0:00:05 > 0:00:10Language is one of the most amazing things we humans do.
0:00:10 > 0:00:16It separates us from the animals. It gives us theatre, poetry and song.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19It makes us laugh and cry.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23'In this episode, I'll be looking at how we use and abuse language
0:00:23 > 0:00:25'with new ways of swearing,
0:00:25 > 0:00:32'jargon and slang, which are a testament to our creativity,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35'but also give us a deeper insight into the workings of the mind.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:40This programme contains very strong language.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42Fuck you!
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Steady! Hello.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48In this programme, we're going to be looking at bad language.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50There are certain kinds of jargon and slang,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54but there's also the altogether more worrisome matter of blasphemy,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57obscenity, political incorrectness and, of course, swearing.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00So if you do choose to watch, well, don't blame me.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02You have been warned.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05I'll be looking at why some words have such power over us
0:01:05 > 0:01:09and some ideas need to be cloaked in euphemism and innuendo -
0:01:09 > 0:01:12how codes of speech vary between different groups
0:01:12 > 0:01:15and whether language should be controlled.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Or indeed, if such a thing is possible.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Taboo or not taboo,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21that is the question.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Dear old Auntie Beeb has a constantly changing register
0:01:27 > 0:01:30of expletives, reflecting the cultural acceptability
0:01:30 > 0:01:34of taboo words, ranging in severity from the mild,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36all the way down to the kind that have to be
0:01:36 > 0:01:40referred up to the highest echelons if they're to be used.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42There'll be a few of those in this programme.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45See if you can guess which they'll be.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50While English has a particularly rich seam of dirty words,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53it's not the only profanity-laden language.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57SHE CHANTS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:01:58 > 0:02:03Step into any society and you will find words that are taboo.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08And I'm willing to bet that the Turkana of East Africa are no exception.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Of course, what's rude in one language
0:02:11 > 0:02:14is innocent as the driven snow in another.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17If I were to offer you a bucket of toss in England you might be
0:02:17 > 0:02:20rather upset, but over here you'd be very happy to have something
0:02:20 > 0:02:23to wash your clothes with.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27LAUGHTER
0:02:27 > 0:02:30'So what are the dirty words, the filthy phrases
0:02:30 > 0:02:33'and foul language that the Turkana use?'
0:02:33 > 0:02:36THEY SPEAK TURKANA
0:02:38 > 0:02:44She is saying, "When a man abuses me, that collapse kind of uterus,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48"of the vagina, I say, you the big penis of a donkey."
0:02:48 > 0:02:50- That's an insult?- Yeah.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52- That's a bad thing?- Yeah.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54In my country that will be a compliment!
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Another Turkana insult is any reference to "your mother",
0:02:59 > 0:03:04and talking about menstrual blood is an absolute no-no.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Their swear words are drawn from the same pool of taboos
0:03:07 > 0:03:12and anxieties - religion, sex, death, illness, excretion
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and bodily fluids - as our own dear swear words are drawn from.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18So what is it about these subjects that make them
0:03:18 > 0:03:21such a rich source of obscenities?
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Cognitive scientist and language guru
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Professor Steven Pinker has a theory.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31It's generally topics that are surrounded by negative emotion,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33that seems to be the common denominator,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36that are highly arousing.
0:03:36 > 0:03:42Excretion, which elicits the emotion of disgust.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Religion, which elicits the emotion of awe
0:03:46 > 0:03:49and dread of supernatural powers.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Sexuality, which elicits the emotion of revulsion to sexual depravity.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59It's not a coincidence that sexuality gives rise to taboo,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02despite the fact that one could say that's it's just a source
0:04:02 > 0:04:06of wholesome mutual pleasure, because that isn't really true of sexuality.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08There are a...
0:04:08 > 0:04:11- It does give rise to a heck of a lot of problems!- Yeah, exactly.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14I mean, there are consenting adults, but then there's also adultery,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18there's also illegitimacy, there's also rape, there's also incest,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22there's also exploitation, there's jealousy and cuckoldry.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27Sexuality is, contrary to some of the fantasies of the 1960s,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32it's a highly inflammatory thought to humans
0:04:32 > 0:04:34and so it's not a complete coincidence
0:04:34 > 0:04:40that words that refer to sexuality can pass over into taboo.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Sex has given us one of our most versatile swear words.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50It can be used as a verb, a noun and an adjective.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52It is, of course, the F word.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55And you are about to hear it, repeatedly.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58I love Basingstoke! Fuck.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00You're the only person on Earth who does.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I love sheepskin. Fuck. Biscuit.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05I love - biscuit - sheep. Fuck!
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'Jess Thom has Tourette's syndrome,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11'which involves involuntary movements and vocal tics,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15'random noises and words, like, in her case, "biscuit".'
0:05:15 > 0:05:18The first - fuck - noise I can remember was a squeaky one
0:05:18 > 0:05:20when I was about six.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23My tics when I was younger and all through my childhood were
0:05:23 > 0:05:27much more motor and also much more mild - fuck - than they are now.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Fuck. For lots of people, Tourette's gets better as they get older.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Fuck. For me in adulthood and in my early 20s, my tics got much more
0:05:33 > 0:05:38noticeable to other people - fuck - although the sensation for me - biscuit - didn't change that much.
0:05:38 > 0:05:39Fuck.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44'It was in her 20s that Jess developed coprolalia,
0:05:44 > 0:05:49'the uncontrollable use of obscene words that affects only 10% of Touretters.'
0:05:49 > 0:05:52I was speaking to my dad on the phone - fuck - the other day
0:05:52 > 0:05:55and he's used to very rude swearing in our conversations, constantly
0:05:55 > 0:05:59peppered with tics, but sort of understands them for what they are.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Fuck. But then I used "fuck" to describe something.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06I said "something was fucking something" and he knew instantly
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and told me off and told me and told me to mind my language. Fuck.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12And it really made me laugh, as it was like he sort of - ha-ha! -
0:06:12 > 0:06:16he'd heard all the, you know, he hadn't heard all the...
0:06:16 > 0:06:18all the... all the offensive words
0:06:18 > 0:06:20because he knew they were tics and had no meaning,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23but as soon as I'd used something deliberately he pulled me up on it.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27- It just proves it's not the words themselves, it's where they come from.- Exactly.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And it's what spin they're given by the speaker.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Absolutely, and I think lots of people misunderstand Tourette's
0:06:33 > 0:06:37when they say, "I wish I had Tourette's, "I could get away with swearing,"
0:06:37 > 0:06:41or, "It means I could say whatever I - biscuit, biscuit - whatever I wanted to."
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The whole point is I can't say whatever I want to.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Lots of what I say I don't want to say, I just...
0:06:45 > 0:06:49It's just there - fuck - and it's - biscuit, biscuit, biscuit!
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Happy Christmas - but, you know, that doesn't mean that I haven't...
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I can't articulate my thoughts and make myself understood.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Fuck. Biscuit.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02'As an attempt to tackle misconceptions of Tourette's syndrome head on,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05'Jess has been keeping a diary of her complex tics
0:07:05 > 0:07:09'and using them to inspire fantastical visual works.'
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I think one has to be creative about it to have a decent quality of life,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18and not let the tics impact on me, especially socially.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Part of the - biscuit! - one of the big elements of Tourette's
0:07:22 > 0:07:24is the social - fuck - impact it has,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27and by engaging with people and engaging with it creatively - fuck -
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and celebrating the humour and saying, "Look, it's not OK to laugh
0:07:31 > 0:07:34"because I have Tourette's, but it's all right to laugh."
