English Language Bastardized
Isn’t it unfortunate how
the English language is bastardized
to suit someone’s twisted mind?
How good words cannot be used
in their proper context
without someone looking strangely
and giving a stupid grin.
Years ago, when I was at school
a beaver was a small animal with a flat tail
that lived in water and built dams.
Now most kids know its meaning as
describing a woman’s gentiles.
In England, we sometimes have faggots for tea
and again this had been corrupted from
food you eat to describing someone’s sexual gender.
Gay is another word that is taboo.
You will get strange looks if you used it in its proper context.
If I wrote a title forty years ago, I was gay
everyone knew that I was feeling happy
and not what it means today.
The list of bastardized words go on and on
and I wonder what the next word from our dictionaries
that will enter that no go area of words we cannot use,
being bastardized to suit some one’s twisted mind.
11 October 2009
poem by David Harris
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Related quotes
The f word and me
The other day we discussed reasons
why people use
the magical f word.
a Young woman is of the opinion
that it’s because of a lack of imperfect language,
where a person’s vocabulary
lacks other words to use.
I think that there are many more other reasons
to slip in everywhere
and that vocabulary
has very little
or nothing to do with it.
One thing that can incite it
is exposure,
where people hear it
hundreds of times
every day
like in an army.
Subsequently without intention
it becomes part of your conversation
and your own vocabulary,
without drawing any attention
with yourself.
The word f is a power word
that give colour intensity
to the meanings of other words
and it can underline, emphasize
or lift some out.
You can also use it as a word
that has many meanings
and use it like a good shifting spanner
that shift for meaning values.
This word can also
be almost any word type
that gives bigger power
to other words used with it.
The thing that really matters
what others read
in the meaning of my words
and if I loose integrity by using it.
There are times
my mother wants to catch a fit
when I use the f word
and not from the meaning
of my words,
but from the negative context
that can be drawn with the word
and the easy transfer
of the word on children that hear my dialogue.
[With thanks to Skymaster, whose article inspired this poem.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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The Deterioration Of The Word Hello
the indifferent man on the other side
of the cyber line
perhaps has misunderstood my
hello
as a mode of great concern
thinking that i must be a man without means
with ignoble intentions
for his silence
hmmm, hellos are cliches
sometimes you say it
just to check if people are still there
more of
hey i am not alone in this silence
there are too many of us
to be ignored
by that usual indifference
that feeling that everybody is gone
deep to the caves of
death
and that this world is numb
and foolish
hello if he knows somehow
is of the lesser kind
inferior to
good morning i am here
bastardized abused
word that for a time
exists on a faded meaning
in fact
demoted deteriorated to
no meaning at all
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Value Of Words
Words what value words
when spoken in haste
what is their worth
words spat in spite
or an envious game
false words meaningless
what value words
a trusting word
honest and open speaks
volumes when listen to
without agenda given
with care and thought
placed into its being
what becomes its worth
words in variety
of context and meaning
fill blank spaces
where sometimes silence
is a more welcome sound
where nothing is better said
words have a value
consider their worth
poem by Matthew Holloway
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the C word
it’s said by women to women
that the most offensive word
(in the english language)
they can be called is
the C word-
this word cannot be uttered by men around women,
it’s said by women to men,
it’s said by men to men
when conversing about the women who told them
amidst other women or
alone
without other women present.
all words stumble round its usage like
a toddler
meandering across a
fresh patch of ice in slippers made of
butter.
as cyanide in your favorite drink or
perhaps something of a barbed wire jockstrap
you know better than to tread that water,
best to swim instead of sink-
but men will call each other this word
like its nobody’s business
especially in england
and it’s laughable
how quickly its forgotten that women still
frequent
these areas said to be inhabited only by those with
penises-
it is still a word isn’t it?
one of many,
whose disgustingness has brought violence with them
for hundreds if not
thousands of years.
so will this word be picked up by women who
feel its usage to be violent, misogynistic & vile,
only then subsequently appropriating it for their own
giving it new meaning?
poem by Andrew Delapruch
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I've always been spiritual but I've never had a proper context, and it took me awhile to find the proper context. It's hard to realize you can have any kind of relationship with God you want... and so I now have a punk rock relationship with God.
quote by Billy Corgan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Story Of Opinions
A story so strange and disturbing that it writes itself
Surely these actions are not good for ones mental health
As dark as the day yet twisted in the hands of a pen
A story that has not yet fallen to the mind of men
A title that holds so much more honour than the object
The words that mark the page are nothing but a prospect
Of a decision or miscalculation that causes such deep regret
That neither king nor tyrant shall ever try to forget
Engraved on the face of the earth, buried in the heart
Burnt in the mind and sleeping in the soul, there is the start
Of a tale from so many different angles and opinions
Mourned by the victim or retold by the loyal minion
The ink that taints the page slowly swallows the truth
‘Unbiased' yet moulded to teach today's youth
The story clear as water yet disturbed by the waves
Propaganda gives the public the words they crave
So maybe it is true that one should read between the lines
Lessons have taught that words are twisted with the times
Whether for added affect, sympathy or to remain a mystery
That is the truth of my story, their story, her story, History.
