Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

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  • Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

    I rarely start threads, but something came up for me after seeing "Transformers" and "Live Free Or Die Hard", which were both PG-13. There's been plenty of discussion on the pros and cons of the rating, and here's another issue for your dissecting pleasure.

    The clever use of half of the word "Motherfvcker".

    I've heard that the word "fvck" can be used once (or maybe twice) in a PG-13 movie, and only in a "damnit" kind of way, rather than to imply fornication. Ostensibly, this is to protect our children from any horrible thoughts of fornication to interrupt their innocent forays into worlds of gunfire, murder, and mayhem.

    What I find particularly disturbing (and I imagine that I may be lambasted for such "sensitivity") is that the filmmakers can get away with the use of the term "motherfvcker" as long as it doesn't contain the word "fvck".

    Why does this disturb me? Well, let's take a look at the word "motherfvcker". It's been argued before (i think even in a movie, though I can't remember which) that this is the WORST insult that can be hurled. Think about it - it's someone who "FVCKED" your mother. Less of a big deal in modern times where Mom's get divorced and do their thing with whomever they feel like. And where casual sex is no big deal.

    I'm all for casual sex and Moms getting their groove on, but the origins of this word suggest it was reserved for the lowest of the low scum. Those individuals who disrespect, rape, or otherwise defile that which we all hold most dear - our mothers.

    But thanks to the puritanical MPAA, now when someone is confronted with a complete and total scumbag, or with a situation that is so horrible, it requires the ultimate epitaph, do our heroes call this scummy person or situation what it is? Do they refer to it as the defiler of all that gives life?

    No. They call it a "mother".

    Now, before everyone jumps down my throat, rest assured, I'm not saying that you or I (or even the teens of today) will confuse the two, or won't realize that the insult is merely being truncated to placate the puritans.

    It's just interesting. And I can't help but find it a bit disturbing that with a mere linguistic flick of the wrist, the holy has now been the named the defiler.

    Lambast away. Or as you were.

    Cheers,

    Cutt-
    "I've got vision up the butt, so just go with it!" - Dewey Finn, School of Rock

  • #2
    Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

    Hell, once upon a time "You suck!" was not something uttered in public discourse, since the verb implied one particular object on which said suction was applied. Now that and "That sucks!" are all over the place.

    And the expression "nitty-gritty"? Well, if you knew what that really meant you'd be hard-pressed to use it (though it was a lot more common in the 60s).

    Times change; so does language and its uses.

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    • #3
      Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

      Originally posted by Jake Schuster View Post
      Times change; so does language and its uses.
      Amen Jake.

      In fact, that's precisely my point. A few more decades of taking the "fvcker" out of "motherfvcker", and we may just have new generations (when presented with a particularly *insultable* person) just calling them a "mother".

      Again, everyone notice that in the above paragraph I used the word may. I don't think it's definitely going to happen.
      "I've got vision up the butt, so just go with it!" - Dewey Finn, School of Rock

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      • #4
        Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

        I agree with you Cutte; one day little kids will be saying, "You suck, mother!" without understanding the origins of either.

        When I was a kid there was a lot of Yiddish spoken in my home and at my relatives, so very quickly I learned such words as "putz" and "schmuck", knowing exactly what they meant. Now especially schmuck is used very commonly without most people knowing that it's the same thing as saying someone's a pr!ck.

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        • #5
          Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

          Lol.

          You gotta tell me what "nitty-gritty" means now.
          "I've got vision up the butt, so just go with it!" - Dewey Finn, School of Rock

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          • #6
            Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

            Okay, well, "nitty-gritty" was, um, once upon a time, it was...ah...um. How do I put this delicately? It was the interior of a particular part of the body belonging to an African-American woman.

            It's black slang, and it goes waayyyyy back. So that when R&B singers started using it there was always a double-meaning to the line, "Let's get down to the real nitty-gritty."

