Hi guys and girls:
Here is what I posted in the original thread. I stick to my point (and that of the colleagues I mention in my contribution).
Hi, Kelly:
I can't but agree with our other friends in this thread about censorship. First and foremost, as Vicente said, if someone asks for a translation of some terms, we should consider that he/she must probably doesn't know their meaning and then cannot possibly understand wheter they are offensive or not.
Then again, as Exx have said, yes, this is a forum in which proffessional translators exchange their expertise, knowledge and even doubts about our proffession, which is the use of different languages. Foul language, obscene words, etc., whether you like it or not, are part of any language, and, according to Octavio Paz, are perhaps the most vital part of language:
"En nuestro lenguaje diario hay un grupo de palabras prohibidas, secretas, sin contenido claro, y a cuya mágica ambigüedad confiamos la expresión de las más brutales o sutiles de nuestras emociones y reacciones [...] Son las malas palabras, único lenguaje vivo en un mundo de vocablos anémicos. La poesía al alcance de todos." (Paz, El laberinto de la soledad, p. 67.)
Finally, who can qualify the quality of language in an international forum, full of exchanges between people from very different countries? I could say that "culo" is an obscene word, but Exx and millions of spaniards would say it's as innocent a word as "nalgas". And the same would happen the other way round. The very words of the Federal Communications Commission ("It is also a violation of federal law to air indecent programming or profane language during certain hours")can be subject to interpretation: what does "obscene programming" or "profane language" exactly mean? These criteria have always been as subjective as the period in which they are expressed. During the fifties they meant something very different than during the sixties, or the seventies.
I think we should stick to the original idea of these forums, which is to exchange information and expertise about what is, for many of us, our gratest passion: the use and knowledge of language.
Saludos
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