Profanity and world bulding

 All humans swear, all of us has an array of naughty words that exclaims discontent, pain and such. For example here in norway, my home country, christianity is the origin of pretty much all the swear words. Hence the name, I swear upon god, jesus and the holy ghost, or the devil to varying degrees of intensity. Words for naughty bits are also used as profanity, but for now let's look at the religious angle and how it will eventually tie into the topic of world building. Context is important after all.

Like I just mentioned, my vocabulary in Norwegian is built upon judeo Christian figures, I mainly use those when angry, or irritated. When I accidentally stub my toe into a table leg,  my response is usually "faen". Which is just another name for the devil living down below according to unreliable sources. Regardless, it is more or less the Scandinavian equivalent of shouting the dreaded F word, because bad words apparently makes people bad. "Think of the children." Is the usual argument, that or you're going to burn in hell.

A fellow I grew up with swore like a drunk sailor, one without a notable vocabulary, or creativity. He would quite often shout "faen i helvete faens fitte." Roughly it translates to "satan in hell, devils female reproductive system." I'm fairly certain he turned out alright. 

Essentially old folks from generations past have a very constrained relationship with these words and strive to avoid uttering them, or use less crass versions. I guess it is considered rude and unclothed to swear, which is probably the origin of the widespread bleeping of these words in televised media. Even youtube strikes down monetization when a video uses bad words too often and too early.

Anyhow, we have words like the Devil, satan, hell, anything that has to do with the devil and his home. We also take the lord name in vain. Technically we're not, because god is a title, not a name. Jesus is a very common word to shout when surprised.

Naturally this all ties into religion and our world, however in a world not unlike our own, or in a different reality there is no Chrisianity. If one of the biggest religions known to us is absent, swearing would, and should take another direction. Many authors are kinda unaware of this and just uses hell, because of familiarity, regardless if it makes sense, or not. The same holds true for various idioms and phrases. Seriously a lot of common phrases only make sense on our earth, some not even then.

Judge Dredd is one of these series that put a lot of effort into making the universe have its own vocabulary. Good God, holy Christ, Jesus jumped up Christ on a pogostick just does not hold up. Let alone putting the cart before the horse in a world with no equines. Though referring to a person being damned, and burn in hell does carry quite a bit of familiarity and does not require an ounce of brain power to use. Just like dropping the f bomb to be edgy as heck.

Essentially what I am getting at is this. A world without Jews and Christ needs profanity that fits the setting, and that all humans swears, some just more than other.

Njål #zaceron

Signing out

Aggravating architects

Architects is a rare breed of people, few can make such epic buildings that play an important part of our lives and the city skyline. Yet they are extremely rigid, and incredibly petty. Ot is almost like they are stuck in a grey box made of glass and their way thinking is very square. As an example of this, just look at the Oslo skyline down by the sea, next to the central railway. It essentially look like kids playing with wooden blocks and Lego. However the Danish produced plastic pieces at least comes with colours. Yes, I dare say that these professional building designers are suffering from being colourblind as well. Since almost everyone insist on grey, bland and boring concrete, huge glass panes and practically no decor.

From what little education I have on the subject due to the school I went to, I can only assume the design philosophy is directly inherited from funkis style. Where the materials are supposed to be part of the decor and the shape language. The sad thing about this is that this pragmatic style actually had a lot of round shapes and actually focused on a well thought out room solution. Modernist building designers does not it seems. A lot of these newfangled squares are not well thought out at all. Seriously, these monstrosities are hostile and dominating the city scene with their oppressive presence. To get back to the point at hand. When an architect focus on the inherit qualities of the materials and the surface is made up of a substance such as concrete, there is no room for colours. Only fifty shades of concrete. It honestly seems like a lot of architects loves concrete and cement to an unhealthy degree. I believe they're called by the affectionate nickname concrete evangelist. Because like a person quoting scripture, they are convinced their way is the best way, and if you dare to question their choices, or raisea complaint, they will go on the defensive. Research also indicates that the modernistic movement is fueled by a hate for classic styles. Yes, at one point in time decor, intricate shapes, and sculpted surfaces was a thing.

Bergen for example has a lot of old and insanely decorated buildings. I do believe this is known as the empire style due to how every structure look like a small palace. This is too much and sign of excess, but also a showcase of skill. If nothing else these buildings are wonderful to look at and makes the city a lot like walking through a cozy museum. The decor and the colours improve peoples lives and brighten the day. Concrete kills the mood and is depressive, oh so terribly oppressive. It seem like the current thought process of the modern architect is to loathe the endeavours of the past, by building buildings that mangle the city aesthetics. Where am I getting with this rambling you might ask, it is mostly due to my fascination with architecture and getting my voice out there. Because I find most architects to be a buch of eself absorbed bellends that only care about their stylistic impressions, while raining the reason people come to a city in the first place while patting themself on the back and giving the middle finger to colors.

Njål signing out