Taboo Words or Swear Words Uttered Descriptively
50 utterance Carlin reminds the audiences about the existence of the word cock in
the gospel. Here Carlin intentionally evoke to ambiguous reference of the word cock
itself to the audiences. The word cock literally refers to “rooster” besides it
is often used to connotatively refer to “penis”. Carlin deliberately tosses the
audience into confusion of the word‟s reference and here he makes the joke. However, the possible appropriate reference for the word cock is rooster since
there is the word “crowed” which is only possible to be performed by a rooster. Hence, the word cock in this utterance is neither taboo word nor swear word.
Furthermore, this utterance has an illocutionary force. Besides, this utterance is also performative. It seems that Carlin insists the fact that there is
such considered obscene word even in the bible. Thus, Carlin performs representative act by suggesting the case to the audiences. This utterance also has
the perlocutionary effect toward the audiences for it can evoke their laughter. Therefore, this is not uttered in an offensive way. If it is said to be
offensive, it does not meet the rules B.1, B.2, T.1, and T.2 of felicity condition. If it is uttered to offend, the act then will be misfired.
7 “Its in the Bible, cock in the Bible.”
In this utterance the word cock becomes the center of the problem once more. Carlin again asserts the existence of the word in the book which is
considered sacred. The case is the same: the word has its literal meaning i.e. the
51 “rooster” and is ambiguously swapped with “penis”. Yet, this word is merely
taboo word and not swear word since it has no emotive function and it refers to its literal meaning.
This utterance is the part of the assertion toward the previous utterance which declares that there is a cock in the holy scripture. Similar to the previous
utterances, in this utterance the taboo word is used descriptively since it refers to its literal meaning and hence. Furthermore, this utterance is a performative and
has an illocutionary force. It seems that Carlin insists the fact that there is such considered obscene word even in the bible. Thus, Carlin performs
representative act by suggesting the case to the audiences. This utterance also has the perlocutionary effect toward the audiences for it can evoke their laughter.
Therefore, this is not uttered in an offensive way. If it is said to be offensive, it does not meet the rules B.1, B.2, T.1, and T.2 of felicity condition.
If it is uttered to offend, the act then will be misfired. 8
“And the first time you heard about a cock-fight, remember -- What? Huh? It aint that, are you stupid? man.”
The word cock is still discussed in this utterance. But now the ambiguous interpretation is thrown into an activity which involves physical
contact between animals. This case is similar to the previous one where the word cock
is a taboo word and is uttered without any emotive function. Besides, there is one more word which is considered offensive i.e. the word stupid. Ljung
52 2011 classifies this word into the theme of non expletive epithet. It means that
this word is not derived from taboo but it still may cause an offence p. 125. The word cock there is used as taboo word without emotive function and refers to its
literal meaning. The word cock in this utterance is uttered descriptively and the word
stupid is uttered abusively since there is the addressee toward whom this word is spoken. However, is this utterance, taken as a whole, really offensive? This
utterance indeed has illocutionary force of which act is declarative; like baptizing i.e. giving predicate to the addressee. Actually it is potentially offensive. But the
felicity of this utterance should be checked first before falling into decision that this utterance is offensive. This utterance does not qualify the rule B.1, B.2., T.1,
and T.2 which means that the act of offensiveness of this utterance is misfired. It is proved by the laughter of the audiences in response of the swear words uttered
by Carlin. 9
“ The word shit, uh, is an interesting kind of word in that the middle class has never
really accepted it and approved it.” This utterance contains one taboo word i.e. shit. This word belongs to
secular taboo and the theme is bodily effluvia. This word is highly indecent among the other taboo word with the same theme considering its degree of
solidity and proximity to genital anal area Hunt, 2009. In this part Carlin discusses MCPC Middle Class Politeness Criterion by which the middle class
53 society highly avoids uttering the dysphemistic words like shithouse and tries
to replace it with euphemistic words such as toilet Allan Burridge, 2006, p. 35. Yet that taboo word is not swear word since it does not have an emotive
function and it refers to its literal meaning. The word shit here refers to “feces”.
