Oh Hey There

The F Word →

Last night’s episode of South Park was magnificent. If you didn’t see it: it was all about the word “fag” changing its meaning to the more broad “irritating douchebag” (specifically, in this episode, with reference to Harley-Davidson-riding bikers). I loved how they made the process of the definition being amended such a big deal, I loved the “bike-curious” joke (best part of the whole episode), and I loved Emmanuel Lewis being the lead “English Dictionary Officiate” (a fairly obscure pun, to me, that I had to have Wikipedia explain). Language buffs will get a kick out of this one, as will anyone looking for a socially authoritative reference for it being ok to call a person a faggot (if South Park satirizing it doesn’t make it ok, I don’t know what does).

Not to mention the creeping social subtext about whether it’s appropriate to legally/legislatively fix definitions or root moral arguments in dictionary definitions—e.g. the meaning of marriage.

Posted November 9, 2009 at 12:07am | Comments || home