A Rose By Any Other Name…

During the process of this week’s comic creation, my webcomic cohort mentioned if we could lay off the “blue material”, to which I replied “Sure.” I mean, since our webcomics are drawn in black and white, I didn’t see any big deal in not using a color we don’t plan on using anyway. To my surprise, I
found out later that he does not actually have an aversion to the color blue or suffer from any other form of cyanophobia.

though I’d totally understand if he did

In fact, he was referring to my use of “bad words” aka cursing, and so we got into sort of a discussion on the matter. Now, to me a “curse” word is a word that’s been unfortunately labeled. All the word wanted to do was have meaning. But because society decided to use the word as a “curse”, now it’s taken as offensive and vulgar. You think using “Fudge!” for “Fuck!”, “Shoot!” for “Shit!” makes you a better person? No matter what word you use, you are essentially cursing. Most people are offended by euphemisms anyway.

In Japanese, there are no real curse words. Sure, there are words considered inappropriate, but none so powerful as to get you detention or sent to the principal’s office if exclaimed in a classroom. At most you’d get a harsh rebuke for the outburst. It’s not what you said as much as how you said it that really matters in Japanese. So what do you say to someone that’s pissed you off in Japan? You gotta get creative.

OHHHHH~, SNAP!!

I generally don’t curse unless I feel the situation calls for it or it’s just funny to do so. A word only has as much power as you give it. Use it as a joke, and eventually it’s all it will be. But I do understand where my colleague is coming from. I cringe every time I hear or see the word “Vajayjay.” It’s such a god-damn-fucking-awful word.

- Rom