This utterance is performative and involves the act of representative. Carlin delivers his opinion about the word shit as the state of affair in this
discussion. Actually this sentence is still continued by the next sentence which still discusses the word shit
: “They use it like, crazy but its not really okay. Its still a rude, dirty, old kind of gushy word. laughter”. Although this utterance
fulfills the felicity rules, the words shit here is not offensive since it contains no emotive function and also the audiences do not get angry upon hearing that
word. 10
“All the animals -- Bull shit, horse shit, cow shit, rat shit, bat shit.” The word shit here refers to
“feces” since here are mentioned five kinds of animal which obviously produce feces. All the word shit in this
utterance are considered vulgarity with the theme of bodily effluvia. This utterance is considered constative, which means it is merely in the form of
locution. This utterance also has perlocutionary effect which makes the audiences laugh upon hearing some examples of animals which produce feces.
54 11
“ Snake shit, slicker than owl shit
.” In this utterance each of the word shit refers to its literal meaning. This
is the same case with the previous utterance in which Carlin mentions some examples of animals which produce feces. The literal meaning becomes clearer
when Carlin mentions and adjective „slicker‟ which is appropriate to be attached
as an attributive adjective to that substance. The word shit refers to feces. There is an indecency in this utterance and not obscenity for the absence of the emotive
function. This utterance contains taboo words and not swear words. This utterance is also constative and locution. However it has perlocutionary effect
toward the audience which makes them laugh. 12
“I always try to think how that could have originated; the first guy that said that. Somebody got drunk and fell in some shit
1
, you know. Hey, Im shitface
2
. Shitface
3
, today .”
In this utterance Carlin tries to present an assumption of how the word shitface
might be formed. The word shit
1
is bound to its literal meaning. Its referent is
feces which covers a guy‟s face when he gets drunk. It might be not a real reason of the forming of the slang shitface. It is more exactly a part of
Carlin ‟s anecdote in his monologue. The word shit
2
in slang shit face might still possess its literal meaning considering its coherence with the previous sentence.
The phrase shitface in this sentence means “face covered with feces” since it has
been told that the drunken guy fell with his face on the feces. He then declares himself the shitface. The word shitface at the end of this utterance is considered
55 literally. The last sentence still has coherence to the previous sentences which
explains the history of literal shitface. Each word shit in this utterance is taboo word and not swear word since they are still bound to their literal meaning i.e.
“feces”. This utterance then is considered locution and constative considering its bound to its literal meaning shit for feces, shit face for
“face covered with feces
”. Furthermore, this utterance also has perlocutionary effect which makes the audiences laugh upon hearing this utterance.
13 “The big one, the word fuck thats the one that hangs them up the most.”
The word fuck in this context refers to sexual activity i.e. “having sex”
or “making love” Pinker, 2007; Sheidlower, 2009; Ljung, 2011, Wajnryb, 2006. There is no emotive function in this utterance and the word fuck here is
still bound to its literal meaning. This condition implies that the word fuck in this utterance is taboo word and it is not a swear word. This utterance is also
considered as locution and is a constative since it does not perform an illocutionary force. This utterance has no perlocutionary effect.
14 “Its a great word, fuck, nice word, easy word, cute word, kind of. Easy word to
say. One syllable, short u. Fuck .”
In this utterance Carlin discusses the word fuck phonetically. The word fuck
here is presumably still attached to its literal meaning. This word is included in secular taboo with the theme of sexual activity, as the literal meaning of this
word suggests. This utterance is also considered as constative and locution. There is also perlocutionary effect in this utterance which makes the audience
56 murmuring after hearing such considered vulgar word being simplified this
way. 15
“A little something for everyone. Fuck .Good word.” In this utterance Carlin tries to change the common paradigm about
the word fuck. He insisted that fuck is a good word and he uttered the word to everyone in the spot audiences. Furthermore, this utterance is not uttered with
emotive function which makes the word fuck in this utterance taboo word and is not swear word. As the word fuck in this utterance has the reference of
“copulation”. This utterance is also considered as constative and locution. There is also perlocutionary effect in this utterance which makes the audience murmur
after hearing such considered vulgar word being simplified this way. 16
“It would be nice to change the movies that we already have and substitute the word fuck for the word kill, wherever we could, and some of those movie cliches
would change a little bit. There is only one taboo word in this sentence. This utterance is still
about the word fuck which Carlin insists might means positive. It can be discerned
by the utterance “it would be nice…” and the previous utterances which insist the idea that the word fuck does not always mean negative.
