Bad Words
While trying to think of something to blog about, I decided to check out my drafts, as I have a bunch o’ half written blog postings. Figured maybe there was something in there that would inspire me. And I discovered that there was a fully written blog posting that I was fully sure I’d posted already. Weird. Anyway, for what it’s worth, here it is!
So, I think that my niece may want to reconsider her belief that only my dad’s “other daughter” says bad words.
I seem to be saying lots of bad words lately. And not only am I saying bad things, but I’m saying them on the record. In important places. Like during lecture1.
In my last three lectures, I’ve managed to work in the topics of dead rat fetuses, binge drinking and untreated syphilis. I may also have stated that the whistle blower who got the Tuskegee Syphilis Study2 shut down said: “this is bullshit.” For the record, I had legitimate reasons to talk about dead rat fetuses and binge drinking and untreated syphilis. And the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was bullshit. Bullshit is a very nice word for describing it, actually. I can think of a few other choice words. Like ones my father’s other daughter would use.
Another place I managed to work in bad language a research study that I’m taking part in3. It’s a study where you have to spit in a test tube and take some tests and play some games (long story). Anyway. One of tests is that you have one minute to say all the words you can think of that start with a certain letter. And the first letter they gave me was F. Seriously. F. The next letter they gave me was S, and then an A. So, really, they were asking for it.
In completely unrelated news, a girl on the bus right now is telling her friend (also a girl) that she should have sex with some other girl (“you know, like, hypothetically”) but the second girl doesn’t think the other girl is “down with girls.” You know, just in case you were wondering. And now their other friend, a guy, just yelled out “epididymis!” at the top of his lungs.
1Where I’m the one lecturing. You have to do something to keep your audience amused when class starts at 8 a.m., don’t you?.
2The Tuskegee Syphllis Study, for those who don’t know, was a horrific experiment perpetrated on impoverished black men in Tuskegee, Alabama starting in 1932 and lasting for 40 years until said whistle blower called “bullshit” and went to the press. I say “perpetrated on” because the men in the study didn’t know they were in a study, weren’t told they had syphilis, and they were denied treatment even after penicillin was found to cure syphilis. They were told that the experimental tests being done on them was medical care (remember, they were impoverished and didn’t have access to any medical care) and researchers even had a deal with the US Army to prevent the Army from telling any of the men who were drafted that they had syphilis and from providing them any treatment. Most of the men died, many of their wives were infected and many of their children were born with congenital syphilis. So, yeah, total bullshit.
3Taking part in studies, my astute readers will recall, is on my 101 in 1001 list. I’d already done the first part of the study prior to my 101 list, but was invited to participate in stages 2 (which consists of two sessions), so I think that should count as one of the five
I’ve read this before.