[bookshare-discuss] Re: Swearing

  • From: "Chela Robles" <cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:08:32 -0700

Patricia, it was from the BKSVOL-Discuss list that started and someone took it 
to this list so I responded. Sorry if this is not one you wish to see, just 
delete, I've been doing a lot of that anyhow.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Patricia Kepler 
  To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:11 AM
  Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Swearing


    What does any of this have to do with book scanning?
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Chela Robles 
    To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 9:17 PM
    Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Swearing


    Well, Christians should be Christ-like toward others and I myself as a 
Christian, know it is a path one keeps falling over, we are not perfect except 
for God alone, that is another argument that I shall not go into, so don't you 
either because I'm this close to giving up on the whole bookshare community 
after seeing these messages for the past few days, just sick of this, please 
let us go on and if we have nothing nice to say, then by all means shut up! I 
have to remind myself to constantly walk away and or bite my tongue.
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Cindy 
      To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
      Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 9:03 PM
      Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Swearing


            It makes more sense for we atheists to  take the Lord's  name in 
vain or to say things like God damn you in frustration or anger since, as we 
don't believe in an all-seeing-allknowing God, or in damnation or hell, we 
don't mean it literally. They're just words. I  would be far more shocked to 
hear a religious person swear like that, since for that person the words would 
have meaning. Hopefully people who do believe in  God don't swear like that, 
though I have heard supposedly Christian people who are racist use those words.

            Cindy

            Wish List (i.e., books wanted added to the collection) and 
books-being-scanned list available at sites below



            Wish List: https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Bookshare+Wish+List

            Books Being Scanned List: 
https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Books+Being+Scanned+List

            --- On Wed, 9/9/09, Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx <Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> 
wrote:


              From: Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx <Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
              Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: I have a question please and thank 
you.
              To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
              Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 4:32 PM


              Well, Kim, as an atheist who has often used the word god in some 
of my oaths I will have to agree with you that it is a bit amusing. The 
explanation is that when I use such a word or phrase I am not really thinking 
in terms of swearing an oath as is apparently the case when anyone else does it 
whether they are a believer or not. It is, rather, an expletive. It is an 
expletive that I have heard others utter all my life with no thought to literal 
meanings, that is, no thought to literal meanings by either myself or the 
utterers. I have just picked up those expletives along with everyone else. If I 
give my words some thought and reflection I will avoid such religious 
references. However, by the very nature of an expletive, the situations in 
which expletives are usually uttered are not very conducive to thoughtful 
reflection.

                                                                               
"The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the 
end. 
              " Leon Trotsky     

                           The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder 
Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com
              Granma International: http://granma.cu/ingles/index.html
                           _

              table with 2 columns and 6 rows
              Subj: 
              [bksvol-discuss] Re: I have a question please and thank you. 
              Date: 
              9/9/2009 3:36:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time 
              From: 
              kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx 
              Reply-to: 
              bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
              To: 
              bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
              Sent from the Internet 
              (Details) 
              table end

              Hi, Roger, I tend not to like that particular word myself, but it 
was used in common English speech in the 17th century and in fact, if you come 
across
              the King James Version of the Bible, that word you used occurs 
throughout 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. I know what you are getting at 
and I think
              cultures differ on what they might consider obscene. I think what 
have been considered oaths have changed. At some time if you said "God's body", 
that
              would have been considered an oath. You are right in that people 
will say what they say. Personally, I wouldn't swear by asking God to damn 
somebody or
              use the name of Jesus if I was particularly upset. I find it kind 
of amusing when I hear of people who are atheists swearing and using God's name 
in their oaths.
              I think to myself: "Now here are these supposed atheists who will 
tell me that believing in God is irrational because to their minds their is no 
such thing,
              and yet, they will swear by something they claim not to believe 
in. If they really are atheists, why can't they come up with oaths that are at 
least consistent
              with their non-beliefs?" God knows, I don't claim to be 
consistent myself, so I guess I'll have to cut you some slack here, right? 
However, I think if
              you mean what you say and don't believe in God at all, I say, try 
to think of something you can swear by, if you must swear by something, that is 
consistent
              with your beliefs or lack thereof. Regards, Kim.

              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

              From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx
              Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 8:49 PM
              To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
              Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: I have a question please and thank 
you.

              Some time ago I recall Pavi saying that the dictionary that 
algorithm uses was reviewed and that it was laughable when they saw some of the 
words that
              were in it. Supposedly that was corrected, but I very much 
suspect that I would still consider it laughable. Honestly, I was once telling 
someone something
              another person said. I mentioned that the person had said that 
another person was pissed off. I do not ordinarily use that phrase myself, but 
since I was
              relating what someone else said I did that time. I was angrily 
accused of being obscene. It never even occurred to me in my wildest 
speculations that anyone
              would consider that to be obscene and if I had found it in that 
dictionary of prohibited words and phrases I would have found that laughable. 
Nevertheless,
              someone did consider it obscene. That is why I tend to think that 
the person who is offended by so-called "adult" words has the problem, not the 
one who
              utters them.

              "The end may justify the means as long as there is something that 
justifies the end. 
              " Leon Trotsky 

              The Militant: 
              http://www.themilitant.com 
              Pathfinder Press: 
              http://www.pathfinderpress.com
              Granma International: 
              http://granma.cu/ingles/index.html
              _

              table with 2 columns and 6 rows
              Subj: 
              [bksvol-discuss] Re: I have a question please and thank you. 
              Date: 
              9/8/2009 10:48:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time 
              From: 
              cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
              Reply-to: 
              bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
              To: 
              bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
              Sent from the Internet 
              (Details) 
              table end

              Evan, I've wondered about how that algorithm works too, because 
              of the children's books I've proofed that were erroneously marked 
              as adult by the algorithm. I'd bet part of it is based on 
              Bookshare useing a dictionary of words that can be considered 
              adult (with some contexting built in, I'd guess). The final 
              designation of adult comes about by using a weighting of the 
              number of times words/terms/phrases appear factored against the 
              total number of words in a book. So if you have a children's 
              book with very few words, and one of the 'suspect' words appears, 
              although it could be in a totally innocent context, bam! The 
              children's book is going to get rated as adult. I had that 
              happen a few months ago with a board book I was proofreading!

              Just guessing here, of course. smile.

              Judy s.

              EVAN REESE wrote:
              > What determines adult content is ultimately the proofreader. 
Bookshare's 
              > computer can mark a book either Adult or not, using some secret 
              > algorithm that staff refuses to divulge to us, but the 
proofreader can 
              > change the Bookshare computer's choice if he/she feels that a 
change is 
              > justified. It used to be either the submitter and/or the 
proofreader, 
              > but Bookshare took that choice away from submitters and seems 
to have no 
              > inclination to give it back.

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