I love that the word ‘bloody’ has been deemed ‘the great Australian adjective’ (Wiezerbicka 2002, p1172).
It was interesting to discover that the use of bloody could be adopted to make a sentence good, bad or true (Wiezerbicka 2002). A prime example of the use of this word is my amazing Greek-Cypriot Grandfather: who came to Australia in his twenties. He continues to this day to use the word ‘bloody’ (which he picked up working as a chef with lots of other migrants at the time) to describe almost everything. Common expressions such as ‘it was bloody good’, or ‘I can’t believe he bloody did that!’ have been a normal part of the Australian cultural script for my grandfather. But we don’t even bat an eyelash in my family anymore when someone uses the word.
This in itself is interesting because I am a self-confessed non-swearer and so are my family. So do we lose face when we say ‘bloody’? I definitely did in England because it is totally unacceptable to use that word. Turbado distinguishes between the semantics of language and choices of words within a sentence such as ‘cause, trigger, provoke, or effect’ a sentence rather than a pragmatic approach which positions the appropriateness of the constructed sentence in the mind of both the hearer and the speaker (2006, p568). Semantically and pragmatically, the use of the word ‘bloody’ as opposed to other swear words are a discourse marker of our own cultural script - one that is accepted in everyday interactions! So losing face (as Goffman would refer to it) does not occur in our culture but may in others (like England).
We always have to be able to explain an action – an action can never in our own minds be independent from rationalisation (as Garfinkel points out). I needed to be able to explain and put a label on my grandfather’s use of the word ‘bloody’ in every second sentence. It was after reading this article that I realised how entrenched this saying was in our culture. It is not considered to be rude but very much part of our cultural script (Wiezerbicka 2002).
References
Taboada, M 2006, 'Discourse markers as signals (or not) of rhetorical relations', Journal of Pragmatics, vol.38, no.4, pp567 – 592.
Wierzbicka, A 2002, ‘Australian cultural scripts –bloody revisited’, Journal of Pragmatics, vol.34, no.1, pp1167-1209.
Hi there, very interesting post on this week's topic.
ReplyDeleteAh, bloody hell… Here we are again, hey – another bloody week, another bloody blog. I think I’ll get another one of the bloody requisite comments out of the way this time round. Better get bloody cracking on it.
Just to clarify, I do not wander around muttering in sentences that contain the word ‘bloody’ an average of every 5 words. Or do I, and I just don’t realise it? I certainly hope not. I do know that there are times when I do use ‘bloody’ without thinking about it. But when I think about it, like now, it really is such a silly word. What does it even mean? It’s so ambiguous its adjective function can be used in almost any sentence, applied to any situation or event, or to describe any kind of scenario. Yeah, it’s a descriptive word, a lovely little adjective – but its connotations are so varied. It can be positive and negative, subjective and objective, it can be offensive, frustrated or sarcastic, or it can simply reflect emphasis upon something.
I do recall a snotty little ‘friend’ of mine at around 8 years old who dobbed on me for swearing when she was staying at my house one weekend; though it didn’t go too well for her because ‘bloody’ wasn’t a swear word in our household, it was just another word (Gee, sounds like I’m still bitter about that one!).
Basically, ‘bloody’ has been bleached. Through its constant repetition (in our cultural context) the word has been desymbolised. Much of its original meaning has been lost, and what it represented has been culturally diluted. The word has since come to symbolically represent ‘true blue Aussie’ dialogue. It’s definitely a fascinating topic to consider; and your Grandfather definitely seems to represent this cultural structure, where ‘bloody’ is not just a word, it’s a part of an identity.
Interesting Blog - Its funny how we may deem some words inappropriate that others feel are fine, yet we feel other words are perfectly fine, whilst those same people feel they are inappropriate... you gotta love that good ol' Aussie adjective! (though soon they might be changing it to the F bomb!)
ReplyDeleteGood reflections on the whole bloody thing. It is interesting how a once socially taboo word has become part of the national Australian vocabulary. And also pretty crazy how, just as Jace has mentioned, seemingly harsher words, "F word" "C word" "S word", are starting to become more and more commonplace. It would seem as though, depending on where you are, they could be considered quite a normal part of conversation. I do youth work with young people and the use of these sorts of words is so frequent that most of them don't even realise that it is coming out of their mouths and potentially offensive to others...kinda crazy how socially acceptable norms can be acceptable specific to that social context and extremely unacceptable in most other social contexts. I guess, like Ayla references, it's tied up in identity. It's no wonder that you can experience forms of culture shock within Australia when you're just hanging out with unfamiliar crowds.
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting read!
ReplyDeleteI really wonder how usage of bloody has changed since the times of mass European migrations in the mid 20th century. The common dialect today, particularly among young Australians seems to be as much a product of globalised media as it is passed from our seniors. It was with a second reason for sadness that at my grandfather’s funeral, my aunty pointed out that he called everyone ‘cobber’. Although I imagine this was a more common word when he was growing up in the thirties, it seems it is almost non-existent now.
Although a lot of our wider cultural exposures are evident in everyday life, and particularly among tech-savvy Generation Y, I feel that bloody has a distinctive feel to it as something belonging to Australians. As well as making being a useful (although apparently offensive) global advertising tool (‘so where the bloody hell are ya?’) it is badge of cultural identity proudly worn by many.
I live at a college where ‘bloody’ seems to be used somewhat artificially. The tone of use in my non-multicultural hometown is almost strictly for its convenience in conversation. Here at my college where a third of residents are of international origin (mainly American) it seems that it is almost exaggerated to make us appear more Australian than we normally are. Although that is a somewhat subjective interpretation of it, I only feel it is strengthened by the attention it seems to bring. Internationals students always make for an interesting and useful way to see what makes Australians language and culture unique. I am also very glad we have them in our tutorial, although the joke about them packing ;)
Discussion of language always makes me wonder what else differentiates us from other English-speaking nations.
That was a very interesting blog. I had written a blog myself on the topic and how there was an advertisement developed by Australian Tourism with the punch line "So where the bloody hell are you?". Different cultures have different ways in expressing their excitement. Although the word is considered profane and impolite, it is just another word to emphasise a particular situation. I am an expatriate and advertisements like this are targeted mostly towards people like us to travel in Australia. One thing i have noticed is that be it profane or not, such advertisements are not going to have any significant negative effects on people considering to travel the country. Firstly, it takes a lot of money to travel here and for many it could be once in a lifetime opportunity. Such an advertisement is nothing compared to the work they have to put together to travel to Australia. Secondly, the youth today travel looking at destinations to have fun at. Youngsters would not be more excited after seeing the advertisement as it shows how chilled the Australians are and so is the culture.
ReplyDeleteAlthough having said that, the use of bloody in sentences while conversing with someone is considered impolite. Then again, why is it specific to Australia? People all around the world us it. When i was a kid i've heard people use the word and it was never considered profane.