            And the very ancient English word "coney", meaning rabbit (hence Coney Island), had become, well, a 4-letter word that begins with "c" and ends in "t". Find a used copy of Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang. It's terrific reading.

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            • #7
              Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

              I always thought that schmuck was the sound the penis made when dropped against the inner thigh. Schmuck...schmuck...or if you are very lucky, SCHMUCK!
              Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can't face reality.

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              • #8
                Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                Now don't be a putz, cyc!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Pg-13

                  Originally posted by Jake Schuster View Post
                  ...one day little kids will be saying...without understanding the origins....
                  Swell, if you're up tight about the lousy language twitted in the flickers, what gets my goat is how a respectable word is bandied about by yahoos with moronic banter until the bamboozlement obfuscates all other interpretations!
                  JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                    Originally posted by CutteRug View Post
                    Why does this disturb me? Well, let's take a look at the word "motherfvcker". It's been argued before (i think even in a movie, though I can't remember which) that this is the WORST insult that can be hurled. Think about it - it's someone who "FVCKED" your mother. Less of a big deal in modern times where Mom's get divorced and do their thing with whomever they feel like. And where casual sex is no big deal.
                    Um... not quite. The term means someone who does the nasty with their own mother.

                    Otherwise it's sort of an empty insult (because when you get down to it, everybody's old man is/was one).

                    And MILF is a compliment.
                    "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

                    My YouTube channel.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                      Originally posted by Signal30 View Post
                      The term means someone who does the nasty with their own mother.
                      Fair enough. Even going with that, the language has changed from, "You horrible person-who-screws-his-own-mother" to "You horrible person-who-gives-birth". But the context is still "You are horrible!"

                      Great linguistic trajectory.
                      "I've got vision up the butt, so just go with it!" - Dewey Finn, School of Rock

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                        Originally posted by Signal30 View Post

                        And MILF is a compliment.
                        Depends on whether you are a man, or a mother
                        Positive outcomes. Only.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                          I mean, really, when MClane utters "Yippie Kie Ya, Mother__" in Live Free Or Die Hard, how many people DID NOT finish the sentence in their heads? I swear, even the baby behind us said it
                          "you have to write right, right?" -- Todd Gordon

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                          • #14
                            Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                            Going on a total rant for PG-13, I'm sick of seeing it as the heralded rating. I get fight scenes massively edited and choppy. I have to fill in the blanks in my head how Guy A got hit from Guy B, plus it allows more talking, rude kids into the theaters. The fight scenes in the Daredevil DC (R rated) were so much better. I just got back from walking out on Transformers, the 10:20 pm show because of all the litttle whining toddlers and two...I think high schoolers...who wouldn't shut up.

                            Yeah, it's parenting, but the need to water down material top seek more audience members also leads to weaker material...or oddly, just more leniency on the ratings.

                            Didn't fvck automatically get a movie an R rating? I swear, Terminator would have gotten PG-13 if it was released today.

                            Not sure where I was going with this....just kinda ranted.

                            "The two things that run Hollywood are fear and greed." - Syd Field

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                            • #15
                              Re: Ahhh. . . PG-13. Protecting our children.

                              Originally posted by Signal30 View Post
                              Um... not quite. The term means someone who does the nasty with their own mother.

                              Otherwise it's sort of an empty insult (because when you get down to it, everybody's old man is/was one).

                              And MILF is a compliment.
                              I've been called far worse then a muthafvcker, that's for sure.

                              I think the word cvnt is far more assertive these days - at least in Australia it is. In fact we've adopted the word so much that we now refer to people as "that cvnt over there" instead of "that bloke over there" or that guy over there"

                              In fact, I think the US censorship laws are some of the worst and most hypocritical in the western world. You know somethings gravely wrong when you watch one of those late night cop shows on cable to see a young, naked girl shot dead, riddled with bullet holes - but her breasts blacked out.

                              God bless America - the land of contradictions!
                              Last edited by Terrance Mulloy; 07-05-2007, 01:07 AM.
                              @TerranceMulloy

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