Australian Prime Minister swears live on National TV

[Mitty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_9P0VDnMPM

I'm not posting this in the funny video thread because I think there's more to it than just another funny video. I think it's great, shows he's human like the rest of us (even though a lot of the time he acts like he's not!).

 

[Miss Chicken]

Storm in a teacup.

I don't really regard 'shit' as much of a swear-word and Rudd saying it is no worse than Bon Hawke calling an aged pensioner 'a silly old bugger' when Hawkie was PM.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

shitstorm is a swear word? Since when? if he hadn't have said sorry for saying it straight after saying it not one person would have even reacted to him saying that, they only reacted AFTER he pointed it out and acted as though he shouldn't have said it.

 

[Jono]

^Ever since "shit" became a swear word. If he didn't point it out Chris Bath or Mike Munro would have.

It won't really do anything to Rudd. It will make its rounds on TV news tomorrow and then disappear forever.

Rudd showed he was human when he went stripclubbing.

 

[Kryton]

Generally speaking, a "swear word" usually invokes a deity. Such as "Goddamn" or "Jesus Fucking Christ" or some such.

"Shit" is considered a vulgarity. It doesn't cross a god but it does add color to a description or situation, that much is certain!

 

[apostle83]

So... you guys are going to hang him, right?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Since when? As far as I've ever known swearing = profanity, which includes blasphemy.

 

[Squiggy]

So that's the same you wanna play eh? Ours swears in a book so yours swears on TV?

I see how it is. Coming up next week: Obama swears in a movie!!!

 

[Kryton]

Since when? As far as I've ever known swearing = profanity, which includes blasphemy.

The term "swearing" in and of itself implies invoking a deity. So your culture has bastardized it. Wouldn't be the first bullshit brit thing to happen.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Since when? As far as I've ever known swearing = profanity, which includes blasphemy.

The term "swearing" in and of itself implies invoking a deity. So your culture has bastardized it. Wouldn't be the first bullshit brit thing to happen.

I can't find any dictionary that defines it that way. I mean I've heard saying god, jesus, etc. is swearing, but I've never heard that swearing exclusively applies to blasphemous utterances.

 

[Kryton]

Swearing is swearing. Uttering a vulgarity is being vulgar. If you "swear", you invoke the supernatural...even when being sworn in to testify in court.

Being vulgar is just that. Nothing more. If you wish to conflagrate the difference, then do so. But there IS a difference.

 

[cultcross]

Since when? As far as I've ever known swearing = profanity, which includes blasphemy.

The term "swearing" in and of itself implies invoking a deity. So your culture has bastardized it. Wouldn't be the first bullshit brit thing to happen.

I can't find any dictionary that defines it that way. I mean I've heard saying god, jesus, etc. is swearing, but I've never heard that swearing exclusively applies to blasphemous utterances.

You can be vulgar without swearing - using 'fuck' to actually mean 'having sex' would be using vulgar slang. But 'shit', 'fuck', etc are not just used in the literal vulgar sense, but as exclamations - making them swearwords. Or 'curse words' to Americans.

British law defines 'swearing', as in using bad lanaguage that is not blasphemy, as separate to 'profanity', which it defines essentially as what Kryton calls 'swearing' - invoking a deity.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Swearing is swearing. Uttering a vulgarity is being vulgar. If you "swear", you invoke the supernatural...even when being sworn in to testify in court.

Being vulgar is just that. Nothing more. If you wish to conflagrate the difference, then do so. But there IS a difference.

But that's not how it's defined in the dictionary, and I was never taught that was what it meant, so I'm just curious as to where this came from.

From Cambridge English Dictionary

swear (USE RUDE WORDS)
verb swore, sworn
to use words that are rude or offensive as a way of emphasizing what you mean or as a way of insulting someone or something

swear (PROMISE)
verb [I or T] swore, sworn
to state or promise that you are telling the truth or that you will do something or behave in a particular way:

Even from Merriam Webster it doesn't fit your definition. Even the closest says it's obsolete.

Main Entry:1swear Pronunciation: \ˈswer\ Function:verb Inflected Form(s):swore \ˈswȯr\ ; sworn \ˈswȯrn\ ; swear·ingEtymology:Middle English sweren, from Old English swerian; akin to Old High German swerien to swear and perhaps to Old Church Slavic svarŭ quarrelDate:before 12th century transitive verb
1: to utter or take solemnly (an oath)

2 a: to assert as true or promise under oath <a sworn affidavit> <swore to uphold the Constitution> b: to assert or promise emphatically or earnestly <swore he'd study harder next time>

3 a: to put to an oath : administer an oath to b: to bind by an oath <swore them to secrecy>

4obsolete : to invoke the name of (a sacred being) in an oath

5: to bring into a specified state by swearing <swore his life away>intransitive verb1: to take an oath2: to use profane or obscene language : curse

 

[Bob The Skutter]

The term "swearing" in and of itself implies invoking a deity. So your culture has bastardized it. Wouldn't be the first bullshit brit thing to happen.

I can't find any dictionary that defines it that way. I mean I've heard saying god, jesus, etc. is swearing, but I've never heard that swearing exclusively applies to blasphemous utterances.

You can be vulgar without swearing - using 'fuck' to actually mean 'having sex' would be using vulgar slang. But 'shit', 'fuck', etc are not just used in the literal vulgar sense, but as exclamations - making them swearwords. Or 'curse words' to Americans.

British law defines 'swearing', as in using bad lanaguage that is not blasphemy, as separate to 'profanity', which it defines essentially as what Kryton calls 'swearing' - invoking a deity.

I see, I guess it's another one of those divided by a common language things again.

 

[The Great Meech]

I wish Canadian PM Stephen Harper would swear in public. I still wouldn't vote for him, but my respect for him would (for reasons I'm not sure I understand) go up.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

Australia has a Prime Minister?!?

 

[The Great Meech]

Australia has a Prime Minister?!?

Indeed. He spends most of his time drinking beer and floating in a lake.

(Sorry for the Simpsons reference, Australians.)

 

[K'Ehleyr]

Australia has a Prime Minister?!?

Indeed. He spends most of his time drinking beer and floating in a lake.

(Sorry for the Simpsons reference, Australians.)

Oh of course, I thought that was just make believe cobber

(disclaimer, no offence is meant towards the upstanding, or indeed floating in a tyre on a lake, citizens of Australia)

 

[NCC1701]

So that's the same you wanna play eh? Ours swears in a book so yours swears on TV?

I see how it is. Coming up next week: Obama swears in a movie!!!

It's always awesome to hear someone like the POTUS swear like that. Like someone commented on that page, bring on the dance remix

 

[Rii]

Australia has a Prime Minister?!?

Indeed. He spends most of his time drinking beer and floating in a lake.

I've always wondered if that scene was a reference to former PM Harold Holt who, whilst in office, went swimming and disappeared.