From the Boston Globe
By Joseph P. Kahn
The assembly at Winthrop High School began with a collective oath. “I pledge and support the elimination of the R-word,’’ promised several hundred students, teachers, parents, administrators, and visiting politicians last week. For the next hour, speaker after speaker described how hurtful and insulting the R-word, meaning “retarded’’ or “retard,’’ is to people with intellectual disabilities. No longer would its use be casually tolerated on school property, they vowed, or go unchallenged off-campus.
“Intentional or not, it conjures up a painful stereotype,’’ said Winthrop life skills teacher Chris Donnelly, who organized the assembly.
The gathering was part of a “Spread the Word to End the Word’’ campaign mounted across the country last week through the website r-word.org, which claims to have collected more than 106,000 such pledges. But it was far from the only battlefield where profane or objectionable words are coming under fire.
California lawmakers first voted for, then tabled, a resolution declaring last week “No Cuss Week.’’ South Carolina has been debating a sweeping anti-profanity bill. Organizations like the Parents Television Council, a conservative interest group, have been complaining loudly about vulgarities like “douche’’ and “ass’’ seeping into family-hour network television shows. A parade of public figures - such as presidential aide Rahm Emanuel, whose use of the R-word during a White House strategy session was leaked to the press - have been left red-faced and apologizing for their crude remarks....
UC Berkeley linguist Geoffrey Nunberg says many legitimately feel that the culture is coarsening. And that it’s only natural to want to restore some measure of civility to daily life and pop culture.
“Do these campaigns work? Yes and no,’’ says Nunberg. “With vulgarity, no. With offensive terms, yes and no. Maybe some will stop using [the R-word] the way Rahm Emanuel did, unthinkingly. Still, deploring the rising tide of incivility is an old story.’’
A word like “sucks’’ has almost no vulgar connotation for younger people, adds Nunberg, one more sign of shifting senses and sensibilities. “You can now use [the F-word] in The New Yorker but not The New York Times,’’ he says. “I find that a little odd.’’