What's in a word?

Firecrotch, for example. Nowadays, I trace it to Paris Hilton's use to try and demean Lindsay Lohan ((As detailed here.)) and, naturally, it's an irrational curse word. I was about to state it's an everyday curse word, but I don't know anybody who would use it. I hope. But Paris did, and by using it, she just came off as stupid.

When I was little people used "gay" as a curse word. Everybody was being called gay, a word that was synonymous with "bad". Last week, a colleague asked me to overlook the rampant homophobia in Russia by comparing it with how things were when we were little: "We called each other 'gay' all the time!" As he had said that, I asked him if he really, truly knew what was coming out of his mouth, if he was prepared for my riposte or if he would rather use his face to extinguish a fireplace. He laughed. I did not.

Yesterday, X and I finished off a new, Swedish three-part radio documentary series called "Rädda Sverige", that I think deals with xenophobia. The series is really powerful without being ham-fisted in the least. I mean, the reporter who's produced the series is critical of xenophobia (as he should be) and asks some tough questions to some xenophobes, and here's the very interesting bit: you get to follow their train of thought. That's far more intriguing than it sounds, believe me.

What is so good about the documentary series, to me, is that the people who hate really seem oblivious to why they hate. They know that they hate. Some of them, which is especially evident in the last episode, go for the "fire and forget" reaction, i.e. they use vile, xenophobic expletives and horrible ways to comment on what they hate, but don't stop to think before clicking "Submit", and they don't seem to look back. Or think back, when posting the next time.

Go listen. I promise it's worth it.