今日外刊来源
本文节选自：The New York Times（纽约时报）
作者：The New York Times
原文标题：Why Is Swearing So Much Fun?
今日外刊原文
All languages have taboos things that nice people don’t mention in polite company and these taboos tend to cluster around themes like religion, defecation, disease and sex; in other words, things that can harm us physically or spiritually. As the linguists Keith Allan and Kate Burridge put it, the harmfulness of taboos “contaminates” certain words that refer to them, making those related words taboo, too. This is usually how a word becomes a swearword.
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所有的语言都有禁忌的内容，体面的人在礼貌的场合不会提及，这些禁忌往往围绕着宗教、排泄、疾病和性等主题；换句话说，正是那些会伤害我们身、心的东西。正如语言学家基思·艾伦和凯特·伯里奇所说，禁忌之语的危害“污染”了与之相关的某些词汇，使与之相关的词汇也成为禁忌。这通常就是一个词变成脏话的原因。刷题小程序
These days we mostly cause offense by swearing because swearing is a behavior that causes offense. When we swear in a context in which we can assume those around us would prefer we didn’t, that choice is a sign of our disrespect. Situating the capacity to offend in the swearer’s intent helps some puzzling things about swearing make sense, like why it’s somehow less offensive to replace a letter with an asterisk, despite the fact that everyone still knows what it means. The choice sends a message to the reader: I recognize that this word might offend you, and I care about your feelings. Because intent matters, a few asterisks can rob the word of its potency.
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如今，我们多数情况下冒犯别人是通过说脏话的方式，因为说脏话这个行为会冒犯到他人。当我们在一个语境中说脏话，是假定周围的人都不希望我们说，所以说脏话这个选择是我们表示蔑视的表现。将冒犯的程度与冒犯者的意图联系起来，有助于解决人们对说脏话的一些疑惑，例如为什么有时候用星号*代替脏话中的一个字母，可以显得没那么冒犯，尽管事实上所有人都知道这个包含了星号的词是什么意思。这种选择给读者传达了一个信息：我知道这个词可能会冒犯到你，但是我在乎你的感受。因为意图很重要，几个星号可能会让这个词失去效力。刷题小程序
But swearing, even without censorship or euphemism, can also be affectionately benign. To be understood this way, a listener needs to trust that the speaker is not verbally attacking but letting her guard down and signaling that the setting is informal and the relationship is friendly. Swearing in these contexts can even foster intimacy between recent acquaintances. Between people who already trust one another, it’s an excellent way to communicate affection.
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但是，即使没有（新闻媒体的敏感词）审查或委婉语，脏话也可以传达亲切善意。要理解这种方式，听者需要相信说话的人并不是在进行口头攻击，而是希望放下她的警惕，释出信号表示现在是非正式的场合，双方是友好的关系。在这种情况下说脏话甚至可以增进新认识的人之间的亲密度。在已经相互信任的人之间，这也是一种沟通感情的绝佳方式。刷题小程序
In some social contexts, like at a sports match or in a bar with friends, friendly swearing is well established. What about at work? In a 2004 study, researchers recorded conversations between employees of a New Zealand soap factory and found that good-humored swearing was common between workers who knew each other well, but absent between workers who were not part of the same friend group. At the office, a historically formal environment that has been trending toward informality, it’s possible to hear the occasional expletive in a meeting or read one in a group chat more common in some industries than in others.
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在某些社交场合，比如在体育比赛中或与朋友在酒吧里，友好地说脏话是约定俗成的。那么在工作中呢？在 2004 年的一项研究中，研究人员记录了新西兰一家肥皂厂员工之间的对话，结果发现，相互熟识的工人之间经常会说一些友好的脏话，而不属于同一朋友圈的工人之间则不会说脏话。在办公室这个历来正式的环境中，现在也有偏向非正式的趋势，在会议上偶尔听到一句脏话，或者在群聊中读到一句脏话，某些行业可能比其他行业更为常见。刷题小程序
But before you partake, it’s worth remembering that swearing’s tendency to vary in offensiveness over time and with context, along with its seemingly magical capacity to shock, can also reflect our usual prejudices and biases. Swearing ought to be an equal-opportunity endeavor, but we’re not there yet.
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但是，在你说脏话之前，有必要记住的是，脏话的冒犯性往往会随着时间和语境的变化而变化，加上它似乎会给人造成震撼的神奇能力，也会反映出我们常见的偏见和成见。说脏话应该一视同仁，但我们还没有做到这一点。刷题小程序
标题：纽约时报 | 为什么说脏话这么有趣？
