A new word added to the verboten list

[briefly delurks]

Can we say "mo*beep*" instead? You know, as an homage to Prince's famous censored song You sexy mother*beep*.

[relurks]

 

Simple solution: use a thesaurus.

 

Well, this is stupid

 

Yep.

 

I've seen mofo on a cartoon, I'm reasonably certain. And not adult swim. Rules for the sake of rules.

Oh, and I think we can use mofo in context of songs, according to KW's post about U2

So ... mofo?

 

Is there really a need to use "mofo" a lot? I don't think there is.

 

Oh, and I think we can use mofo in context of songs, according to KW's post about U2

It's just the name of the song. Not a whole lot you can do with it there.

 

Actually, ousley, I was thinking the same thing. Is there actually such a driving need to swear and use creative name calling to communicate one's thoughts? I think it's pretty sad when people are making arguments about using terms that I stopped using about the time I turned 13.

If you can't post something without using ***** or wondering if you're going to get edited, you probably shouldn't post it at all.

 

It's just the name of the song. Not a whole lot you can do with it there.

Thanks for saying exactly what I said.

 

So song titles are ok? Yes I'm joking, since I can pick up the two albums on my desk ( Rolling Stones- Sticky Fingers and Guns N Roses- Use your illusion 1) and they both have song titles that can't be used here, but can be said on tv and radio.

 

it's not about wanting to "cuss". Obviously, there are certain words that are not allowed on message boards such as this. Typically, those words are simply those which are usually not said on the radio or public american television.

What I find issue with is the extension of the "rules" to include words or phrases like mofo or wtf which are allowed to be said on TV or the radio, but are disallowed here because of some implied connection to a "cuss word".

If you're going to take a concrete rule which says not to say words X, Y and Z, and then extend it to include words like X-1+B, Y+U, and Z*7, then you open up a whole can of worms. Many common phrases in the english language are minced oaths, which are reworkings of phrases that would have been considered blashphemous back in the day. Since Josh is a religious type and views "cussing" and minced "cuss words" as sinful, then the same rules should extend to minced oaths of any kind.

Basically that makes for a lot more work for the administration and a lot more of the users constantly double guessing themselves and looking over their shoulders out of fear of big brother not liking their posts. People here probably spend most of their time on this board worrying about whether their post is going to be edited or their thread closed than just talking and having a good time (do not misconstrue that to mean they are "cussing" and whatnot).

Also, it becomes a very subjective thing and what one admin may decide could be the total opposite of another admin. It is usually best to just stick with the concrete list of the "worst" terms and not start fudging.

When you own and run a site such as this, your bread and butter is visitors to the site. I realize there are quite a few who visit on a daily basis, but if the administration would just lighten up a bit, I bet the farm that the total number of visits would go way up.

Sure you can say that you only want people who fit your mold to come visit, but that's just bad business. I'm not saying to let up all the rules, I'm just saying to let people be and just uphold the rules (i.e. flaming, explicit talk, certain few words) when absolutely necessary. You'd be surprised how "good" most people can be when you give them a little breathing room.

anyway, that's my piece. In a nutshell, keep the verboten list to ****, ****, ass**** and other words not allowed on the radio, and don't extend it beyond that.

 

Would you really go to someone else's house and start using profanity? Or go into a public place and bust out with the F word? I would hope not. This isn't our home. I use profanity liberally in my own house, but not in other people's homes. We have kids as young as 13 here, there's no need at all to resort to profane words.

 

Nobody (except Saint ) is resorting to profanity, because Mofo is not profanity.

 

Its the same difference.

And its not like its a part of common discussion. Its not required to say "mofo" to have a conversation unless you're talking about the song. And I'm guessing the song won't pop up too often either.

Like I said, use a thesaurus or something.

You could say "Person who likes to have sexual relations with mothers" instead of saying "mofo." It means the same thing, just a bit nicer way to say it. Though, I don't see why you would need to say that either.

 

We could always abreviate it another way:
other-ucker

 

Its the same difference.

Except that it isn't.

And its not like its a part of common discussion. Its not required to say "mofo" to have a conversation unless you're talking about the song. And I'm guessing the song won't pop up too often either.

Your discussions are not sufficient for universal evidence.

Like I said, use a thesaurus or something.

Which will have synonyms of mofo, I'm sure.

You could say "Person who likes to have sexual relations with mothers" instead of saying "mofo." It means the same thing, just a bit nicer way to say it.

See, I find that infinitely more descriptive than 'mofo'. If you don't too, you're probably on something.