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Fuck. I'm saying laugh at the funny things - fuck -
0:07:36 > 0:07:39that I say as tics that are the result of Tourette's - biscuit -
0:07:39 > 0:07:42because they're often - fuck, biscuit - very visual.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46It's almost a surreal use of the accidental collision of words,
0:07:46 > 0:07:47and to make something out of them.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Jess has also created an alter ego, Tourette's Hero,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56to encourage other Touretters, young and old, to embrace their condition.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Do parents of the kids you work with,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01do they worry about your language at all?
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Fuck - I think there's always a concern with children and swearing.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09But I think open and honesty is the key to them feeling comfortable,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11and families - fuck - feeling confident
0:08:11 > 0:08:14and just getting on with what you're doing, but answering
0:08:14 > 0:08:17and addressing any concerns that they might have, that's the...
0:08:17 > 0:08:22That's the sort of way - fuck, biscuit - the way forward. Ha!
0:08:22 > 0:08:23Why do you keep going like that?
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Because I have Tourette's syndrome and that means my body moves
0:08:27 > 0:08:29and makes noises I can't control.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32But it's not a big problem, in fact, it's not really a problem,
0:08:32 > 0:08:33it's my power.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Look, we can we can wave. We've got the cameras.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Jess and other people with Tourette's syndrome provide
0:08:42 > 0:08:46an insight into what is going on inside our brains when we swear.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50What's interesting is that swear words tap into the most
0:08:50 > 0:08:52primitive part of our brains,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55the parts that control many aspects of our lives,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58from movement, habits and emotions, to our speech.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02It's like a signal box for the brain,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and our swearing researcher Timothy Jay explains
0:09:05 > 0:09:09that this has been identified as the basal ganglia.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12The basal ganglia, perhaps you can explain to me,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15they are more associated with emotion than with reason,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17- is that a fair description? - Er, and movement, yes.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Yeah, and I think that's why, that's the problem with the moving,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24the inappropriate moving, those can't be inhibited.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28You have to have that balance between action
0:09:28 > 0:09:32- and inhibition...- Yes. Inhibition. - ..or you have seizure.- Yeah.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Exactly, and so it might be suggested that people with Tourette's
0:09:35 > 0:09:39therefore are... their brains are not inhibiting the things that...
0:09:39 > 0:09:42- Yes, yeah.- ..And they're just going directly, this...- Yeah.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45And I think looking at these people with various kinds of brain
0:09:45 > 0:09:49disorders, this really gets to the deeper picture of what cursing is.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52The depth of the recesses of the mind, the various,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55the limbic system, the amygdala, the basal ganglia, the bits that are
0:09:55 > 0:09:59really to do with our most primitive and deep-seated emotions.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Yeah, see, a lot of early language analysis looked at it, kind of, very superficially,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and emotion wasn't really part of that, not good or bad emotion,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12so it gave kind of a polite, but false, view of language,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16and you really, I mean, everybody has this built in to them.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I think of it as kind of like the warning system in your car.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23How you use it depends on you, but we've evolved this,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27erm, kind of through the fight or flight response to respond to threats
0:10:27 > 0:10:30and to be aggressive. I think that's in that lower part
0:10:30 > 0:10:33of the brain, the basal ganglia, where that comes from.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38'When the basal ganglia malfunction, we lose inhibition,
0:10:38 > 0:10:39'as in Tourette's.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43'I want to see if they are also involved in controlling my speech,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47'so I'm going to deliberately suppress or inhibit words
0:10:47 > 0:10:49'whilst having a brain scan.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55'My task is to talk about different topics without repeating any words.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58'It's a bit like the radio show Just A Minute,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00'and my subject is swearing.'
0:11:00 > 0:11:05All kinds of, as it were, Krypton or internal languages used by...
0:11:07 > 0:11:10'As well as the usual parts of my brain that are involved in selecting
0:11:10 > 0:11:15'words, other parts of my brain are marking words that have already been
0:11:15 > 0:11:18'said as taboo, like swear words are,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21'and then inhibiting their re-use.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24'Professor Cathy Price takes me through the results.'
0:11:24 > 0:11:28What you're doing is you're inhibiting the repetition of words.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31So what we predicted was that you would activate
0:11:31 > 0:11:34- your left head of caudate, which is what we see here.- Right.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37This tiny little structure here, and there's a lot else going on here.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Another thing that we predicted
0:11:41 > 0:11:45was that, um, you see this, this activation in the frontal lobes,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49because, the frontal lobes are involved in controlling what you're
0:11:49 > 0:11:53saying, and sort of selecting words and inhibiting words, so...
0:11:53 > 0:11:59this will please, you know, several people in the literature!
0:11:59 > 0:12:04It all makes sense with the current theories.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10This is amazing. It confirms that the lower part of the brain,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12the head of caudate in the basal ganglia,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16are directly involved with inhibiting speech.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18What's also fascinating is that
0:12:18 > 0:12:20if these parts of the brain are damaged,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24by stroke, for example, then language can be suddenly disrupted.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29Cathy compares my scan with those of a patient who has had such damage to this area.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32'His language disorder was worse than Tourette's -
0:12:32 > 0:12:35'initially all he could do was swear.'
0:12:35 > 0:12:37This is you on the left, it's your brain,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40and these are the areas that you activated when you were doing
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Just A Minute and you were inhibiting saying other words.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49If we look at where this patient's got damage, you can see, here,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51this is your left head of caudate here
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and you can see the activation in here.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56If you look here, it's missing.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58It's been damaged.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01So this is basically showing you that this patient has damaged
0:13:01 > 0:13:05the left head of caudate, which you needed for Just A Minute
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and he probably needed to stop himself swearing.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13And here's Leslie, the patient Cathy's talking about.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17I'm going to say a sentence and if you could repeat each after me.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20All right? The cat chased the bird.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26The cat...chased...the bird.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30'For me, the thought of losing such a crucial part of myself
0:13:30 > 0:13:34'is terrifying, but Leslie has worked hard for the past 14 years
0:13:34 > 0:13:36'to go beyond just swearing.'
0:13:36 > 0:13:39And those are the words that came easily?
0:13:39 > 0:13:42- The only words that came easily were the swear words?- Yeah.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45- This is a common thing, but it must have surprised you.- Yeah.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47And you must have been distraught, as well.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Yeah, I was. It was, it was frightening, really frightening.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51Surprised myself.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54You surprised yourself with your language, even?
0:13:54 > 0:13:57It was the first bit of noise that came out of my mouth for...
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Oh, two or three days you sort of just lay there,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03didn't do anything, did you?
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Even to feed him.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08- And it was a good crunchy Anglo-Saxon word?- Yes!
0:14:09 > 0:14:14'Leslie is one of many who have been cursed with swearing after a stroke.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17'Swear words are some of the most powerful and resonant words'
0:14:17 > 0:14:19of any in our language.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24So why do swear words remain when all other language is lost?
0:14:25 > 0:14:29When you've had a stroke, the first thing to recover are the easiest words,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33the most automatic things start to recover first,
0:14:33 > 0:14:38so if you used to swear and use swear words, even if you inhibited
0:14:38 > 0:14:43them in certain situations, they might be the first to come back.
0:14:43 > 0:14:44The problem there, though,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47is that they might be the first ones to come back,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50but then you've also got to be able to inhibit them,
0:14:50 > 0:14:55so if you've got damage to mechanisms such as your left head of caudate
0:14:55 > 0:14:58that are involved in suppressing words, and you've got a patient
0:14:58 > 0:15:01that's just recovering their automatic speech, they might end up
0:15:01 > 0:15:05swearing too much because they can't inhibit what they're saying.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09So what you're saying is not that they put swearing into their normal speech,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13but the swearing is the only thing they can do often or at least at first?