The word fuck here is a taboo word which has association to secular taboo, theme of sexual activity and not a swear word since this utterance is lack
of emotive function. The word fuck here is still bound to its literal meaning
57 which is “having sex”, “copulation”, or “making love”. The word fuck in this
utterance is uttered descriptively with its literal meaning as the reference. However, this utterance is constative and locution since Carlin merely performs
the act of saying. This utterance also does not have perlocutionary effect toward the audience.
17 “What does it mean? It means to make love. Right? Were going to make love,
yeh, were going to fuck, yeh, were going to fuck , yeh, were going to make love.”
In this utterance, it is obvious that each word fuck here refers to its literal meaning. It becomes obvious since Carlin himself explains the meaning of
this word within this utterance. The word fuck here refers to sexual activity i.e. “copulation” or “making love”. Considering the bound to its literal meaning,
each word fuck in this utterance is taboo word and not swear word. There is no emotive function as well in this utterance.
Actually, this utterance is performative and tries to perform the illocution
ary force, particularly in the utterance “Yeh, we‟re going to fuck. Yeh, we‟re going to make love.” The act done in this utterance is directive with which
Carlin invites the addressee to make love the audiences. However, this act does not meet the rule T.1 and T.2 of the felicity condition. It means that Carlin does
not really invite the addressee to have sex although in the next sentence Carlin continues: “were really going to fuck, yeah, were going to make love.” It,
however, still does not make the T rules of felicity condition fulfilled. It can be
58 seen also that the rules B.1 and B.2 are not fulfilled as well since the audiences
only respond this utterance with laughter with makes this utterance has perlocutionary effect. The act in this utterance then becomes misfired and void.
It is also not to offend the addressee since the audience laugh upon hearing such utterance.
18 “
I dont give a shit. Hey, well, I dont take no shit, laughter you know what I mean? You know why I dont take no shit? []Cause I dont give a shit. If I give a
shit , I would have to pack shit. But I dont pack no shit cause I dont give a shit.
There is a repetition of the word shit in this utterance. It is a little bit tricky to determine the meaning of each word shit
in this utterance. “I don‟t give a shit
” and “I don‟t take no shit” seems to be slang with the meaning of “do not care at all” or “pay no attention”. However, one verb changes the reference of
the words shit i.e. the word “pack”. It is only the word shit as feces which is
possible to be packed. Hence, it is possible that every word shit in this utterance refers to its literal meaning i.e.
“feces”. Each of the word shit in this utterance then becomes taboo word and not swear word considering its bound to its literal
meaning. This utterance is also constative and a locution which means that
Carlin merely does the act of saying, including for the slangs. This utterance also performs the perlocutionary effect which makes the audiences laugh upon
hearing the utterance.
59 19
“ You wouldnt shit
me, would you?” The word shit in this utterance can be metaphorical. The possible
meaning for the metaphor is “to do something harmful” Sheidlower, 2009. However, considering the next sentence “
Thats a joke when youre a kid with a worm looking out the birds ass.”, the meaning of the word shit in this utterance
becomes literal refers to “an activity dealing with producing feces”. According
to the context, the utterance is uttered by the worm to the bird. However, considering the literal meaning, this word is a taboo word and not a swear word.
Actually this utterance is an illocution with the act of directive asking, requesting. However, it seems that this utterance does not qualify all of the rules
of felicity condition. For the rules A, it is not the worm itself which utters the utterance. For the rules B, of course the audiences cannot respond appropriately
since they are not in the position of the bird. For the rules T, it is obvious that Carlin does not really request the audience. This utterance then becomes misfired
and void. 20
“ I found three more words that had to be put on the list of words you could never
say on television, and they were fart, turd and twat , those three.”
There are three new taboo words in this utterance. Two words belong to secular taboo with the theme of bodily effluvia fart and turd. One word
belongs to the theme of the intimated part of the body twat. All the three words might be considered as vulgarity. These words are taboo words and not swear
words since there is no emotive function detected in this sentence. The
60 references of the three taboo words are their literal meaning. This utterance is
also constative and locution which means Carlin only does the act of saying. However, this utterance has perlocutionary effect toward the audiences which
makes them laugh. 21
“ Fart
, we talked about, its harmless Its like tits , its a cutie word, no problem.”
