As an Australian who is married to a chef/soldier/fireman (all well known for their foul language) I can assure you that saying cunt in a workplace setting will at the very least get you a stern talking to and probably a written warning. Context aside, it doesn't matter, it's not down the pub with your mates, it's at work and at work you're professional.
It's not only confusing and insulting, it can be dangerous. Adjacent to the military, you no doubt picked up the affinity the Services have to acronyms and various versions of Dune-like 'battle languages'. They are not mutually compatible. Never mix acronyms between Services without getting clarity on what the acronym means. Even within a single Service, something like "RAM" can have a host of meanings.
Now stretch that to the various civilian workplaces and regional dialects. Language can be a minefield, and it's best to ask questions of the natives before you start speaking in tongues in public.
There's a lack of common courtesy here, beyond even the profanity. It's the underlying assumption that you may express yourself as you choose and it is the listener's responsibility to understand your meaning. 'What I meant is what's important, not what you heard.' No, it's a two way street. If you wish to be understood, you must consider the listener. You know, think about other people and not just yourself.
You have just written what has been on my mind for several months. Whenever there is some mention of "face card" or "serving C***", literacy falls another hundred points.
Slang has become the modern vernacular. It used to be the other way around, and perhaps, because the vernacular was not protected, enshrined, and yes, pruned, slang of subcultures took over. Another one is "hetero-normative" or "gender normative."
This is why writers, and yes, even young writers, are facing difficulties writing these latest generations into their stories. Jonathan Franzen mentioned something in an interview on YouTube recently, stating that he refuses to use modern lingo or slang. I forget what he called it exactly. Blame Franzen for bloated novels if you will, but at least he has an intellectual pedigree that does discriminate. Discrimination is important, especially in language.
Wendy is to blame. There is no self-knowledge being done on her part, nothing outside of a self-referential feedback loop where the culture is monochromatically X's!
As a GenZ writer, it is inevitable that the slang seeps in ever so often, but I feel adrift culturally from my own peers. The good thing is that all this can change. Monasteries got us out of the authentic Dark Ages, (not the hyperbolic Hollywood usage of the term), and in a certain way, well-educated kids often coming from highly religious backgrounds that still emphasize classical learning.
Thank you for this provocative article and keep it up. Excelsior!
With their love of size, conspicuous excess, instant gratification and exuberant attention-seeking, Americans are thought vulgar everywhere but in their own country, while Australians are merely coarse.
Brits are free to call us vulgar if they want, as our approach to vernacular was imported with Irish field-workers century and a half ago, and the Irish have endured British disdain for their spicy cultural eloquence for much longer.
Meanwhile, some exceptions from an Antipodean perspective.
> And for God’s sake don’t use the C word at work.
For middle-class work I agree, but I have also worked on Australian construction sites and hung out with sailors. Australia has a substantial mining industry, I've heard some brisk language on sportsfields, and even more from high school students of both sexes although that was some time ago and might have changed.
I don't know what happens outside Australia but within this country it's very contextual. The social context is changing with more inclusion of women in largely male-dominated domains, but Australian women can be pretty robust in their language too.
Australia's language used to be so coarse that there were public decency laws around it, but even then there were exceptions. For example, in 19th century New South Wales, bullock-drivers were explicitly exempted from language decency laws, provided that they addressed the language only to their bullocks. Apparently it was fine for women to hear that near the bullocks but at the same time, Australian pubs all had a separate women's lounge so they wouldn't have to hear it while socialising.
In my observation there's not much consistency in it. In a workplace, the same men will use language in front of one woman that they'd never think to use with another so apparently it's based on individual. And if there's a culture with women in it that already uses certain language, then new women in that culture will be expected to accommodate (there's never any question for men), while if a woman enters an all-male culture the men get very uncomfortable on language and trip over themselves working it out. They'll typically punctuate their sentences with invective in exactly the same places, but use different words to do it -- an instant code-switch. It'd be funny if it weren't also revealing.
In any case, the ability to record anything and post it on social media changes everything too. Below a certain age, men are now a lot more self-conscious with language, as they also are with alcohol.
There's no doubt in my mind that Australians like being coarse with one another. Even when they're using middle-class business language, they often quietly allude to coarseness that they might be using if they weren't; usually as a form of wry humour. It's part of how Australians are accustomed to expressing emotional authenticity. But how the language itself expresses could be changing.
As an Australian who is married to a chef/soldier/fireman (all well known for their foul language) I can assure you that saying cunt in a workplace setting will at the very least get you a stern talking to and probably a written warning. Context aside, it doesn't matter, it's not down the pub with your mates, it's at work and at work you're professional.