0:15:13 > 0:15:18Yes, the frequency might increase in the post-stroke phase,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22partly because they're unable to inhibit it,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26partly because it might be the only thing that they're able to say
0:15:26 > 0:15:33and to generate, and partly because there might be a lot of emotion driving the system, as well.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36'Professor Timothy Jay has a theory
0:15:36 > 0:15:40'for why rude words are linked to emotions.'
0:15:40 > 0:15:43The valence of these words, the arousal level of these words
0:15:43 > 0:15:46comes from the surround of learning them,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49whether your parents are punitive
0:15:49 > 0:15:51or they laughed the first time you say "fuck"
0:15:51 > 0:15:56or do they get angry and and punish you? There's no other language that
0:15:56 > 0:16:00gets this reaction, so it has this, "Wow, this is a very powerful thing
0:16:00 > 0:16:04"I just said, I can tell that by the way my mom reacted to me",
0:16:04 > 0:16:09and I think that emotional tag gets stored with the word
0:16:09 > 0:16:12in a way that other language doesn't have those kind of tags.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16We're the only animal that can express these emotions symbolically,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19so we can say, "fuck you" instead of hitting you or biting you.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22And little kids, it's funny, little kids, before they really
0:16:22 > 0:16:26learn how to swear and say, "I hate you, Mommy" or, you know,
0:16:26 > 0:16:27"fuck you", they will,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30three year olds will bite you and scratch you, you know?
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Anybody who's sent a kid to day care will see that.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36But when we learn how to use language to express that emotion,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39- that primitive animal anger goes away.- Aah!
0:16:39 > 0:16:42So I think there's an evolutionary advantage to...
0:16:42 > 0:16:43That's very interesting.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Yeah, to be able to emote or verbally aggress towards someone.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52The idea that swear words play a positive role
0:16:52 > 0:16:56in human social interactions intrigues me.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01It makes me wonder whether there are any other beneficial uses of abusive language...
0:17:01 > 0:17:04To find out, I'm going to compare myself with one of the most
0:17:04 > 0:17:09prolific users of profanities in the kingdom.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11- Brian Blessed! - Stephen, how are you?
0:17:11 > 0:17:14- Good to see you. - Delighted to see you.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18'Brian and I are going to be guinea pigs for Dr Richard Stevens,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22'who is researching the link between swearing and pain.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25'He was inspired by his wife's experience in childbirth.'
0:17:25 > 0:17:30During the bad contractions, she found it useful to swear
0:17:30 > 0:17:32and as the contractions eased she was a bit apologetic,
0:17:32 > 0:17:37and the midwife said, "Don't apologise, we hear this language all the time."
0:17:37 > 0:17:40And that was really what sparked my interest -
0:17:40 > 0:17:45childbirth, all these women swearing, this supposedly beautiful moment,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48isn't that interesting? Why do swearing and pain go together?
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Plus I injured myself a few times along the way as well and swore a bit.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56'But Brian doesn't need to be in pain to unleash a torrent of abuse.'
0:17:56 > 0:17:58There was a woman. A... A...
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Shit, I'll start again. Take two!
0:18:01 > 0:18:05"Oh, shit, I've said fuck! Oh, fuck, I've said shit!"
0:18:05 > 0:18:10No, look! "I name this ship Felicity Ann, and God save all those
0:18:10 > 0:18:13"who sail in there. Up there. Oh, shit. Oh, fuck, I've said shit.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15"Oh! Shit, I've said fuck!"
0:18:15 > 0:18:19No. There was a woman down the alleyway, Mrs Holmes,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and she's going to report me for saying "bugger", you know.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25"Oh, just wait till I see your mother. You're in real trouble."
0:18:25 > 0:18:28"Oh, if you're going to go and see her, then tell her this -
0:18:28 > 0:18:31"bugger, shit, fuck, shit, fucking sphincter, arsehole, up your arse,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35"up your cunt, fuck you sideways, you fucking boring fucking whore,
0:18:35 > 0:18:36"fuck off, you cow!
0:18:36 > 0:18:39"Go and fucking repeat that to my mother."
0:18:40 > 0:18:44'Unfazed, Richard starts us off with a demonstration to show
0:18:44 > 0:18:46'the subliminal effect of swear words.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48Right, get ready.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Some words are going to flash up on the screen
0:18:51 > 0:18:52in different coloured inks.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53Yes, yes.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57OK? Try and ignore the word altogether and just tell me the colour of the ink.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00- Right.- Right. - Just say it out loud and say it together.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05BOTH: Green. Orange. Brown. Blue. Red. Orange.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10And we've got one final one to do again. Exactly the same task.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11- Same thing?- Yeah.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15- Try and ignore the word, try and tell us the colour of the ink. - Colour of the ink only.
0:19:15 > 0:19:16OK, here we go.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21BOTH: Red, green, brown, blue
0:19:21 > 0:19:25orange...red! Green!
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Brown...blue, orange, red, blue!
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Oh, pussy, orange! Green. Blue.
0:19:33 > 0:19:34THEY CACKLE
0:19:34 > 0:19:39Oh! Fantastic.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43But you want to say dick! Pussy.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47You've got written on there dick and pussy, you want to say dick and pussy!
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Well, I don't know what it's supposed to prove except that it's extremely good fun.
0:19:51 > 0:19:57What this demonstration is designed to show us is that
0:19:57 > 0:20:04you cannot help but process and understand swear words, OK?
0:20:04 > 0:20:10They're powerful, emotional words, even if you're trying to ignore them.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14'The next demonstration should show how these powerful words
0:20:14 > 0:20:16'of abuse can be used to good effect.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19'But, first of all, we've got to do a control experiment...
0:20:19 > 0:20:21'with neutral words.'
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Before you go I want you to think of a word you'd use to describe a table.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27A word to describe it?
0:20:27 > 0:20:30A single word that you would describe a table with.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32- Functional. - OK, that's a good word.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35So when you put your hand in the water I'd like you to repeat
0:20:35 > 0:20:38that word at an even and steady pace.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39A steady volume.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Keep your hand in as long as you can and take it out when you're ready.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Just to let everyone know, these are not plastic.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48These are real ice cubes. That is cold actually. Functional.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Functional.
0:20:51 > 0:20:58Functional. Functional. Functional. Functional. It's beginning to hurt.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Functional. Functional.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03- Functional. Fuck!- Don't swear.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07I'm not to swear, I'm sorry. Functional. Functional. Functional.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Functional. This really hurts. Functional.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12I'm going to get hypothermia.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Functional. Oh, God, I can't take it, I'm sorry. Ohh!
0:21:15 > 0:21:17It's actually worse when you take it out!
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Fantastic. I'd like you to do that again, I'm afraid.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24- Oh, hell. Yes?- This time I'd like you to... Can you tell me a word
0:21:24 > 0:21:27you might say if you hit your finger with a hammer?
0:21:27 > 0:21:29- Well, I'm afraid, I'll be dull and it would be "fuck".- Good.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34Oh, yes. Ohh, yes.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Good. Fuck.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Ah-ha! Fuck. It's all right for the moment.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46I'm going to save them up. It's not too cold, but I will go "fuck".
0:21:46 > 0:21:52Oh, fuck this for a game of fucking soldiers.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55- Fucking... Oh, fuck. - Terrible language.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59I'm so fucking sorry! It feels better, it feels better.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Saying "fuck", it actually doesn't feel so bad.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Fuck me, I could stay here forever,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06especially if I could say "wanker" and "cunt".
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Fuck! Fuckity, fuckity fuckity fuck poo.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13What's it feel like, Stephen?
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Very cold. Numb. Tingly. Very tingly. Very tingly.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21I can keep it in here in a way that I couldn't before.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24I genuinely mean that. That's quite extraordinary. There it goes.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28- Well done.- Lovely. Thank you very much.- Well done.
