Of course if you like open fires, the term is also used for a bundle of bits of wood.
But irrespective of whether I'm thinking of eating or keeping warm, that term wouldn't call to mind people who happen to be homosexual, even in the unlikely event I wanted to be rude to them!
I have grown up with log fires, never seen the word used that way in the living language.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary is infamous for the number of words it leaves out. Either use the Oxford or Websters Unabridged. Otherwise, why bother?
As for "living language," I'm unwilling to declare any word "dead" if I've read it in any book written in the past couple hundred years.
There's also another sense of the word "fag" which I noted in E. Nesbit's THE ENCHANTED CASTLE (published 1907) where one of the kids said, "Too much fag" which I took to be the Edwardian British idiom for "too much work," since as a child in 70s California, I had still managed to glean from books that "fagged" meant "exhausted" in British English.
(On a related note, Books of Wonder of New York creepily stealth-censored the word in their recent republication and then lied about it, only saying the "modernized some spellings," which is sad because the new edition is otherwise beautiful.)
I always use OED, save when typing on an american based Internet forum. I've heard the OED called all sorts of names on forums, and so have moved towards using M&W to save useless arguments.(I much prefer useful, or atleast interesting arguments.)
As for living language, i miss spoke. I meant in common usage in spoken British English (including slang) In short, I suspect that ask a reasonably large random sample, of british Citizens what they think faggot means, you'll get the slur meaning returned. I probably should have been clearer.
I must also agree that i dislike stealth censorship.
I've often heard the word f&~got used for a bundle of sticks... then again, I do live in rural Norfolk (England), and we can be a bit behind the times... ;)
Norfolk born,
and Norfolk breed,Strong in the arm,
and thick in the head. ;)
But what do I know? I come from the land of the white stiletto.
I didn't know you where a brit, let alone a fellow East Anglian.
Yes the cultural differences in word usage is very funny for example: Fanny is the front not the bottom... Patting somebody on the fanny in Australia or England is a good way to get a punch in the face and put up on sexual assault charges.
So in the UK you can pat people on the heinie and they won't punch you?
And here I heard that the guys on the islands were so uptight! ;-P
A packet of f!~s is a packet of cigarettes
|
Edward Thomas is one of my favourite poets, he wrote this poem in 1915.
...
...
...
...
Fifty Faggots
There they stand, on their ends, the fifty faggots
That once were underwood of hazel and ash
In Jenny Pinks's Copse. Now, by the hedge
Close packed, they make a thicket fancy alone
Can creep through with the mouse and wren. Next Spring
A blackbird or a robin will nest there,
Accustomed to them, thinking they will remain
Whatever is for ever to a bird.
This Spring it is too late; the swift has come,
'Twas a hot day for carrying them up:
Better they will never warm me, though they must
Light several Winters' fires. Before they are done
The war will have ended, many other things
Have ended, maybe, that I can no more
Foresee or more control than robin and wren.
A friend of mine has a website called God Smokes Fags (no point trying to link) as a "tribute" to everybody's favourite pastor*.
*warning: sarcasm
I always use OED, save when typing on an american based Internet forum. I've heard the OED called all sorts of names on forums, and so have moved towards using M&W to save useless arguments.(I much prefer useful, or atleast interesting arguments.)
As for living language, i miss spoke. I meant in common usage in spoken British English (including slang) In short, I suspect that ask a reasonably large random sample, of british Citizens what they think f~@got means, you'll get the slur meaning returned. I probably should have been clearer.
I must also agree that i dislike stealth censorship.
That's rather a meaningless benchmark. If you ask people anywhere in the world what's meant by an particular word, if there's an offensive or controversial meaning, they'll immediately spring to that one. Mention "Dick and his pussy," they won't think of the diminutive of "Richard" and his pet cat.
That's rather a meaningless benchmark. If you ask people anywhere in the world what's meant by an particular word, if there's an offensive or controversial meaning, they'll immediately spring to that one.
It does not have to be offensive. Results of questioning people on the street about meaning of the word "heterosexual" I have seen somewhere a few years ago were rather... Amusing. If one finds human lack of basic vocabulary knowledge amusing that is (or lack of ability to admit "I don't know"). Many people equated it with either homosexual, bisexual or pervert.
To be honest, I don't understand why this forum even has a profanity filter: the Adventure Paths are all considered mature material, and generally feature very dark themes; the game itself is often brutally violent; and I'd argue that the game's attraction in many peoples' eyes is its unrestrictive, open-ended, and entirely unpredictable and uncensored possibilities. If the game is such an adult game, I feel like the people on this forum can probably handle a few swear words. And if it escalates the flame wars, or people abuse their potty mouth privileges, there's always the ban hammer.