It's not only confusing and insulting, it can be dangerous. Adjacent to the military, you no doubt picked up the affinity the Services have to acronyms and various versions of Dune-like 'battle languages'. They are not mutually compatible. Never mix acronyms between Services without getting clarity on what the acronym means. Even within a single Service, something like "RAM" can have a host of meanings.
Now stretch that to the various civilian workplaces and regional dialects. Language can be a minefield, and it's best to ask questions of the natives before you start speaking in tongues in public.
There's a lack of common courtesy here, beyond even the profanity. It's the underlying assumption that you may express yourself as you choose and it is the listener's responsibility to understand your meaning. 'What I meant is what's important, not what you heard.' No, it's a two way street. If you wish to be understood, you must consider the listener. You know, think about other people and not just yourself.
You have just written what has been on my mind for several months. Whenever there is some mention of "face card" or "serving C***", literacy falls another hundred points.
Slang has become the modern vernacular. It used to be the other way around, and perhaps, because the vernacular was not protected, enshrined, and yes, pruned, slang of subcultures took over. Another one is "hetero-normative" or "gender normative."
This is why writers, and yes, even young writers, are facing difficulties writing these latest generations into their stories. Jonathan Franzen mentioned something in an interview on YouTube recently, stating that he refuses to use modern lingo or slang. I forget what he called it exactly. Blame Franzen for bloated novels if you will, but at least he has an intellectual pedigree that does discriminate. Discrimination is important, especially in language.
Wendy is to blame. There is no self-knowledge being done on her part, nothing outside of a self-referential feedback loop where the culture is monochromatically X's!
As a GenZ writer, it is inevitable that the slang seeps in ever so often, but I feel adrift culturally from my own peers. The good thing is that all this can change. Monasteries got us out of the authentic Dark Ages, (not the hyperbolic Hollywood usage of the term), and in a certain way, well-educated kids often coming from highly religious backgrounds that still emphasize classical learning.
Thank you for this provocative article and keep it up. Excelsior!
A thoughtful article, marred by the following:
> even the eternally vulgar Australians
With their love of size, conspicuous excess, instant gratification and exuberant attention-seeking, Americans are thought vulgar everywhere but in their own country, while Australians are merely coarse.
Brits are free to call us vulgar if they want, as our approach to vernacular was imported with Irish field-workers century and a half ago, and the Irish have endured British disdain for their spicy cultural eloquence for much longer.
Americans though, aren't.
That's exactly what a vulgar culture would think. ;)
No cap for real for real on god this is quirked up chungus style.
Many people, in many places, have said this exact prompt. 🤣
Amen. Maybe more people need to be in a good military environment!
I'd never even heard of "serving the c*" until now. Disgusting. Great post! I always learn something new
Meanwhile, some exceptions from an Antipodean perspective.
> And for God’s sake don’t use the C word at work.
For middle-class work I agree, but I have also worked on Australian construction sites and hung out with sailors. Australia has a substantial mining industry, I've heard some brisk language on sportsfields, and even more from high school students of both sexes although that was some time ago and might have changed.
I don't know what happens outside Australia but within this country it's very contextual. The social context is changing with more inclusion of women in largely male-dominated domains, but Australian women can be pretty robust in their language too.
Australia's language used to be so coarse that there were public decency laws around it, but even then there were exceptions. For example, in 19th century New South Wales, bullock-drivers were explicitly exempted from language decency laws, provided that they addressed the language only to their bullocks. Apparently it was fine for women to hear that near the bullocks but at the same time, Australian pubs all had a separate women's lounge so they wouldn't have to hear it while socialising.
In my observation there's not much consistency in it. In a workplace, the same men will use language in front of one woman that they'd never think to use with another so apparently it's based on individual. And if there's a culture with women in it that already uses certain language, then new women in that culture will be expected to accommodate (there's never any question for men), while if a woman enters an all-male culture the men get very uncomfortable on language and trip over themselves working it out. They'll typically punctuate their sentences with invective in exactly the same places, but use different words to do it -- an instant code-switch. It'd be funny if it weren't also revealing.
In any case, the ability to record anything and post it on social media changes everything too. Below a certain age, men are now a lot more self-conscious with language, as they also are with alcohol.
There's no doubt in my mind that Australians like being coarse with one another. Even when they're using middle-class business language, they often quietly allude to coarseness that they might be using if they weren't; usually as a form of wry humour. It's part of how Australians are accustomed to expressing emotional authenticity. But how the language itself expresses could be changing.