EDIT: Also, keep in mind that literal useage of most vulgarities and/or slang is rare. I for one have never used 'mother-beep' to mean 'one who has sex with mothers/his own mother/other people's mothers/etc'. I also rarely use '****' in the literal use (although it's used literally much more than MF), **** is only used literally when I am with my girlfriend. Even 'suck ass' is rarely used in my experience as to mean 'performing the act of oral sex upon the anus of another'. (Also, I find the 'nicer' version, as ousley would call it, to be much more descriptive than the insulting version.)

In short, words are not always used literally. There are colloquialisms to be taken into account.

 

Of course its more descriptive. But it doesn't contain something that quite obviously has part of a profanity in the name.

Seriously, just think of something else to say. This is the first time I've even seen this pop up as an issue, so obviously it can't be too big of an issue.

 

You guys really need to make a list of banned words. It's getting impossible to remember all these.

I don't know that the entire list has ever been made public, but part of the list that's in the Mod Squad (or was, when last I was there), as compiled by Kadue (I believe) included "**** and all its derivatives," which has been quoted time and again when the issue of the banning of "WTF" comes up. That's why "MILF" also isn't allowed, and "STFU". And "mofo" falls under the same heading. I've always thought the "and all its derivatives" part was kind of ridiculous, because that could be extended to things like "fudge." And things like "WTF" are designed to express swearing without actually swearing. But at the same time, I don't understand why "mofo" not being allowed is being treated as some sort of startling revelation.

Amazing.

 

Of course its more descriptive. But it doesn't contain something that quite obviously has part of a profanity in the name.

Which would you say is more psychologically damaging to a small child: Saying 'this sucks ass' or saying 'this is like somebody putting his tongue into the butthole of another person'?

Seriously, just think of something else to say. This is the first time I've even seen this pop up as an issue, so obviously it can't be too big of an issue.

Or maybe because the rule was just made?

 

disallowing any word, abbreviation, slang term, euphamism, etc., that clearly implies the word **** doesn't sound so unreasonable to me. so long as the forbidden word(s) clearly implies the f word. personally, i think 'mofo' is harmless, but i don't think forbidding roundabout ways of saying **** is unreasonable. i myself wouldn't disallow a lot of these words if i was the boss, but i can respect the feelings of the rulemakers in this regard. and i can certainly live with it.

as for disallowing the word 'shizzle', that would just be petty and unnecessary. especially since for the most part people can't even agree on what it means and the context in which it's meant to be used. when the word first starting going around it was almost exclusively used as part of the saying "fo shizzle", as in "for sure" or some other form of an affirmative. then snoop diggity dog and others started using it in different ways and now of course it's a pop culture phenomenon that mindless teenage followers embrace and regurgitate excessively. 'shizzle' is so overused that it really doesn't have any meaning. people substitute it for pretty much ANY word that starts with the letter S.

 

Can we say Maternal Fornicator? And if not, can we say Ma-Fo?

 

i hope so.

 

Honestly, I feel that with each exception we fall closer to everyone else and less of an outstanding and upstanding site. I'd much rather be associated with the way it is now.

 

Since Josh is a religious type and views "cussing" and minced "cuss words" as sinful, then the same rules should extend to minced oaths of any kind.

Hang on a minute. As far as I'm aware, the rules of this site have nothing to do with Josh's personal preferences. Rather, they're an attempt to find a comfortable middle ground all users of this site will be able to deal with. A lot of people, some who are parents speaking on behalf of kids visiting this site, but some who are adults speaking for themselves, have complained that they find profanity on this site offensive. Our aim is to minimize the degree to which any given visitor to this site is offended. As of late, there have been more threads aimed at rolling back the restrictions on profanity than increasing them, but in the past we've had threads where people argued that even "hell" and "damn" shouldn't be allowed. I thought that was a bit odd, myself, but there you have it.

The guideline I would find most sensible is banning words that a kid reading could easily understand to be sexual or otherwise offensive. Obviously, the f-word, the s-word, and all the compound words based on them fall into this category. With abbreviations, it's a question of how well-known their meaning is. Nearly everyone recognizes that WTF and STFU are profane, so those are off-limits. However, there aren't many people who think of snafu as profane, so that isn't.

I have mixed feelings about mofo. It's in the middle ground between abbreviations that are obviously profane and abbreviations that are completely obscure. I can tell you I remember being able to figure out what it meant the first time I heard it, but at the same time I saw it was more of a generic insult.

 

I think the solution to this is very clear.

This is a family site, as is clearly stated in the TOS, the TOS you agree to abide by every time you hit the post button. Use of this site is not a right, it is a privilege, and one we should all be fairly grateful for.

Therefore, if you don't like it, LEAVE. Rather than spend time here making a fool of yourself, defending the use of obscene language, much less harassing the mods who are here as volunteers, just leave. They do an excellent job, and don't deserve the crap that you people put them through for subjects over which they truly have no control.

~Rogue