My Boolean Results

Upon searching through both the ProQuest and EBSCOhost databases (as we were instructed to for unit 7),  in order to find the information that I needed, I used the Boolean searches:

•  definition AND (profanity OR "curse words") AND change*
•  definition AND (swearing OR "curse words") AND change*.

 I found that I was very successful in finding credible sources about profanity in today's culture, but not very successful in finding sources for my question "What was the original definition of profanity and how has it changed over the years?", I found some, but not very much. But what I did find were relevant to another one of my questions, "Who is in charge of deciding which words are considered obscene?"


Also for this assignment, we had to use our Boolean searches to find a total of three sources, one newspaper article, one magazine article, and one article from a scholarly journal.


For my newspaper article, I chose "Broadcasting 'Indecency' on Trial."  by Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.. {1}
This article because this article talks about how the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is cracking down and fining media broadcasters for using "explicit content" (i.e. using vulgar words, and even partial nudity) hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars! The article continues to go into how the broadcasters are claiming that the FCC's decision is unconstitutional, but the FCC fears that if they were to rule in the broadcaster's favor, then the television and any other media source would then become flooded with profanity and nudity. I chose this article because it explains a little bit about the FCC and what they are doing to control the use of vulgarity.


My magazine article is titled "EDUCATION: SWEARING AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: Slang just might make a New Canadian Feel More Like Everyone Else." {2}
I chose this article as a source because I thought it would be very interesting. It talks about how people from other cultures who are trying to learn the English language are actually becoming confused by how our everyday English is extremely different from the textbook English, and the largest baffler of them all is our use of profanity. There was one sentence of this article that really spoke to me about how our use of swear words really affect ourselves and others. "... but just because she isn't required to know English slang or swearing to become a Canadian doesn't mean she won't need it in order to feel like one." Although, not necessarily just to become a Canadian of course, but just to fit in with the rest of society.


Now the article from the scholarly journal, "Feds Change the Rules.", by Doug Halonen {3}, was a bit more on the money for what I was hoping I would find. This article goes on to talk about how the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has ruled that "...the use of the F-word and similar expressions runs afoul of agency regulations no matter what the context the words are used." And how broadcasters will be loose their broadcasting licensees if they are to "violate" the indecency rule (as of 2010) along with individual fines for each indecency in a single broadcast.


I actually discovered quiet a bit while doing my research for this assignment. And really, my search terms hardly changed at all! Which I found rather convenient. Even though my original search question was about the original definition of profanity and how it has changed, didn't get answered, another question that had been on my mind, about who was in charge of deciding what is to be considered profane and what they do about it, did get some answers. Which is cool too.


{1} Boutrous, Theodore J. Jr. "Broadcast 'Indecency' on Trial." Wall Street Journal: A13. Los Angeles Times; National Newspapers Core; The Wall Street Journal. Jan 17 2012. Web. 25 July 2012.


{2} Teitel, Emma. "EDUCATION: SWEARING AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: Slang just might make a New Canadian Feel More Like Everyone Else." Maclean's Dec 06 2010: 59-. ProQuest Research Library. Web 25 July 2012.


{3} Halonen, Doug. "Feds Change the Rules. (Cover Story)." Television Week 23.12 (2004): 1-34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 July 2012.