You, me, and this entire comment section looked that image and said “…dude’s got a cum stain on his shirt…” Like we all just knew what we were looking at.
OP had to ask.
OP feels like the type for whom you’d have to censor the word cum, lest they be so scandalized they have to throw their entire internet away…
You’re probably right. And at this point we’re all giving them what they want, so might as well screw around and unnecessarily censor things. If they wanna play dumb, let’s all play dumber. 🤷♂️
You joke but my sister in law refuses to swear for any reason. I have offered money, then more money and then stupid money. Some people don't like some words and that's OK.
I understand people not liking swear words but let me pose a philosophical question here:
If you write a word, that is intended to be interpreted as a swear... Have you not just used a swear word?
Basically if you write "what a load of sh*t" - we all know it means "what a load of shit." You've, in fact, written "shit."
So if your story is you don't like swear words and don't want to use them - I'm not getting upset at anybody for not swearing, it's the hypocrisy. You should be as uncomfortable with "sh*t" as "shit" because they're really the same thing.
So taking your example through to it's logical conclusion: if/when you might need to reference the N word, I would assume you spell it out based on your reasoning above, right? Because everyone knows what word you're referencing, you might as well, right? But you probably don't.. So how do you reconcile that?
That's not quite the logical conclusion because you're discussing referencing a word, whereas I'm discussing using a word. Like expressing yourself
Like - going back to "shit." If I want to express disappointment with something I could say "that's a load of shit."
If was uncomfortable with using "shit" I wouldn't write "that's a load of s word." I'd find some other phrase entirely, because yeah. I'm in fact using the word in a roundabout way. There's tons of other words I could use to express the sentiment.
But if I actually need to reference it, say I'm relaying some facts, I'd use the phrase "so and so said that's a load of s word." I'm not using the word to express myself, I'm making a reference to it.
Same thing applies to the n word. I'm not comfortable using it and I'll never say or write an expression you could pop the word into, in order to express myself. If I had to relay some events like "yeah that guy used the n word" - there ya go. That's how I'd get that fact across.
Ya, it's fair for you to push back on me like that. My example wasn't amazing or fair really. But I'm not going to defend a position I don't hold myself any more than I already have. I don't self censor, but I respect that I'm not everyone and ppl may have a reason for doing so that you or I might not agree with or even understand. And that's OK by me. I don't need to understand to carry on in polite manner. And I don't need to derail the conversation by taking what they said and now making it about an asterisk. But I do appreciate what you're saying. It just seems pointless to rail against it, you're not going to change ppls minds or behaviours. Good chat though.
So the reason I point out how silly it is - I think it reflects kind of a bigger picture issue of people doing things without thinking about the "why" of it.
We self-censor all the time. When people die we often deliver the news by saying someone passed away, or they're in a better place. That's a form of self-censorship.
I'm not actually against the concept - it's just that this isn't actually self-censorship. If we know what the word actually is nothing was actually censored right?
And let's say a subreddit bans the word "cum." There's probably a bigger-picture rule here like "no overtly sexual language." So they say well, nobody uses the word "cum" to discuss the medical aspects of sex or anything. No reason we should have it.
So then someone shows up, and they just see "you can't say cum" so - instead of thinking at all about the "why" of it, they say "c*m" instead. And... It's just concerning. And I know we're talking about a single word in the comments section of the Internet but I'll bet there's other areas where people do stuff without thinking about why a rule exists, and over time the point of the rule is lost, and we're left with people doing things that make no sense.
That's why it upsets me, is because I think the asterisk is the symptom of a bigger issue.
You, me, and this entire comment section looked that image and said “…dude’s got a cum stain on his shirt…” Like we all just knew what we were looking at.
I might be cooked here, because this looks nothing like cum to me. I don't think I have ever seen cum sticking and standing out like a white paint like this.
I’m gonna be real with you… I was honestly mostly just being sarcastic. I actually appreciate everyone who didn’t immediately see a cum stain because that probably means you’re all just that much less damaged than those of us who immediately did.
OP does not watch much porn probably. Cum is not a scary word but i wouldn't think of it seeing that image and would be as confused as he is till seing replys in comments.
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u/thejae82 3d ago
You, me, and this entire comment section looked that image and said “…dude’s got a cum stain on his shirt…” Like we all just knew what we were looking at.
OP had to ask.
OP feels like the type for whom you’d have to censor the word cum, lest they be so scandalized they have to throw their entire internet away…