There are two taboo words in this utterance. The word fart is secular taboo and belongs to the theme of bodily effluvia. The word tits is also secular
taboo belongs to the theme of intimated part of the body. The two words are still related to their literal meaning which makes them taboo words and not swear
words. There is also no emotive function in this utterance. This utterance is constative and locution. This utterance also does not perform the perlocutionary
effect. 22
“ Now the word twat
is an interesting word.” The word twat
means the woman‟s genital and thus belongs to the theme of intimated part of the body. In this utterance again Carlin insists that the
taboo word does not always mean negative. This purpose can also be seen in the next sentence in coherence:
” Twat
is an interesting word because its the only one I know of, the only slang word applying to the, a part of the sexual anatomy that
doesnt have another meaning to it. Like, ah, snatch, box and pussy all have other meanings, man.”
There is no emotive function in this utterance either.
61 23
“ Were going to snatch that pussy and put him in a box and bring him on the
airplane.” The only possible taboo word in this utterance is the word pussy which
refers to woman‟s genital secular taboo, the theme of intimated part of the body. However, that is not the only literal meaning if the word pussy. The word
pussy might also refer to “cat” OED which is the more appropriate meaning
applied in the context of this utterance. This reference then makes the word pussy
neither taboo word nor swear word. This utterance is also constative and locution. This utterance performs perlocutionary effect which causes the
audiences to laugh and have a little discussion. 24
“Ah, ass is okay providing youre riding into town on a religious feast day.” This is another utterance in which Carlin puzzles the audiences with
the homonymy relation of words. Ass might also refers to “donkey” Hughes,
2006. The word ass here refers to “donkey” since it is indicated by the existence
of the word “riding”. The sense evoked by this utterance is about the first day of Holy Week in Roman Catholic religion which commemorates the arrival of Jesus
Christ in Jerusalem by riding a donkey Holy Bible, Luke. 19.28-44. The ambiguity arises since the word ass here is presented in the monologue of which
topic has relation with taboo. In the context of this utterance, the word ass does not refer
“bottom” intimated part of the body as it is usually treated as taboo. There is no emotive function detected in this utterance which makes this word
merely taboo word and not swear word. This utterance is also constative and a
62 locution. This utterance also performs a perlocutionary effect which makes the
audiences laugh as usual. 25
“You cant say, up your ass. You can say, stuff it” “Up your ass” is actually a slang which shows a degrading activity
toward the addressee as the sense Pinker, 2007, p. 221. Ljung 2011 adds that this slang might be a curse or offense toward other. However, in the context of
this utterance, the word ass weirdly refers to its li teral meaning i.e. “buttock or
anus”. This reference can be drawn regarding the following sentence: “You can say, stuff it” The word “stuff” in this context might refer to “have sex with for
man OED ”. This utterance then has a sense of “anal sex”. The word ass here
might also refer to something else. The word ass is possible to refer to “donkey”
since the word “stuff” verb might mean “fill out the skin of dead animal with material to restore its or
iginal shape” OED. Hence, the sense with this context might be “to erect a skin of a dead donkey and make it preserved.” The word ass
here is still taboo word and not swear word for the absence of the emotive function. This utterance is also constative and locution since it is in the form of
direct speech. This utterance performs the perlocutionary effect which makes the audiences laugh.
There are various taboo words uttered of which references are tabooed things in this part: bitch, bastard, hell, damn, cock, fuck, ass, shit, piss, cunt,
63 cocksucker
, motherfucker, tits, fart, turd and twat. All of the taboo words refer to their literal meaning, for example: bitch
refers to “sensual woman”, fuck refers to “copulation”. However, there are two words, cock and pussy, which do not refer to
tabooed things. The alternate references of that word might be tabooed things both of which are about the intimated part of the body men‟s and women‟s genital.
However, the word cock here refers to “rooster” and the word pussy refers to “cat”,
which are not taboo at all. Almost all of the utterances here are in the form of constative and locution. The utterances containing illocutionary force in this part do
not fulfill the felicity condition. Thus, the offensiveness of the utterances in this sentence is doubtfully present.