These thoughts have been germanating for some time and I managed to articulate them in the PhD office the other day. Have a read and see if it makes any fucking sense.
The Australian ethos is one of egalitarianism. Those that are high status don’t want to be recognized as such, and those that are low status don’t expect to be treated as such. My favourite example of this is sailing in Sydney Harbour. Now sail must give way to anchored boats, and racing along in a $400,000 yacht it is a laugh to see the Owner/Skipper spot a little tinny row boat anchored right at the Heads of Sydney Harbour. Sure the skip might swear under his breath but the law and the ethos is clear and as we get closer many a time I’ve thought we’ll hit the tinny in the Skipper’s effort to give a cheery wave and acknowledgement of equality.
Now I think that Americans swear with their peer group, but almost never in any situation which is “public”. The “public” seems to be to be defined as situations in which there are mixed status people present. Thus it is ok to swear with one’s friends, but not with one’s professors, ok with people your own age but not with those older or younger than you.
This isn’t the case in Australia where swearing is not only more common but also prevalent in “public”. Thus parliamentarians calling each other “Bastards” and “Buggers” and lecturers swearing in class would, while not common, hardly raise an eyebrow.
Swearing says “we’re equal, no need to tiptoe around me” and “Don’t worry about my higher status, engage with me as an equal”. When we swear, not at each other, but with each other we’re saying “let’s not stand on ceremony. Let’s get on with the conversation without worrying about our status”.
Or am I just full of shit?
Posted by james at November 1, 2003 05:34 PM | TrackBackAlthough I do agree with some of the points that you make, I disagree with your comment that we [Americans] do not use profanity in mixed company. I have found that in college, profanity is quite useful in the classroom to get a point across. My professors (and students alike) use words that before hand (in my very Catholic High School) were not allowed in the classroom or even in the hallways. However, I would like to point out that it could just be the professors that you associate with and therefore such a generalization is inaccurate.
Please do not mistake that I am disagreeing with you that the use of profanity isn’t as widely accepted in America as it appears to be in Australia - however, I just had to voice my disagreement on that one topic. :)