Bloody 'bloody'

This week I commented on Nicholas Corr's post. My comment is below!

'So we have been looking at the way in which cultural identity can be accomplished through speech, and I think this is a really fascinating area of study. We looked at the relationship between what is said and how it is said, arguing that when using a word the meaning lies in its articulation rather than word itself. The reading looked at the use of the word 'bloody' in Australia culture.

I enjoyed reading your post and think you make a good point about the word fuck. When discussing this topic I was thinking the same thing. Although I personally tend not to swear, I would rarely flinch at someone using this word because it is used so often in our culture. I found Wierzbicker's discussion of the two meanings of 'bloody' interesting – it is used to emphasise bad feelings and unspecified feelings. You could say something is 'bloody marvellous' or you could say 'that bloody dog' and produce completely opposite meanings. As was said in the lecture, 'to recognise what was said is to recognise how the person is speaking.' This same argument holds for the work fuck.'

Wierzbicker, Anna (2002) 'Australian cultural scripts – bloody revisited' Journal of Pragmatics 34, p1167-1209.