Warning- This Blog Post Contains The C-Bomb! Week 11 Blog Post

In Nicola Daley's (2003) research paper, titled 'Expletives as solidarity signals in FTA's on the factory floor', she discusses the use of the word 'fuck' as a multi use expression. She describes the different uses as being in 'threatening speech acts, direct complaints and refusals, and its contrasting function in the act of whingeing', and also how it identifies certain community membership within the workplace. I have a similar type of experience, a few years ago, I was working closely with a colleague- we were the only two employees at this business. We became good friends, both inside and outside work, and our greeting for each other somehow became 'hey cuntus'. Yes, from 'hey cunt', which is still a taboo word for a lot of people, we made a little nickname for each other that was endearing, not offensive! However, if you were to greet a stranger with 'hey cunt', it's safe to say they would be incredibly offended! In the article 'Forbidden words: taboo and the censoring of language', profanity is explained as a positive reinforcer in friendships; 'insult can be offered, and taken, as a compliment or a familiar voucher of friendship' (Allan & Burridge, 2006), which is exactly what our greeting was- to anyone else, possibly offensive, to us, not offensive at all! Additionally, the 'community of practice' framework described by Daly could help explain this- we both belonged to a team, and it was quite small- this enabled close friendship bonds to form, therefore we coexisted within that community framework. Certain practices, such as our greeting, became accepted between us. However I think that even if I was to greet another close friend without them being aware of the context, they would possibly be offended. This theoretical approach looks at behaviors and how these indicate 'belonging-ness' to a particular group. Out of the three features of this approach, 'mutual engagement, a joint negotiated enterprise, and a shared repertoire of negotiable resources accumulated over time', I think mutual engagement and a shared repertoire of negotiable resources accumulated over time are most evident in this example. References Allan, K & Burridge, K 2006, 'Forbidden words: taboo and the censoring of language', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Daly, N 2003, 'Expletives as solidarity signals in FTA's on the factory floor', Journal of Pragmatics, vol 36, p945-964.