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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 2  Next >>
Solfrid Cristin
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 Message 1 of 16
07 February 2014 at 10:21am | IP Logged 
Watching a Norwegian film the other day, I noted that the language was far sloppier and filled with swearing than what I would consider normal language. It seemed like a parody on the sociolect from Oslo East (and I say a parody, because I have lived 14 years in Oslo East, and although the variations are great, practically noone speaks like they sometimes do in the movies). That I am not used to such speech may of course be because I now live at the Western part of the Oslo area, and because most of the people I meet outside my immediate living environment are professionals who speak a "proper" Norwegian. But I have friends from all possible geographical, social and political groups, and have kids who bring home their friends who due to their age speak a less polished language and I therefore consider that I get to listen to quite a representative sample of Norwegian.

Since we watch a lot of American films and series, it also struck me that in a number of films the swearing seems to be a lot more common than what I have come across in real life. Sentences like "Don't you f**k with me you f**king bitch" is not something I have ever heard in real life,(thank God) but is not alltogether uncommon in some types of movies. In French movies I also hear more "bad language" than in real life - but in Spanish I do not notice much difference (they seem to have a much mope tolerant view on swear words used in daily speech).

What is it like in other languages, does "movie language" stand out?
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schoenewaelder
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 Message 2 of 16
07 February 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged 
People get angrier in films than in real life. I've never in my life seen someone bang their fist on the table, but it happens quite often in film/tv.

On the other hand, the sales guy in Karstadt was so annoyed when I asked to open the box to see what the mp3 player looked like, that he actually jumped up and down on the spot - just sort of an inch or two. Very wierd. (I'm just sneaking that in as a cultural tidbit)
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Medulin
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 Message 3 of 16
07 February 2014 at 4:21pm | IP Logged 
In Bollywood/Hindi movies, it's not uncommon to hear ''bitch'' or ''f**k'' (that is, English is used for swearing, and never Hindi).
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ElComadreja
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 Message 4 of 16
07 February 2014 at 4:50pm | IP Logged 
I have met Americans that talk like that. But not when in the office.
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tomgosse
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 Message 5 of 16
07 February 2014 at 6:25pm | IP Logged 
The language used on American television has become more vulgar in the last few years. Not only are there topics that would not have been discussed twenty or thirty years ago more common, but the language used to describe them is much more vulgar. When characters curse the only word not used is the f-bomb. Otherwise anything goes.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a sign of progress.

Tomás

Edited by tomgosse on 07 February 2014 at 6:26pm

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prz_
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 Message 6 of 16
07 February 2014 at 6:32pm | IP Logged 
Quote:
People get angrier in films than in real life.

I'm not sure. They maybe just hide their emotions. But just visit less cultural forums than this and you'll see the real anger.
P.S. Or just visit a football match between Wisła and Cracovia in Poland :P

Edited by prz_ on 08 February 2014 at 2:30am

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luke
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 Message 7 of 16
07 February 2014 at 6:33pm | IP Logged 
I talk like that in the office sometimes, but it gets me into trouble. Except I never say "bitch". It's usually "stupid mother f***er". Somehow it doesn't go over with my boss as well as it does for an actor in a movie. Probably the biggest issue is that he is usually the subject of the sentence

Edited by luke on 07 February 2014 at 6:34pm

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vonPeterhof
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 Message 8 of 16
07 February 2014 at 6:35pm | IP Logged 
I'd say that with Russian films and Russian dubs of Hollywood movies it's the opposite. Obscenities are a big no-no in mainstream cinema and TV, and using milder expletives is generally seen as preferable to bleeping out stronger ones. This results in movies having a style of cursing that, while still being pretty expressive, most of the time sounds nothing like how real Russians swear. There also seems to be a bit of a bias against highly colloquial language that is seen as substandard, especially in films aimed at children - it has been joked that the Soviet Tom Sawyer sounds like someone with at least a Ph.D. The tolerance for slang, as well as criminal argot, increased somewhat in the nineties though.

Edited by vonPeterhof on 07 February 2014 at 6:36pm



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