Language

...a fred rant, enjoy!...

A BIG underlying root cause for our overly violent society - esp in the USA - is language.  Our everyday sayings and casual conversations are unconsciously laced with all kinds of war-like terms and violent sound bites.

Have you ever said any of the following?

When push comes to shove Give it a shot
Adding insult to injury Take a shot at it
Hitting on an idea Something to shoot for
Deadbeat Right on target
Take a stab at it Need more ammunition
Shot in the dark Bullet points
Push over Take your best shot
To be brutally honest Shot in the dark
Soften the blow Shoot off your mouth
Beats me Gun shy
That really bombed Gunning for trouble
Pushed over the edge Under the gun
Blown away Whole shootin’ match
Killer smile Shoot the breeze
Kick the bucket Son of a gun
Set the world on fire Shooting holes in the argument
Pick your battles Armed with the facts
That really burned me Drop dead gorgeous
Overkill Gun the engine
Kicking around an idea Hired gun
Get away with murder Shooting blind
Killing time Shooting blanks
Punch line Shooting ducks in a barrel
If looks could kill You slay me
That kills me Ride shotgun
Roll with the punches Traffic was murder
Jumped the gun Moving target
Kick in the pants Do a drive by
Bite the bullet Bring out the big guns
The beaten path Went in with guns blazin’
Hit the road Keep your powder dry
That slays me Hair-trigger temper
Twist your arm Straight shot
Break a leg Set your sights on the prize
Broken heart Locked and loaded
Breaks my heart Bang for your buck
Killing me softly Loose cannon
Knocked up Rally the troops
Hit up Join the battle
At the end of my rope On your radar screen
The straw that broke the camels back Leading the charge
Shoot from the hip Had a blast
Straight shooter He/she’s dynamite
Shoot yourself in the foot Going ballistic
Blow up in your face Old habits die hard
She’s a real pistol, that one  


I remember my parents saying ‘language!’ several times. I hear other parents saying it. Sometimes with loving care, but mostly as a snap reaction when a child uses profanity. I think we learn from early childhood that if want to elicit a strong reaction from someone all we need to do is say something outrageous – laced with profanity, and we’ll immediately get their attention. The first time, it’s kinda unexpected, but soon it becomes a regular way to get our egos satisfied.

The other day I found myself telling someone that I had ‘6 hours to kill’ and I was going to ‘hit the road’. This is unconsciously very violent language (kill, hitting) – guilty as charged. Heck even that statement is a bit violent – as if I was on trial for some heinous crime.

Our everyday language is violent. I also speak native german and I can’t think of similar violent expressions in the german language! They exist, esp with certain fringe groups, but are rarely used in everyday conversations.  I don’t know about other languages like Spanish, etc. but is English one of the most violent languages in the world?? If so, that explains a few things… like why we are always on the war path, why war is great for our economy…


George Carlin’s take on sports language – 30 years ago……..


I also remember Carlin's 7 words you can't say on TV.  One of his phrases was:

'you can prick your finger, but don't finger your prick'  ha!

Over the past couple weeks I kept a record of things I've noticed and casually said that could be construed as violent communication:

Die laughing,  I'll beat you to the punch,  scorched earth, worth a damn, i'm drowning in work, all out assault,  punch your ticket, die laughing, hit the road... i mean how can one possibly 'hit' the road especially as your on it!  crazy language...


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