by Max Fine
Wikipedia defines intensives thusly: Many modern-day intensives are generally considered vulgar or otherwise inappropriate in polite conversation, such as "the hell" or "the **** …". [I plucked that directly from a Wikipedia page except for replacing one word with "****".]
On March 18 Channel 13 in New York aired the movie Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. The dialog in that movie contains liberal use of a certain "intensive form." The same word also appears as a verb.
In the censored audio Channel 13 replaced that certain word with silence, but not every time and, in particular, not when it came up as a verb rather than as an intensifier. In the closed captions that word appeared as "****" or sometimes as itself.
With DVR we may view anything aired on TV any time. So airing a movie with vulgar intensives late at night does not stop us from viewing them at other times.
Do language experts detect levels of intensification? Which is further from the sides: "the very center of the street" or "the ****ing center of the street"?
By the way, with reference to my peeve, Wikipedia does not censor. I have not found a G-rated version of Wikipedia.
My little peeve persists. What the hell! Or, more intensely, what the ****!
Dear readers: In the last sentences should I have used question marks instead of exclamation marks? I need an editor. ****!
Originally published in Forvm, the newsletter of Central New Jersey Mensa.
Central New Jersey Mensa 