0:22:28 > 0:22:35'But Richard also wants to find out how this works for a hard-core swearer like Brian Blessed.'
0:22:35 > 0:22:39- Same thing again.- Right-oh. Oh, it's lovely and warm.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42HE CACKLES
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Wooden. Wooden. Wooden. Wooden.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It is cold, isn't it? Oh, it is.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51What sort of actor is Ralph Fiennes?
0:22:51 > 0:22:53- I've never met him.- Oh, you're supposed to say "wooden"!
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Wooden. Oh, wooden! Oh, I'm not picking this up.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03Ken Brannagh. Wooden. Patrick Stewart. Very wooden. A fire risk.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05Cor, fuck, it's getting cold now.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06No, you mustn't swear.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12No, that's a point. Wooden. Wooden. Wooden. Wooden!!
0:23:12 > 0:23:15- Wooden. Wooden. - Steady, even pace, please.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Wooden. Wooden. I'll take it out.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Well done. It's really cold, isn't it?
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Excellent, I'll just make a little note of that time.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29OK, Brian, and so this time I'd like you to use a word
0:23:29 > 0:23:32you might use if you hit yourself on the thumb with a hammer.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Can you give me your word that you might use?
0:23:34 > 0:23:38- Yes, I'd say, "Bollocks. Fuck it." - Just one word.- "Bollocks".- OK.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Oh. Oh, bollocks. Oh, bollocks.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Bollocks. Is that all I can say, is "bollocks"?
0:23:48 > 0:23:50- Afraid so.- Oh, bollocks!
0:23:52 > 0:23:53Bollocks!
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Steady, even pace, please.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Steady? Can't keep the fucking thing... Steady pace.
0:24:00 > 0:24:01Bollocks.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Bollocks.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Bollocks!
0:24:05 > 0:24:07Bollocks. Oh, fuck it.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11- Well done.- That's great. Thank you. - So, you have data for us.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14It's worked out pretty much as I thought it would.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16At least, with you, Stephen, we found exactly what
0:24:16 > 0:24:20we did in the experiment for the majority of people, which is
0:24:20 > 0:24:23that if you swear while you've got your hands in the ice cold
0:24:23 > 0:24:24water you keep it in there for longer.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28You don't find it as painful. You tolerate the pain better.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32So you kept your hand in for 38 seconds with the neutral word,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35but for two minutes 29 seconds when...
0:24:35 > 0:24:37- Was it really? - ..With the swear words.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42And you were commenting while it was going on about feeling much better.
0:24:42 > 0:24:43It definitely felt much better.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46So it's like you're having an emotional reaction,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49sparking off an emotional reaction in yourself in swearing.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51In effect, you're shocking yourself to a certain degree,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54as if you're shocked by your swearing.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58And then you have it, it's called the flight or fight response, which is the adrenalin.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Our most recent study which we've done is we decided to
0:25:02 > 0:25:06take into account how much people swear on an everyday basis.
0:25:06 > 0:25:13And Brian, I formed an impression of you from the moments this morning.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16So, as someone who swears a lot, you can habituate to swearing.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It kind of loses its potency.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22And with you, you kept your hand in for one minute 27
0:25:22 > 0:25:26in the neutral condition and for slightly less, one minute 22, in the swearing conditions.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32'So swear words are most effective if they are not overused.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34'Their power comes from the taboo we put on them.'
0:25:36 > 0:25:41But swear words are more than just cathartic pain relievers.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45They help us bond with people, in particular through jokes and humour.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48- Evening all.- Evening, Joe. - 'Allo, Gilbert.
0:25:48 > 0:25:54Oh, bit (BLEEP) nippy. Think we're in for (BLEEP) fall of (BLEEP) snow.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55That's all we (BLEEP) need.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59- That one will cost you 20p!- Got a (BLEEP) swear box in here now!
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Don't worry, have these on me.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03That's a (BLEEP) good idea.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06- Like at church. 5p a time. - Quite right, too.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09About time this did something like the (BLEEP) church.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12- Dozy lot of (BLEEP). - That will cost you 10p.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17When uttered at the right moment, a rude word can suddenly bring
0:26:17 > 0:26:21an otherwise dull and lifeless sentence dramatically to life.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24In the distinctly unamusing world of humour research,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27this is known as a "jab line".
0:26:27 > 0:26:30It adds emphasis and a touch of the unexpected -
0:26:30 > 0:26:31a common component of humour.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36But nowhere has swearing been taken to such operatic levels
0:26:36 > 0:26:38as in The Thick Of It.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41No, I don't use lifts, I'm claustrophobic.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47You're what?
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Not hugely. I can be in rooms, you've seen that.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51I just don't do lifts, that's all.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56This lift is... I mean, it's fucking huge!
0:26:56 > 0:26:58This is bigger than some rooms!
0:26:58 > 0:27:00This is bigger than some people's flats!
0:27:00 > 0:27:02It's about not being able to get out.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Oh, well, that's great(!) That's fucking great.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07That's another fucking thing, right there.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Not only have you got a fucking bent husband
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and a fucking daughter that gets taken to school
0:27:12 > 0:27:15on a fucking sedan chair, you're also fucking mental!
0:27:15 > 0:27:19Jesus Christ, see you, you are a fucking omni-shambles, that's what you are.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21You're like that coffee machine, you know,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23"From bean to cup, you fuck up."
0:27:23 > 0:27:30'The brains behind the Baroque language of The Thick Of It is Armando Iannucci.'
0:27:30 > 0:27:32People have strange views about swearing,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and we all do. Some people worship it,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37almost to a mad excess, some people are afraid of it
0:27:37 > 0:27:40or decry it to a... what I would consider an equally mad excess,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43but I think one of the things it's hard to deny is that it...
0:27:43 > 0:27:45- it fuels a sentiment...- Yes.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49- ..gives it an energy and a drive that any replacement word just doesn't.- Yeah. Yeah.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52There is a difference between, "What do you think you're doing?"
0:27:52 > 0:27:54and, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Yes, and also, you know, it...
0:27:57 > 0:27:59it works as a, you know, a verb and an adverb
0:27:59 > 0:28:03and it has many functions, there's a line people keep quoting back
0:28:03 > 0:28:06to us of Malcolm Tucker's, is his phrase when someone knocks on
0:28:06 > 0:28:10the door - "Come the fuck in or fuck the fuck off", where it's used...
0:28:10 > 0:28:12It's delicious.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14It's kind of used in different... it's different...
0:28:14 > 0:28:16It pars in three ways.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23The reason swearing is there in The Thick Of It is primarily
0:28:23 > 0:28:26because I wanted it to feel authentic.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29And I wanted the viewer to think that you were genuinely
0:28:29 > 0:28:32eavesdropping on what the world behind closed doors
0:28:32 > 0:28:35in Whitehall was really like.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38It got this kind of endorsement from the, you know,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42the political world saying, "Yes, no, this is what it's like".
0:28:42 > 0:28:45We seemed to kind of get away with it to the extent that
0:28:45 > 0:28:49I got letters from, you know, 84-year-old ladies saying that they
0:28:49 > 0:28:54found Malcolm Tucker's language kind of positively Shakespearian and...
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Yeah, there is an element of that, I mean you think of Ben Johnson,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01a character like, er, Sir Humphrey Wasp, do you remember,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05in, is it Bartholomew Fair, who's great phrase is "a turd in your teeth"?
0:29:05 > 0:29:09- Yes. Yeah, yeah.- You can almost imagine Malcolm Tucker saying "a turd in your teeth".
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Oh, yes, it's Elizabethan, it's Chaucerian, shall we say?
