Goram?

POSTED BY: impulsivelad
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 8, 2025 03:53
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FLAMETREE

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 8:52 AM

goddamn is a swear word?

I always thought it was put in scripts when they wanted to show a charater was uneducated and from the country (like Jayne for example). now its swearing ! You live and learn I guess :)

LOADANDMAKEREADY

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 9:32 AM

Yes, it's a deliberate mispronunciation of "God Damn," It's fairly common in certain parts of the British Isles -- Yorkshire for example.

QUIXOTE13

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 9:54 AM

Hi,

It doesn't sound like it's an Asian pronunciation of "goddamn," although that's a good theory given the linguistic implications of having a future language not just peppered with foreign idioms, but with complete sentences (indicating bilingualism or diglossia more than a merge).

Maybe if the word had been "gollum," I'd buy your etymological explanation more, given the common difficulty in hearing and pronouncing "L" for the native speakers of some Asian languages--like Chinese and Japanese. For those out there who are unaware, there are certain sounds that we lose the ability to perceive--and make--but maybe can regain with much effort in our adulthood, that exist in other languages. If you don't speak something like Bengali, it's almost impossible to tell the difference between an aspirated "B" and an unaspirated "B."

I think it's just something Joss and the writers made up, or figured if you said it fast enough--a double "R" sounds pretty close to "D."

And yes, "goddamn" is actually a swear or curse word, because you're calling on a deity/divinity to damn/curse someone or something. The use of various spellings like "goddam," "goddamn," "goddammit," etc. may have been a way to circumvent censors who were more keyed (legalistically) into "God damn it!" It's one of the words the FCC in the U.S. doesn't allow to be said on the radio, too.

Take care,

Quixote13

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SAMURAIX47

Thursday, January 29, 2004 1:21 AM

Do you ever notice watching a movie a local stations or on TBS, or FX channel and they blankout the "god" when ever someone says goddamn... it's so they don't affend those who feel it is a blaspheme.

Jaymes

JASONZZZ

Thursday, January 29, 2004 2:32 AM

Ur. No, that's not right. There are plenty
of "L" sounds in both major dialects of
Chinese.

Quote:
Originally posted by Quixote13:
Hi,

...given the common difficulty in hearing and pronouncing "L" for the native speakers of some Asian languages--like Chinese and Japanese....

Take care,

Quixote13

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ROCKETJOCK

Thursday, January 29, 2004 2:50 AM

"Goram" is an obvious attempt to sidestep censorship. American broadcast television doesn't allow you to say "God Damn" because it might offend some Fundie somewhere, who might initiate a boycott of your sponsors. Funny thing is that you can say "God", or you can say "damn", but if you say "God Damn", they bleep one syllable or the other, usually "God", which, to me at least, lends a humorous effect. "Oh ___damn it!" Sounds like they tried to swear, but hiccoughed instead.

Joss's other non-swear word, "Rutting" (or "Runnin', if it's Jayne talking) has been absorbed into my personal lexicon; it's convenient to have personal substitutes for strong language; useful in the workplace, for example.

Now I just need to learn how to curse in Chinese...

"A censor is someone who decides that, since the baby can't handle lobster, we must all eat pablum." -- Robert A Heinlein

RocketJock

FLAMETREE

Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:04 AM

There is a beginners chinese (pinyin) english characters chat site at

http://zhongwen.com/chat.htm

This is very good however I don't think they are into cursing but you can try you luck :)

FLAMETREE

Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:05 AM

There is a beginners chinese (pinyin) english characters chat site at

http://zhongwen.com/chat.htm

This is very good however I don't think they are into cursing but you can try you luck :)

QUIXOTE13

Friday, January 30, 2004 9:25 AM

Hi Jasonzzz,

The issue isn't that there are "L" sounds (I never said there weren't if you take what you quoted from me in the context of the entire paragraph) in Chinese, it's that it's difficult to hear and pronounce given that particular sound's context within a language that's foreign to the listener.

In my previous example with the aspirated and unaspirated "B" in Bengali, in English we don't have any words that start with "bh" or require an aspirated pronunciation like the Bengali word for "good," which is "bhalo." However, we do have the sound--it's just in between two words, like "job hunt."

When hearing the word "bhalo" spoken by native speakers of Bengali, most English speakers report hearing no difference between aspirated and unaspirated "B"--even though the sound exists in the English language.

So what I was discussing in this instance was perception. There are obviously L sounds in Chinese and Japanese, but I was proposing an explanation based on linguistic research as to why, even though those sounds existed in those languages, native speakers of those languages had difficulty making that sound when speaking a language foreign to them.

Take care,

Quixote13

Ivan Chan Studio: Invite Beauty: www.ivanchan.com

JASONZZZ

Monday, February 2, 2004 6:14 AM

I agree with you about those linguistics principles in general. But using the "L"
sound with the Chinese and Japanese language
is not a really good example. Most Chinese
I know can pronounce the "L" sound just find
and they can recognize the same sound in
their own language. Japanese people on the
other hand often have difficulty with the "L"
sound exactly b/c their language has no "L"
sound in it and they are completely unfamiliar
with it.

The "bh" sound is a much better example, although using any language to compare with the sounds in the English language is terrible. English is the laziest language in the world. The sounds are completely imprecise and varies greatly depending on each person.

Quote:
Originally posted by Quixote13:
Hi Jasonzzz,

The issue isn't that there are "L" sounds (I never said there weren't if you take what you quoted from me in the context of the entire paragraph) in Chinese, it's that it's difficult to hear and pronounce given that particular sound's context within a language that's foreign to the listener.

In my previous example with the aspirated and unaspirated "B" in Bengali, in English we don't have any words that start with "bh" or require an aspirated pronunciation like the Bengali word for "good," which is "bhalo." However, we do have the sound--it's just in between two words, like "job hunt."

When hearing the word "bhalo" spoken by native speakers of Bengali, most English speakers report hearing no difference between aspirated and unaspirated "B"--even though the sound exists in the English language.

So what I was discussing in this instance was perception. There are obviously L sounds in Chinese and Japanese, but I was proposing an explanation based on linguistic research as to why, even though those sounds existed in those languages, native speakers of those languages had difficulty making that sound when speaking a language foreign to them.

Take care,

Quixote13

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