all turn into...I hate the term "cuss." When did we all turn into seven-year-old Alabama girls?<BR/><BR/>They are called curse words because you use them to curse things. They are cuss words if you have a speech impediment. How did people get so mother-fucking stupid?bullethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12649812197402491992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419523342218712818.post-12529302562770890002008-03-13T12:26:00.000-05:002008-03-13T12:26:00.000-05:00Maybe we should hold a national cuss-in. In any ca...Maybe we should hold a national cuss-in. <BR/><BR/>In any case, please send my wife and me our airline tickets for Pasadena next New Year's Day, and we will be happy to participate in your "Get Out The 'FUCK'" event.The Exterminatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14452054124550486048noreply@blogger.com