While reviewing parshas yisro with David we did a quick overview of the aseres hadibros. Some were easy to do and some I elected to skip over altogether (e.g., adultery). And some I modified. So instead of lo sisa I did nivul peh. I told David that we have to be careful with the words we use, but he wanted clarification. And so with a smirk:
David: What about . . .
Abba: Don't say it!
David: I'm not saying it, but I just want to know if *&%! is a bad word.
Abba: Ugh. Yes, it's a bad word. Can we go on?
David: And what about . . .
Abba: Don't say it!
David: I'm not saying it, but I just want to know if @#!^ is a bad word.
Abba: Ugh. Yes, it's a bad word. Can we go on?
David: And what about . . .
Abba: Don't say it!
David: I'm not saying it, but I just want to know if $!)& is a bad word.
Abba: Ugh. Yes, it's a bad word. Can we go on?
[And so on]
(Just for the record, he was not asking about the most offending words.)
To be continued . . .
3 comments:
Kids :)
FYI, the list doesn't work.
yeah, i typed that line but then didn't add the link because i figured not worth the effort :)
it's there now
Linguistically, he's making a valid and sophiticated distinction between use and mention. Indeed, if you wnat to accurately transcribe the conversation, you should put quotation marks around the expletive. That said, I would have had the same reaction -- "Don't say it" "Ugh"
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