0:29:12 > 0:29:15There is a good... good get out word, isn't it?
0:29:15 > 0:29:18It's full of it, and therefore we were allowed,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23we effectively ran up to about 100 fucks a programme, really.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Did you have negotiations about how many fucks per cunt?
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Well, yes, in the end I had to...
0:29:29 > 0:29:32There was a series, there was an e-mail exchange
0:29:32 > 0:29:34where for the new series I was told,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37erm, you know, if I wanted up to three cunts
0:29:37 > 0:29:41I would have to get the fuck rate under 100 per episode,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and I remember saying, "Well, we've only got plans for one cunt
0:29:44 > 0:29:48"this episode, so, am I allowed to go beyond 100 fucks per ep?"
0:29:48 > 0:29:51Er, I don't know where we got to, but anyway.
0:29:51 > 0:29:52What about wanks?
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Wanks. Oh... They're just like breathing!
0:29:56 > 0:29:57THEY LAUGH
0:30:03 > 0:30:07The acceptability of swear words has changed considerably over
0:30:07 > 0:30:08the past 100 years.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12An oft-quoted turning point was when Penguin Books
0:30:12 > 0:30:15won the right to publish Lady Chatterley's Lover,
0:30:15 > 0:30:20despite its previously unprintable four-letter C and F words.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Are you going to put this book on open shelves?
0:30:22 > 0:30:24Are you going to display it in the library?
0:30:24 > 0:30:27- No, we shan't do that.- Why not?
0:30:27 > 0:30:31The reason for that is we don't want the book to fall into the hands
0:30:31 > 0:30:36of unsuspecting people, who might be shocked.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40You can now buy Lady Chatterley in any bookshop, but while some
0:30:40 > 0:30:44words are more acceptable, others are becoming more taboo.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49We are a bit less scandalised by
0:30:49 > 0:30:52sex, sexual language. "Fuck" isn't as
0:30:52 > 0:30:55incendiary as it might have been 50 years ago.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58However, we're still very, very touchy about race and gender
0:30:58 > 0:31:00and sexual orientation.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04We have words for the word, like the N word is what you'd see in an
0:31:04 > 0:31:08American newspaper and an American newspaper would not print that word.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Even if it might print a word like "piss", which would have
0:31:11 > 0:31:14been beyond the pale a few decades ago, and...
0:31:14 > 0:31:17And even the word "niggardly" has apparently...
0:31:17 > 0:31:19- Did you ready about that? - Yeah, by association.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21What happened there?
0:31:21 > 0:31:24An employee of the city of Washington DC,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28who at a staff meeting talked about "the niggardly budget".
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Now, "niggardly" is an old Norse word that has nothing to do with
0:31:31 > 0:31:34the Spanish word "negro" for "black"
0:31:34 > 0:31:38It's just sheer coincidence it happens to have the same sound.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40But he was accused of using a racial epithet
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and he was actually fired. He was then offered his job back,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48- but because people took umbrage. - That tells us about the sensitivity.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51It tells us the words matter to people, desperately.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56'For middle-aged, middle-class white men like me,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59'the N-word is a definite taboo.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04'I want to find out whether comedian Stephen K Amos thinks racial
0:32:04 > 0:32:08'or sexual epithets are ever acceptable or even funny.'
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Stephen, you are, like me, a member of proud minorities...
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Oh, yes.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17You're very obviously gay, but I believe you're also,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20you came out recently as being black. Is that... is that correct?
0:32:20 > 0:32:23Yeah, much to the confusion of the audience. They were like, "really?"
0:32:23 > 0:32:25"Tell somebody." Yeah.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29No, I am a member of both communities and very proudly so, yeah.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31Somebody said to me at a gig not that long ago,
0:32:31 > 0:32:36I think it was near Essex kind of way - not that all Essex people are
0:32:36 > 0:32:39like this gentleman, but he went, "Oh, can I tell you this joke?"
0:32:39 > 0:32:42And I went, "You don't really tell a comic a joke."
0:32:42 > 0:32:44He went, "Oh, no, it's funny, it's funny."
0:32:44 > 0:32:47"All right then," and he goes, "Well, guess what,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50"There's this coon, yeah?" and I went, "Mate, I beg your pardon?"
0:32:50 > 0:32:53- And he went, "Not you!"- What? - Like I was going to go,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56"Why, pray continue, Oscar Wilde, tell me more!"
0:32:56 > 0:32:59I was just incensed, and then when I pulled him up on this,
0:32:59 > 0:33:00I went, "how can you say it?"
0:33:00 > 0:33:03And he went, "But you're doing, you're doing black jokes."
0:33:03 > 0:33:05I'm like, "It's not the same!"
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Yeah, now, that's a really interesting point, because
0:33:08 > 0:33:13Chris Rock, who I think is brilliant, one of the best,
0:33:13 > 0:33:18the American comedian, he uses the N word quite freely,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22and, indeed, so do a lot of, you know, gangster rappers and,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25you know, a lot of black comedians. I don't know if you use it.
0:33:25 > 0:33:26I still can't say it.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28I have to say "the N word" cos I'd blush
0:33:28 > 0:33:31if I said it to you. I'd feel very self-conscious.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34It's crazy, but... Do you think that's OK, then?
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Like, like we can say "queer" because we are,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41or I can say "kike" cos I'm Jewish or whatever, does that..?
0:33:41 > 0:33:42I personally think you can,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45because again it goes back to what I was saying about the intent.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47If I or you use the word "queer",
0:33:47 > 0:33:49it's clear that we're not being derogatory.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53If a black person, be they a rapper or a comic, uses the N word,
0:33:53 > 0:33:57I would like to think it's quite clear that they're not being racist.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59There's a whole, there was a whole group called NWA,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03wasn't there, stood for "N With Attitude".
0:34:03 > 0:34:05- I still can't say it!- Niggers!
0:34:05 > 0:34:06Oh, thank you!
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Wash your mouth out!
0:34:08 > 0:34:12I don't personally use it myself, um, because I come personally
0:34:12 > 0:34:16from a generation where I remember it being such a derogative word.
0:34:16 > 0:34:17That's why I don't use it.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22I can remember right now being called that same word many,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26many years ago, as a kid, walking down the street, with my mum.
0:34:26 > 0:34:27Someone shouted it out of a car.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31That, at that moment, there was a very, very different feeling,
0:34:31 > 0:34:32you know?
0:34:32 > 0:34:34- Wow.- Yeah.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38And so I can understand the kind of less demonising of the word,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42now it's so liberally used in songs and in stand up.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46If you say to someone, you know, racial taunts, language, leads
0:34:46 > 0:34:50to violence, can lead to death, even, they'll say, "Oh, come on,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54"sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cannot hurt me."
0:34:54 > 0:34:56What would you say to that?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58This documentary I did called Batty Man, you know,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02I asked inner city young people what they think about gay people.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05A lot of them were quoting the lyrics, the language,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10the words, of some ragga superstar, who was basically
0:35:10 > 0:35:13telling them that gay people were allowed to be shot.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16"That batty man down the street, you know, oh, look at him,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18"shoot him, man," but they were repeating that to me
0:35:18 > 0:35:21with big smiles on their faces,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25because it was just indoctrinated into their souls that this was...
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Yeah.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29But they couldn't make the connection between
0:35:29 > 0:35:32that's what white southerners in Georgia and Alabama
0:35:32 > 0:35:36thought about lynching black people...
