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Worse language in films?

  Tags: Swearing | Film
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio Post Reply
16 messages over 2 pages: 1
sctroyenne
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 Message 9 of 16
07 February 2014 at 7:32pm | IP Logged 
In the US, TV series on pay channels like HBO and Showtime, as well as now Netflix,
have become really popular and they really play up the grittier content they're able to
air including "saltier" language to differentiate themselves from regular network and
basic cable TV. Some basic cable channels have also been pushing the envelope as far as
they can to compete whereas most other channels will still censor themselves to various
degrees to avoid trouble with the FCC. The coveted demographic is males ages 18-49 so a
lot of channels (even the Food Network) have been gearing their programming to appeal
to them, which I imagine is one of the main reasons shows have been getting grittier.
They may not be secret meth kingpins but they like to fantasize about how they would
survive in that kind of world. TV series are "growing up" which puts more pressure on
films to follow suit and one of the clear distinctions of a grown up series/movie
(aside from lots of sex, violence, and drugs) is a lot of swearing.

I also notice that a lot of college-age/just out of college people who spend time
abroad risk picking up a lot of language from their peers that wouldn't be accepted
outside that circle without the filter that natives would have learned to use. Though I
think native speakers at that age are also starting to lose their filter when it comes
to obscene language/content as their private and public lives blur with social media
and all that.
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shk00design
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 Message 10 of 16
07 February 2014 at 11:08pm | IP Logged 
The films from Hong Kong are mostly police and Asian crime related. The Western audience get a small portion of
these featuring well-known local actors such as Jackie Chan in "Rush Hour" 1-3 & Chow Yun Fat in "Replacement
Killers". When you watch these films in English done with Hollywood collaboration the dialog doesn't sound too
bad. But the ones done in Hong Kong in Cantonese you hear swear words and slangs all over by actors who play
police officers, criminal gangs and low-income people. The kind of language an educated person wouldn't use in
public. Reading the English subtitles of a Jackie Chan film in Cantonese from Hong Kong doesn't give you the
same sense of the dirtiest insults you can say to a person as in the original version.
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yantai_scot
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 Message 11 of 16
08 February 2014 at 12:08am | IP Logged 
British Richard Curtis films seem to exist in their own little bubble socially and
through that language as well. I've always found that everyone is terribly well spoken
regardless of regional accent (although the main protagonists seem to speak in Received
Pronunciation unless they're American...) and that the swearing is really unrealistic.
The words tend to be rather old fashioned swear words or they use highly improbable
strings of swear words. Lots of 'bollocks' and 'bloodies' which, in my opinion, are
very reserved. Like you might use at work in a bad situation in front of your manager.

In reality, I find people tend to use the f and c words far, far more in real life in
non-professional circles. And use the f word as an adjective and verb more the lower
the social class and higher the amount of alcohol and/or drugs injested... I live in a
very working class area of central Scotland and the amount of swearing you hear makes
'Trainspotting' seem like a documentary. It's no exaggeration to say that I've heard
conversations/rants where approximately every 3rd word is a swear word.However, I don't
know about other cultures/languages. Maybe that's quite normal?
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Jeffers
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 Message 12 of 16
08 February 2014 at 1:35am | IP Logged 
Medulin wrote:
In Bollywood/Hindi movies, it's not uncommon to hear ''bitch'' or ''f**k'' (that is, English is used for swearing, and never Hindi).


I've only heard bitch once or twice, and can't ever remember hearing f**k in a Hindi film. I've only seen about 60 Hindi films, but that's probably enough to say they must be uncommon. They do say shit in English a lot, though.

But where did you get the idea that they never swear in Hindi? They use a lot of Hindi swearwords which would anger people on the street if you used it around them. Just a few examples are haraam zaade (bastard), kamine (translated as "scoundrels", but don't try calling someone that to their face), saale (also translated as bastard). The subtitles often translate the Hindi swearwords with something more innocuous, but they are there.
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daegga
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 Message 13 of 16
09 February 2014 at 12:47am | IP Logged 
There is a lot of swearing in Austrian movies/TV series, and this is almost a tradition
(starting somewhere in the 70s I guess). Most of those spoof stereotypical members of
certain social classes in Vienna, it's part of the comedy. For the rest of Austria,
these stereotypes are not applicable and I doubt it's that extreme in Vienna (I've never
experienced anything like that - but that doesn't mean much).

edit:
I've also heard quite a lot of swearing in Bavarian comedies. Swearing in (Austro-
)Bavarian is funny. Swearing in Standard German is lame. I don't think you hear much
swearing in your average German movie, except for "Scheiße", which is also heavily used
in the real world.

Edited by daegga on 09 February 2014 at 12:55am

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Medulin
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 Message 14 of 16
09 February 2014 at 4:26pm | IP Logged 
Jeffers wrote:
Medulin wrote:
In Bollywood/Hindi movies, it's not uncommon to hear ''bitch'' or ''f**k'' (that is, English is used for swearing, and never Hindi).


I've only heard bitch once or twice, and can't ever remember hearing f**k in a Hindi film.


try here:
http://youtu.be/4puCC8uefUE?t=40s
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akprocks
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 Message 15 of 16
09 February 2014 at 5:40pm | IP Logged 
TV series with the best examples of true swearing : The Thick of it

I don't think movie swearing is unrealistic, I have friends who swear like sailors, probably worse than in movies. Sometimes it can come off as corny, but in attempting to emulate real life situations, you cannot do it properly without swearing. Typically the situations people are put in in movies are stressful enough to make swearing socially acceptable as in the 'real world'.

Edited by akprocks on 09 February 2014 at 5:44pm

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Jeffers
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 Message 16 of 16
09 February 2014 at 5:55pm | IP Logged 
Medulin wrote:
Jeffers wrote:
Medulin wrote:
In Bollywood/Hindi movies, it's not uncommon to hear ''bitch'' or ''f**k'' (that is, English is used for swearing, and never Hindi).


I've only heard bitch once or twice, and can't ever remember hearing f**k in a Hindi film.


try here:
http://youtu.be/4puCC8uefUE?t=40s


Interesting clip. I have the soundtrack to No One Killed Jessica, but haven't seen the film yet. That is the first time I've heard f**k in a Hindi film, but since half of the scene was in English anyway, it's not a good example. Plus, one scene doesn't make a word "not uncommon".


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