poem by Rebecca Pepper
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My English Teacher
At the grade three
A new teacher came
Around her table
A queue we were all in
Having exercise books on our hands
To get written our names on it
Twining with aroma of her perfume
Let the mind not go back to the bench
My English teacher
Not like other teachers
Wearing new dresses
Pleasant smile with snazzy
I bought a double rule book
To write proper English letters
Putting the alphabet of base
Following day had a message
No more with us
Principle's words
Teacher came to us
We cried a lot
"Why may teacher you go leaving us'
'Is our school not good'
While worshiping on her feet
Without an answer
Looking at us
Touched our heads
She got a transfer
Because of our remote dry school
Since then on
Until primary end
Without an English teacher
My texts books were new
She doesn't know me for sure
Placed an aroma still in my mind
You wrote that name of mine
I am writing today.
poem by Udaya R. Tennakoon
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Media
An exposure to media, the press
Is dangerous, an overexposure, worst damaging,
You lose an image, you lose yourself,
And people would not mind, who are you and what is your name,
how did you do it, not what did you do, and that would be the end of you,
I do not talk to media since then, it has always the last say, I shy away from an interviewer from a media coverage, from that writer
Who smiles at me, taking carefully what I am saying
On a certain legal question, only to find out,
The following day, he says what I did not really mean in that proper context,
In what I said to him and which he twisted,
I had that bad experience, and
Had not recovered for years, walking in the city,
Without my head, all to my shame and loss,
I did not mind, my deeds my fingers will speak for me
Eventually, and my conscience shall tell my vocabulary avenging finally that
The better plural form of media, after all,
Is mediocre,
of course, its correct singular form is still
Media. How can I argue with you, medium man?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Agnostic Apology
I am a stout materialist;
With abstract terms I can't agree,
And so I've made a little list
Of words that don't make sense to me.
To fool my reason I refuse,
For honest thinking is my goal;
And that is why I rarely use
Vague words like Soul.
In terms of matter I am sure
This world of our can be defined;
And so with theories obscure
I will not mystify my mind;
And though I use it more or less,
Describing alcoholic scenes,
I do not know, I must confess,
What Spirit means.
When I survey this cosmic scene,
The term "Creator" seems absurd;
The Universe has always been,
Creation never has occurred.
But in my Lexicon of Doubt
It strikes me definitely odd,
One word I never dare to flout,
One syllable the mountains shout,
Three letters that the stars spell out:
GOD.
poem by Robert William Service
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This is A Place Where In My Argument I Lose
A writers anger without the vulgarities of the modern time.
How it is so hard not to say curse words where they would fit so well.
To understand as only a poet would with a passion would.
Denied the American vocabulary I know so well I seek out means and words
To bring you down to my hell.
To express the hatred, and meanness that takes over with thunder
It has been taught to me by a society who finds it only offensive in public writings like poems.
In a books one is aloud, to say what ever they want.
I have read entire sex scene's in book and one word of such a nature is wrong in a poem.
Defined by those who believe all poems are met for kids.
Look at some the best lyrics describing anger, the rawness of them it the ability to use vulgarity and speak your mind as you so choose
But again in the poet world this is a place where in my argument I lose.
poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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the D Am song
dam
beaver dam
a beaver dam
has a beaver dam
beaver has a beaver dam
the beaver has a beaver dam
friend the beaver has a beaver dam
my friend the beaver has a beaver dam
because my friend the beaver has a beaver dam
dams because my friend the beaver has a beaver dam
beaver dams because my friend the beaver has a beaver dam
like beaver dams because my friend the beaver has a beaver dam
i like beaver dams because my friend the beaver has a beaver dam
-to be played on a guitar and sung, only playing the chords D and Am(a minor)
poem by Daniel Cook
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Twisted matter
Twisted faces, twisted emotions,
Twisted past, twisted present,
Twisted future, twisted hopes
Twisted preaching, twisted action,
Twisted truth, twisted lie,
Everything is twisted and twisted,
O Lord, where is thy twist?
poem by Mohammad Akmal Nazir
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I Don't Believe 'You' Wrote This!
I am told I have a way with words.
I am encouraged when I hear that said.
I remember listening to my father talk.
And when he would sing...
He would bring a different meaning,
To each word I heard.
And what his singing to them he would bring.
My mother would play the piano.
Thunderous and loud!
And when I walked through the projects...
I would sing to the trees,
I once walked into one...
Humming to the clouds.
I would make up melodies and tunes with words.
Mocking my dad and my mother's love,
For gospel verse she would rehearse.
I didn't think anything really about words I wrote.
Until my sister read a poem of mine.
And I wanted to choke her by the throat!
YES!
She was the first to read something I wrote out loud.
I was embarrassed by that.
Her nosy grown up butt...
Reading my 'stuff' behind my back!
And then she said to me,
'I don't believe 'you' wrote this! '
I must have been 13 years old...
When I started to make my writing public.
I am told I have a way with words.
I am encouraged when I hear that said.
I remember listening to my father talk.
