Steven Pinker: 'Unfortunately the 'f*cking' in 'f*cking brilliant' is an adverb', The Science of Swearing - 2008

10 September 2008, Warwick's, La Jolia, California, USA

I'm going to switch now from cognition to emotion, and the puzzle of language that I'll start with comes from an event five years ago when NBC broadcast the Golden Globes awards on live television, and accepting an award on behalf of the group U2,  Bono said and I quote: 'this is really really fucking brilliant'.

Now the networks did not bleep out the offending words, and the switchboards lit up and the case went to the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, which has jurisdiction over the airwaves. In considering the matter they decided not to fine the network, because according to their guidelines, indecency is, quote, 'material that describes or depicts sexual or excretory organs or activities' and the 'fucking in fucking brilliant' is 'an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation'.

Well a number of conservative politicans were enraged, and they filed legislation designed to close this loophole. I downloaded one of these bills from the uS Congressional website, and I'm going to read it to you right now:

House resolution 3687 - The Clean Airwaves Act

The House resolves that section 1464 of Title 18 United States code be amended (1) by inserting (a) before 'Whoever and (2) to the term profane used with respect to language includes the words shit, piss, fuck, cunt, asshole, and the phrases cock sucker, mother fucker and ass hole, compound use, (including hyphenated compounds) , of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle and infinitive forms).

Unfortunately the fucking in 'fucking brilliant' is an adverb, and that's the one part of speech they forgot to include.

This is a brilliant lecture on what swearing is about. If anyone has a full transcript I'd love to post it.

 

 

Source: http://thesciencenetwork.org/search?q=PINK...

Geoff Ginter: 'You have been the single greatest threat to my family', Town Hall address to GOP's Tom MacArthur - 2017

10 May 2017, Willingboro, New Jersey, USA

My wife was diagnosed with cancer when she was 40 years old. She beat it, but every day—every day—she lives with it. She thinks about it. Every pain, every new something going on somewhere, is it coming back? Is this cancer? Do I have it again? Is it gonna kill me this time? Is it gonna take me away from my children? Speaking of which: my children. Both have pre-existing conditions from birth. One cardiac, one thyroid. You have been the single greatest threat to my family in the entire world. You are the reason I stay up at night. You are the reason that I cannot sleep. What happens if I lose my job?

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/201...

Connor Yates: 'I want to have friends, but making friends is hard for me', My Autism, School Speaking Competition - 2015

June 2015, Fort St John, British Columbia, Canada

Connor Yates delivered this speech to a school speech competition, which he won.

Today, I intend to talk about something about myself that I think is really important to share with everyone.

I have autism, and I want to tell you what it is, and what it is like living with it.

Autism is a social disorder that makes it hard to communicate and to make friends. I have trouble understanding what people think, and how they feel. This is a social skill I have trouble with.

An example of this is that I can say things and not realise that it hurts someone’s feelings.

You may ask me to stop, but I don’t understand that you may be getting frustrated.

Something else that I struggle with is getting frustrated when I can’t do something right away. For example, whenI try learning something new, if I don’t get it right away, I get upset and want to quit.

It feels like I will never get it, learn it, or be good enough at it.

Sometimes I will be stuck on an idea or event that happened, and this makes it harder to work. 

Another thing that I struggle with, is that sometimes I worry about asking for help and about what people will think about me.

Some common characteristics of autism are, little or no eye contact, preferring to be alone, trouble taking turns and blurting out.

If you’ve ever spoken to me, and it seems like I’m looking at everything but you?

This is because looking at you makes me uncomfortable.

I want to have friends, but making friends is hard for me.

I want somebody to play with, just like you do. I know it’s hard to be my friend becasue sometimes I don’t know what to say, and I end up saying something that hurts your feelings.

I find it really hard to be around a large group of people.

A large group of people can be my classmates, my friends, a party, my family, grocery shopping or going to a movie.

When I walk into a large group I can hear a lot of voices, they are really loud and overwhelming to me. Everyone is often running around, playing, talking and doing different things.

All of this is overwhelming to me, because I struggle to understand my surroundings.

When I go out I don’t want to be touched or held.

I often talk loud, or yell, so I don’t hear the other voices around me. I can become very argumentative, as I struggle to understand the other person’s emotions.

When I am overwhelmed, I don’t know that I am, even when people tell me, I struggle to believe them.

Because of all of this, I find it easier to just be alone and walk around.

I hope you understand more about me, because I want you to know more about my disorder.

 

Thank you.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/08/co...