That's rather a meaningless benchmark. If you ask people anywhere in the world what's meant by an particular word, if there's an offensive or controversial meaning, they'll immediately spring to that one.It does not have to be offensive. Results of questioning people on the street about meaning of the word "heterosexual" I have seen somewhere a few years ago were rather... Amusing. If one finds human lack of basic vocabulary knowledge amusing that is (or lack of ability to admit "I don't know"). Many people equated it with either homosexual, bisexual or pervert.
Ask a mundane what a "necromancer" is and you'll often have them say, "Isn't that a person who has sex with dead people?"
Only if they really love their work....
Ask a mundane what a "necromancer" is and you'll often have them say, "Isn't that a person who has sex with dead people?"
Only if they really love their work....
Think of the bonuses of the Lich-loved feat!
And at least quarter of people I played with equate necromancers with necrophiles anyway.
I think that the entire concept of profanity is ridiculous. It matters not what you say, but how you say it.
That's rather a meaningless benchmark. If you ask people anywhere in the world what's meant by an particular word, if there's an offensive or controversial meaning, they'll immediately spring to that one. Mention "Dick and his pussy," they won't think of the diminutive of "Richard" and his pet cat.I always use OED, save when typing on an american based Internet forum. I've heard the OED called all sorts of names on forums, and so have moved towards using M&W to save useless arguments.(I much prefer useful, or atleast interesting arguments.)
As for living language, i miss spoke. I meant in common usage in spoken British English (including slang) In short, I suspect that ask a reasonably large random sample, of british Citizens what they think f~@got means, you'll get the slur meaning returned. I probably should have been clearer.
I must also agree that i dislike stealth censorship.
Arguably, both the examples given are far more commonly used in their roll as discripters of sexual organs the to describe richard and his cat.
I am puzzled how it is that you would judge common usage meaning, in a specific country other that survay. Especially when a term is not formal. Because of its informality and offencive nature, it appears considerably less frequently in written form than in spoken english.
The point is, common usage includes both, and people value the words for their double entendres. Even if the offensive meaning is the first that springs to mind, I think it's a rare person who won't also know the innocent meaning as well.
Ask a mundane what a "necromancer" is and you'll often have them say, "Isn't that a person who has sex with dead people?"Only if they really love their work....
Well, have you seen some of those undead in PF and/or D&D? Or WoW? Or all those vampire flicks?
Or doesn't it count if they're still moving? Would that be unnecrophilia?
But I'm all about the warm, living chicks. Screw the dead! ;-)
I think that the entire concept of profanity is ridiculous. It matters not what you say, but how you say it.
Well, *excuse me*, *friend*!
With custard?
Hee hee hee! If I know what you mean. Wink wink nudge nudge, say no more, say no more.
Or to Quote John Goodman as King Ralph..
"Spotted Dick of what?"
How can you quote a movie no one has seen?
Durex used to be a brand of sticky tape in Australia (although its no longer sold here) and Durex was a major brand of Condoms in the UK... So an Australian going into a chemist shop in the UK and asking for a 2 metre roll of Durex would elicit the odd raised eyebrow...
Durex used to be a brand of sticky tape in Australia (although its no longer sold here) and Durex was a major brand of Condoms in the UK... So an Australian going into a chemist shop in the UK and asking for a 2 metre roll of Durex would elicit the odd raised eyebrow...
Yes, but can you imagine the reverse of that, the English guy walking into an Aussie chemist shop and asking for a roll of Durex because he's going to have "a night out on the town"?
How can you quote a movie no one has seen?
As I can quote it I must have seen it and therefore your statement is..redundant. :)
How can you quote a movie no one has seen?
Ah, I seen your naughty bits are now unnaughty "bits."
I'm now wondering if the nanny objects to "orc teats" as well.
Durex used to be a brand of sticky tape in Australia (although its no longer sold here) and Durex was a major brand of Condoms in the UK... So an Australian going into a chemist shop in the UK and asking for a 2 metre roll of Durex would elicit the odd raised eyebrow...Yes, but can you imagine the reverse of that, the English guy walking into an Aussie chemist shop and asking for a roll of Durex because he's going to have "a night out on the town"?
Or in bed in an intimate moment.... "hey babe do you have any durex I forgot to bring protection" ....
I think that the entire concept of profanity is ridiculous. It matters not what you say, but how you say it.Well, *excuse me*, *friend*!
Then again, I have cussed like a sailor since I was old enough to form coherent words.