And when he would sing...
He would bring a different meaning,
To each word I heard.
And what his singing to them he would bring.
Each 'thing' I write now...
Is added to a mixed bag offering!
And reflecting how I'm feeling at the time.
I am grateful for this blessing.
It offers a comfort and a peace of mind!
And when someone says they enjoy what I do...
I must be honest with 'you', the reader!
I-do-too!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.
quote by James Madison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A War of Words
There is a war here;
a war among the Words
where Meaning itself
is often
wounded or murdered,
taken from the Dictionary Battlefield
and buried in Arcane Cemetery,
or kept alive
twisted to opposite intents
or degraded,
or marginalized
or worse
sanitized by the French.
There is a War going on
at all times-
the War of the Words.
Bad is bad one day
and Traitorized
becomes Good the next day;
where Word Soldiers
don't know
who is who
what things mean
or who is on what side.
Then the French-
always the French-
arrive
with cleansing sticks
to pummel Words
and Meaning
to Haut Regarde!
Quivering, especially the Nouns
comply
and line up all the Foreign Words
march them to the border
ejecting them.
Webster's International
empanels the Word Police
who decide
what Words are Real
and which ones will be released
or serve time
in Archaic Jail.
So many Baby Words
seeking to get born
are exposed to the elements
unless
they are vouched for by the
Select Ones
who can rescue them
by uttering:
'You child
once appeared
in the Mouth
of the Learned.'
Brigades and Battalions
march each day
each time,
each year,
such that
Language itself
can become Confounded
and Previous Speakers
cannot understand Current Ones.
Parents vowel and separate
from their own children
whose Words
are foreign ones
Parents have never heard.
No mercy in this war:
non-speakers
not with the latest Word
are consigned
to Oblivion
where all their utterances
over time
make no sense;
uncomprehended
by those who have
donned
new
shiny
Word Suits
and carry batons.
.
Left behind
the Discarded Ones;
all marching
to Shakespeare's Grave
to complain;
whose haunting
voice from below intones
'Nothing Can Be Done'
now leave me alone.'
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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Etymologicalness
The etymologicalness...
Of tracing linguistics,
To its earliest development.
Is like attempting to describe a moor,
As a negro.
Although brown and not black.
And describing caucasians as white.
Which is not quite right.
Manipulating language,
Is more of a need...
For those feeling jeopardized.
And feeding into insecurities.
Especially when the origin of speech,
Is never understood ebonically.
No matter who hip hops it,
On today's fast paced streets.
And whoever speaks,
No one listens anyway.
Since sex and homophobicness...
Is on everyone's mind.
And in everyone's way.
Innuendoed as it is!
With few words delivered...
To say what is conveyed.
They ain't and they is...
Defines for some the kind of life that is lived.
And many with this mindset,
Aren't urbanites confined to ghettos!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Parroting Courtesies
my niece asks me to hand a spoon
and i ask her to say 'please' and she utters the word
(perhaps her mama does not teach her the word)
and i hand her the spoon and she is afraid to say the word 'thank you'
and i tell her to say the word and she says it as though it is a strange word
for her (perhaps her dad, who is my brother seldom uses the word in their
house)
and then i tell her after she says thank you 'welcome my dear'
and she giggles, perhaps the words are ticklers to her frail body
to her small hands, to her fingers which grabbed the spoon as though
there are not so many
so many spoons in this world, we know that,
but the courtesies are forgotten, as this happens i feel like i am
parroting words, and sometimes i reflect: do i also really understand
these words, deep down to the longings of my heart?
thanks, but am i that really thankful to God?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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There Is An Artistry Applied
So much more is this,
Just a gathering of English words.
There is an emotional attachment to them.
With every period ending,
Each sentence that begins.
There is a process of selection.
With time taken to choose the best.
And keeping it simple for many to digest.
Giving consideration...
To those using microscopes,
For word usage to correct.
But a delight excites,
With a choice to test the minds...
Of those seeking to uncover something profound.
And 'something' complex between the lines to find.
So much more is this,
Just a gathering of English words.
There is an emotional attachment to them.
With every period ending,
Each sentence that begins.
And there is an artistry applied,
Some writers use and try to induce the eyes.
By using words like 'seduction'!
That capture minds to a familiar light.
As if moths stunned!
To become hooked and hypnotized.
And if that process does not work...
Cuss words are universal.
They seem to always maintain their worth.
No matter what the intent or context.
Just toss a few around.
An attention given can be expected.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The office of president is a bastardized thing, half royalty and half democracy, that nobody knows whether to genuflect or spit.
quote by Jimmy Breslin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Desire To Know Deep Meanings
Dictionary!
My Dictionary!
Raise it high in your right hand!
We shall use it
we shall use it to explore
to seek out...
the meaning of words
the meaning behind words
the multiple hidden meaning of life.
Amen.
Because modern computer dictionaries
really blow... they do, not, contain,
varied rich poetical meanings of words...
as some of my youthful dictionaries did
stimulating imagination, thought, wonder,
stimulating a desire to know deep meanings...
poem by Terence George Craddock
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