0:35:36 > 0:35:38That it was OK, singing songs.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41I would argue that no-one was ever pushed into gas ovens
0:35:41 > 0:35:44or beaten to death on Clapham Common
0:35:44 > 0:35:49because the word "fuck" had been used, or "shit", or swearing.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52- Mmm.- It hasn't done any harm to anybody.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54Personally, I would argue that.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58Whereas, say, "you Jew", "you nigger", whatever,
0:35:58 > 0:36:03does seem to lead to an attitude of almost dehumanising people
0:36:03 > 0:36:07from minorities. And once they're dehumanised, you can kill them,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10as the Nazis showed on an industrial scale.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13HITLER SPEAKS IN GERMAN
0:36:19 > 0:36:22CHEERING
0:36:22 > 0:36:26It's not just classic swear words that can be used to foment hate.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Some fairly ordinary words were used by Hitler
0:36:28 > 0:36:32and his propagandist Joseph Goebbels to terrible deadly effect.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34TRANSLATION:
0:36:38 > 0:36:41A tirade of hate speech labelled Jews as rats,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46vermin and bacillus, infecting the German nation.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50The persistent use of these words dehumanised the Jews
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and allowed the Nazis to make anti-Semitism acceptable.
0:36:55 > 0:37:00One of the most chilling aspects of the Nazis and the Holocaust
0:37:00 > 0:37:02is the way the unspeakably despicable acts
0:37:02 > 0:37:08of murder and violence of the death camps were veiled by anodyne words.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Hate speech gave way to something more subtle
0:37:11 > 0:37:13and, arguably, more insidious -
0:37:13 > 0:37:15euphemism.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20Annihilating a whole ethnic group was called The Final Solution.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23The murderous industry was disguised by expressions like
0:37:23 > 0:37:28"special treatment", "bathhouses", and "auxiliary equipment".
0:37:28 > 0:37:32These bland, neutral words allowed the perpetrators
0:37:32 > 0:37:36to disassociate from reality and disconnect from their emotions.
0:37:36 > 0:37:43Used this way, euphemisms are more dangerous and infinitely more obscene than swear words.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46But it's not just tyrants and dictators
0:37:46 > 0:37:50who use loaded language and weasel words,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52as Professor Pinker points out.
0:37:52 > 0:38:00Politicians have to be masters of the strategic ambiguity in language
0:38:00 > 0:38:05to be able to promise something to one constituent without alienating another.
0:38:05 > 0:38:11Often, great crimes are hidden with the use of euphemism,
0:38:11 > 0:38:15as George Orwell pointed out in Politics Of The English Language.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18We talk about "collateral damage", meaning the, er,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22obliteration of villages, the massacre of civilians
0:38:22 > 0:38:27or "transfer of populations", which refers to horrific forced displacements.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33'But this verbal slipperiness is grist to the mill for political satirists.'
0:38:33 > 0:38:38Over the last 20 years, maybe from Major and Blair onwards,
0:38:38 > 0:38:45there's been a withdrawal of the active in political language.
0:38:46 > 0:38:51If, for example, a politician says something offensive,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55he or she won't say "I apologise for causing offence,"
0:38:55 > 0:38:59they'll say "I apologise if offence was caused."
0:38:59 > 0:39:04Because that shifts the blame on to you for being bloody offended in the first place,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08rather than the politician, so suddenly, they sort of devolve themselves
0:39:08 > 0:39:11of active responsibility for anything.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14It is a subtle alteration of agency, I suppose.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Once you click on to that and start analysing other things that they say,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23in terms of how they put their policies out or what they're going to do for Britain, as a whole,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27you start noticing this thread running through all of that.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31I think it's a way of being able to negotiate policies
0:39:31 > 0:39:36- that if they go badly wrong, won't come back to, er, bite... - Bite them in the arse.
0:39:36 > 0:39:37Exactly.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42While politicians are infamous for being disingenuous,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45we're all guilty of not saying what we mean,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48of telling little white lies, for the sake of diplomacy.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50It's called politeness.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56In some ways, politeness is another form of euphemism.
0:39:56 > 0:40:02It's a way of not saying what you really mean, in order to protect people's feelings.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Politeness lubricates the wheels of social intercourse,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09and if you're not well versed in the codes of conduct, it can be confusing.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13'All cultures have their own rules, and I'm hoping Omid Djalili
0:40:13 > 0:40:18'will enlighten me on the puzzling politeness of the Persians.'
0:40:18 > 0:40:21- Iran...- Yes. - ..has quite a famous,
0:40:21 > 0:40:27but nonetheless, mystifying, code of etiquette called Taarof.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30I'm so sorry, let me apologise immediately.
0:40:30 > 0:40:31No, it's wonderful.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36That sounds more Britain's code of etiquette, apology.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38But erm, do you... how did this arise
0:40:38 > 0:40:42and does it really, er, count in all levels of Iranian society?
0:40:42 > 0:40:47It's a dance you play to show, I suppose, social parity.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Social equity, that we're all equals.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54If I was to come in here, there'd be a little dance we have where he would give me
0:40:54 > 0:40:58the best food and I would say "Thank you so much, can I have the bill?"
0:40:58 > 0:41:03And he will say, "My food's not really worth you paying anything."
0:41:03 > 0:41:05"Please," I said, "No, please, I must pay."
0:41:05 > 0:41:07He goes, "No, no, no, no, of course...
0:41:07 > 0:41:10"You are a huge person in our community."
0:41:10 > 0:41:13And I said, "I will, I must pay," and he'll go,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17"but really, you mustn't pay." And I say, "I really, really must pay."
0:41:17 > 0:41:19And he'll go, "I'll get the bill then."
0:41:19 > 0:41:23He has every intention of charging me, I have every intention of paying,
0:41:23 > 0:41:28and yet we play this wonderful dance, er, of giving eulogies. It's about giving eulogies as well.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31It's about giving lots of compliments to someone.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35We want to show we're a loving culture. But it's also about humility.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38We say, "Cheshm ro ghadamet" which means,
0:41:38 > 0:41:41"May you walk on my eyeballs", which means "How low can I get?"
0:41:41 > 0:41:47I'm bowing, I want to get as low as I possibly can, so you can walk over my brow...
0:41:47 > 0:41:50erm, to show that... It's, it's a way of giving a compliment, you see.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Right. But it's not seen as servile or, er, you know,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57- and sort of greasy or... - No. No, it's warmth.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59We give all this love out
0:41:59 > 0:42:05and yet English people feel it's great, until... "Am I supposed to do the same?"
0:42:05 > 0:42:07This person wants to...
0:42:07 > 0:42:10I often say, I love you so much I'm going to cut my arm
0:42:10 > 0:42:12and write you a poem in my own blood.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14And people say, "Oh, lovely but...
0:42:14 > 0:42:16- "don't expect that from me."- Yes.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19- It's a bit too much.- I remember John Cleese...- Yes.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21..saying to me years ago, when I first got to know him,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24he said, "You know, you will never get anywhere in this business
0:42:24 > 0:42:26"unless you stop being so fucking polite."
0:42:26 > 0:42:29- He said that to you? - And I said... well, he said, yes.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31He said, "Politeness is very rude, you know."
0:42:31 > 0:42:33I said, "What, what do you mean?"
0:42:33 > 0:42:37He said, "If someone comes up to you and says, "I really like this programme,"
0:42:37 > 0:42:41"and you go, "Oh, no, no, it's nonsense," you're making them feel stupid.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44"It's terribly easy. All you have to do is say "Thank you."
0:42:44 > 0:42:48CHANTING
0:42:50 > 0:42:52Whether language is perceived as being impeccably polite,
0:42:52 > 0:42:57or downright offensive, is a matter of place and company.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02Words and phrases that are acceptable in a football stadium or a building site
0:43:02 > 0:43:05would be out of order at a vicar's tea party.
0:43:06 > 0:43:12CHEERING
0:43:12 > 0:43:16# You've never won fuck all You've never won fuck all. #
0:43:16 > 0:43:20So we modify our language and mince our words,
0:43:20 > 0:43:26use "darn", "crikey", "blooming" and "shucks" instead of outright profanities.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31We use euphemisms to protect delicate ears and spare our blushes.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33'And as nothing shames us more than our own bodies,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37'hospitals are breeding grounds for euphemisms.'
0:43:37 > 0:43:41Medicine and euphemisms have long been bedfellows.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44For centuries, doctors and nurses have used Latin technical terms
0:43:44 > 0:43:46for certain parts of the body,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49which are themselves euphemisms from another culture.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53For example, the word "penis" comes from a Latin word meaning "tail"
0:43:53 > 0:43:58and the word "vagina" is a Roman synonym for "sheath" or "scabbard".
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Doctors and nurses are very comfortable using these words,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04but we often prefer to use delicate phrases, like "private parts"
0:44:04 > 0:44:10or "down there" or "the waterworks" or, heaven help us, "the doings".
0:44:10 > 0:44:15Our intense embarrassment about what our bodies should be doing naturally can cause problems
0:44:15 > 0:44:18when it comes to speaking to strangers about our condition.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23Morning, everybody. We're going to go through some of the terminology that you've been hearing,
0:44:23 > 0:44:28and we look at some of the terminology that you've learned about the English language...
0:44:28 > 0:44:32'But the fact that we prefer to use all manner of colloquialisms
0:44:32 > 0:44:35'and colourful language, instead of saying what's wrong,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37'can cause confusion for foreign nurses.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43'Julia Saunders runs courses designed to disambiguate new staff
0:44:43 > 0:44:46'at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk.'
0:44:46 > 0:44:51- Has anybody ever come up to you and said, "My arm or my leg is giving me a bit of gyp?"- Yeah.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54- That's quite a Norfolk term. - Giving you trouble, giving you pain.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58Giving me trouble, giving me pain, or they'll say, "this gammy leg of mine".
0:44:58 > 0:45:02'Julia tells me about one Portuguese nurse
0:45:02 > 0:45:05'who was flummoxed by our funny phrases.'
0:45:05 > 0:45:08He was on the ward one day and a lady called him over and says,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10"I need to spend a penny."
0:45:10 > 0:45:13"And he said "That's fine. I'll be with you in a moment."
0:45:13 > 0:45:15She again called him over and said "I need to spend a penny"
0:45:15 > 0:45:18and he said, "I truly will be with you, Madam, in a moment,"
0:45:18 > 0:45:20very polite and then the third time he went over he said,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23"My dear, he said the paper lady's in the next bay
0:45:23 > 0:45:26"and you can spend as many pennies as you like when she comes,"
0:45:26 > 0:45:30and then the staff nurse came in and said "George, she needs to go to the toilet."
0:45:30 > 0:45:33And he was mortified, he said he felt so silly,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37he wouldn't have made her wait if he'd have realised what that phrase meant.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39'But hospital staff themselves
0:45:39 > 0:45:44'use euphemisms to soften the harsh realities of life and death.'
0:45:44 > 0:45:46If you've got somebody who's died,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49you may want the body to be taken off the ward.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51So you don't stand at the head of the desk or
0:45:51 > 0:45:55if it was in the middle of a Nightingale ward where the desk was in the middle,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and say, "one for the morgue," even though everybody kind of knows someone's died.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02You say to the porters, "Hello, I've got a gentleman or a lady..."
0:46:02 > 0:46:04I would say it, "a gentleman for Rose Cottage"
0:46:04 > 0:46:08- The porters know exactly what you mean. - Is that specific to King's Lynn?
0:46:08 > 0:46:10No, that's a term that gets used throughout.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13And sometimes in Paediatrics I've heard,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16I've not actually used that term, but they sometimes say,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19- "I've got a little one for the rainbow's end." - Oh...
0:46:19 > 0:46:24I suppose also, that's a reminder to the other people in the ward that they might...
0:46:24 > 0:46:29One day we will all go to our Rose Cottage or our rainbow's end.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Death and sex seem to win the prize
0:46:34 > 0:46:38for the most euphemisms and dysphemisms in the English language.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44Indeed, "dead" is a four-letter word that's almost as unsayable as the F-word itself.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49Instead we prefer "passed on", "passed away", "pushing up daisies",
0:46:49 > 0:46:50"gone to meet his maker"
0:46:50 > 0:46:55or in the great phrase of the immortal Monty Python parrot sketch,
0:46:55 > 0:46:59"shuffled off this mortal coil and gone to join the choir invisible."
0:46:59 > 0:47:01And when it comes to the glorious act of coitus,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04well there's diddled and banged and porked and shafted
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and shagged and rogered, all giving rise to the most marvellous
0:47:07 > 0:47:09opportunities for double entendre and innuendo.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16# There's no entertainment like the British music hall... #
0:47:16 > 0:47:20British entertainment has long been a hotbed of double entendre and euphemism.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25From music hall to Carry On films, British audiences have lapped up smutty puns
0:47:25 > 0:47:27and nudge-nudge wink-wink jokes.
0:47:27 > 0:47:33By not saying exactly what they mean, entertainers get away with murder...
0:47:33 > 0:47:35metaphorically speaking, of course.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39In the Sixties, radio programmes like The Goon Show and Round the Horne
0:47:39 > 0:47:45served up wordplay, innuendo and nonsense verse for the delectation of the nation.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49RECORDING: We are the Universal Party,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53so called because we're at it right, left and centre.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56Yes, shake hands with your prospective member.
0:48:04 > 0:48:05And what's your policy?
0:48:05 > 0:48:08We have a three-pronged manifesto.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13Three distinct prongs, it's got. Show him. Get out your manifesto.
0:48:15 > 0:48:22- One, double the building programme, so there's latties for all.- Lovely!
0:48:23 > 0:48:27Remove the American missiles from our shores.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Particularly that one, what's it called, Polari.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35It wasn't till I got to university that a friend played me
0:48:35 > 0:48:39some cassettes of Round the Horne and Julian and Sandy in particular,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43and a group of us used to use it in our pathetic way,
0:48:43 > 0:48:51we'd talk about trolling along King's Parade and 'Ooh, vada that, do you think it's trade?"
0:48:51 > 0:48:54and all those awful, contemptuous, queeny remarks,
0:48:54 > 0:48:59which we were aware were rather sort of naughty and subversive,
0:48:59 > 0:49:04because they were, sort of, hard-edged and brittle, in the way that queens can be.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14'A lot of these expressions came from the secret gay slang, Polari.'
0:49:14 > 0:49:17- Hello, Bette.- Hello.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21- What are you doing here? - Can I take you for a ride?
0:49:21 > 0:49:25I haven't been taken for a ride since last I was in this street.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27In you pop.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30'Bette Bourne used to speak Polari during its heyday.'
0:49:32 > 0:49:37You had this language, and, as you say, it was yours.
0:49:37 > 0:49:43It made you feel like it was part of a secret club. That was wonderful.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45You were part of an exclusive club,
0:49:45 > 0:49:50it was the only bit of exclusivity that working-class queens had,
0:49:50 > 0:49:52and it was fun.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Vada the bona carts on that omi over in the corner there,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00the one with the bright blue ogles.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05So it was a mixture of Italian and, I think, backslang,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09and almost some Romany I think, some gypsy was in there, wasn't it?
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Backslang, Romany, yeah, all sorts of words.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17Can you see that queen zhooshing along there, mincing along.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21There was troll, wasn't there, trolling along the street.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26Trolling was also very much linked with cruising.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29So if you say you're going trolling, it meant you're going cruising.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34Then zhoosh was also decorational trim.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38She's got a bit of zhoosh round the edge of that frock
0:50:38 > 0:50:41or she's wearing bit of zhoosh.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43It meant a feather boa.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46How did you feel about the fact that the writers
0:50:46 > 0:50:53of the incredibly popular radio comedy Round the Horne, Barry Took and Marty Feldman,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57brought it out into the open with Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00"Hello I'm Julian, and this is my friend Sandy."
0:51:00 > 0:51:05We loved it, because we didn't think of it as particularly gay.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07It was just very, very funny.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11And my father, who was very anti-gay
0:51:11 > 0:51:14and made no secret of it to me, later on,
0:51:14 > 0:51:19he loved that show and people laughed like hell on Sunday,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23and also Sunday was the day off when we could all be a bit naughty.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27They knew is was naughty, but they didn't quite know what it meant.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29They used to say things like,
0:51:29 > 0:51:34"Oooh isn't he butch?" and "That's your actual French."
0:51:34 > 0:51:41- To anyone with ears to hear, it was most obvious that these were two gay men.- Yes, it was.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44The fact that the people around us wouldn't know what the hell
0:51:44 > 0:51:49we were talking about at all was also part of the fun.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59Secret languages and slang may seem like an abuse of language,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03but they actually strengthen a sense of community.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08Like secrets whispered between best friends, collusion bonds people.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15Today, kids are speaking a new argot.
0:52:15 > 0:52:21They smatter their language with words their parents and teachers struggle to comprehend.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24Slang empowers them.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26I say "'sup" like "Wassup?"
0:52:26 > 0:52:28They say you got a swag.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Hey blood, there go the bro-skis.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34- Wassup? - I say "hey" I say "hi".
0:52:36 > 0:52:39But teenspeak is like a linguistic arms race.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Once the code has been cracked,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43new combinations and expressions must evolve,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47to define who's in and who's out.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50Students from Berkeley High School in California
0:52:50 > 0:52:55published a dictionary of slang in 2004, but already the words used have changed.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57What's a scrub?
0:52:59 > 0:53:03It's like er, I guess you could say a chump or like somebody...
0:53:03 > 0:53:05A loser.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08OK, he's a scrub, he's a loser. Yeah, OK.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10This language is, like, so out of date.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13It moves too fast, moves too fast for us, for us old people.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15- Yeah, maybe. - Moves fast for us.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Because it's the only public school in Berkeley,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22so everybody that's not in a private school is here in Berkeley High.
0:53:22 > 0:53:28That's why it can change overnight, it's because there's 3,500 kids at the school.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31There's no difference in how everyone talks, it's just one giant melting pot.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35So it's just... we have all the language and we use it all.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Exactly, it's like good food, you get lots of cuisine, add the spice of different culture.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Language does not have a right and wrong.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44Language is just how people, how people communicate.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47- That's a very...- This is just how teenagers communicate.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56The Berkeley High School kids tell me they pick up lots of their new words from music.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Nothing new there.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04We've been jazzing up our language with cool expressions from pop culture
0:54:04 > 0:54:05for the best part of a century.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07# But I wouldn't give a sucker or a bum from the rucker
0:54:07 > 0:54:10# Not a dime till I made it again
0:54:10 > 0:54:12# Ho-tel, mo-tel,
0:54:12 > 0:54:14# Whatcha gonna do today?
0:54:14 > 0:54:16# Cos I'm a get a fly girl,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18# Gonna get some spank and drive off in a def OJ.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20# Everybody go ho-tel, mo-tel... #
0:54:20 > 0:54:22For the past 40 years,
0:54:22 > 0:54:27hip-hop has been bringing the language of the streets into mainstream use.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32Terms like bling, jiggy, bootylicious, dope, phat and breakbeat
0:54:32 > 0:54:35have all been given a place in the dictionary,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and other words like ill, ice, hood, whip, jet,
0:54:39 > 0:54:43spit and diss have been given new meanings.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Hip-hop has entered the lingua franca,
0:54:45 > 0:54:48'but is that a good or a bad thing?'
0:54:48 > 0:54:51To say if it's positive or negative is,
0:54:51 > 0:54:53you know, depends on your experience with it.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56But to look at the uses of Twitter, or Facebook,
0:54:56 > 0:55:02or status updates, you have to now put a thought in 140 characters or less.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05So it lends itself to short conversation and slang and,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08er, delivering a point quickly.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11And, and of course what happens also is that a phrase seems to start
0:55:11 > 0:55:17in the music world and in that community then gets taken
0:55:17 > 0:55:19up by the wider culture and almost gets, you might say it gets
0:55:19 > 0:55:22degraded, so phrases, obviously you think of, like,
0:55:22 > 0:55:24"Yo homie". You know. "Whassup?"
0:55:24 > 0:55:26- Right.- And that suddenly enters a beer commercial.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30I was in the locker room working out in the gym
0:55:30 > 0:55:35and I hear an older white gentleman, something like 60 years old
0:55:35 > 0:55:39talking on his cell phone and he ends his conversation
0:55:39 > 0:55:42and I didn't know who it was. I was, sort of, listening behind me.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47He says "Hit me back later," and I say, "What, since when?!"
0:55:47 > 0:55:51Language circulates and, as soon as you speak it
0:55:51 > 0:55:55and put it out in the public, it gets picked up, whether it's through media,
0:55:55 > 0:55:56or people travelling, and circulates.
0:55:56 > 0:56:02As soon as I say, "pop your collar", it ends up in Germany, right,
0:56:02 > 0:56:06it ends up in Tanzania, and it ends up in Australia.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10Because of the same circulation through popular media and cultural flows
0:56:10 > 0:56:14and so a lot of this stuff is happening sort of everywhere.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18As you say there's, it's both, like, it's a local thing, a neighbourhood thing,
0:56:18 > 0:56:23- but also a kind of citizen of the world thing, and the two can coexist.- Yeah, exactly.
0:56:23 > 0:56:24And the music is a vector for
0:56:24 > 0:56:28the ideas that are smuggled inside it, in some instances.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Yeah, yeah, that get circulated, that get circulated.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Whether you like it or not, hip-hop is very powerful,
0:56:36 > 0:56:40not just in influencing trends in slang and fashion,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43but in acting as a voice of the disenfranchised.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46It provided a soundtrack to the Arab revolutions
0:56:46 > 0:56:51and one artist has even been credited with sparking the Tunisian revolt.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54TRANSLATION:
0:57:04 > 0:57:11The power of language, whether to foment civil unrest, or promote racist ideologies,
0:57:11 > 0:57:13should never be underestimated.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17But there is a fine line between wanting to prevent hate speech
0:57:17 > 0:57:20and stifling free speech.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24While we should all be aware how we use or abuse words,
0:57:24 > 0:57:27I would argue that we shouldn't try to suppress them.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29As we've seen from swearing,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33making something taboo only adds to its power.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37For me, language in both its graceful and disgraceful forms,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40whether it's swearing, slang, double entendre,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44dysphemism or euphemism, should be celebrated for its creativeness.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47We should ignore the pedants and purists
0:57:47 > 0:57:53and revel in its rebelliousness and allow language to evolve organically.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57And above all, we should use it with relish and delight.
0:57:57 > 0:57:58'Next time,
0:57:58 > 0:58:03'I'll be looking at how we spread the word...with writing.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07'I'm going to see some of the oldest and most precious written words...'
0:58:08 > 0:58:10All of the Ten Commandments.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13Amazing. So that alone is a priceless document.
0:58:13 > 0:58:19'..some of the most beautiful scripts and world-changing books,
0:58:19 > 0:58:22'as well as some very futuristic modes of communication.'
0:58:22 > 0:58:24Oh, my goodness, this is magical!
0:58:42 > 0:58:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:45 > 0:58:48E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk