the word "damn"

dian   Friday, February 13, 2004, 04:36 GMT
I have just listened to Avril Lavigne's "I'm with you". There's a word "damn" there (it's a damn cold night...). I thought before that it is one of dirty words. Can I use it in a normal situation? In what situation we can use this word? I think it is a strong word. Only spoken when we're angry.

Thank you.
Ryan   Friday, February 13, 2004, 05:25 GMT
Damn probably shouldn't be used in a formal situation. It's not exactly a dirty word, though, just a slightly impolite one. People often use it when referring to unpleasant weather, like Avril does in the song. If you say "God damn" that is definitely a curse word and will get you in trouble in religious company in the US, at least.
mjd   Friday, February 13, 2004, 06:23 GMT
It's not a dirty word, but like Ryan said, it's a bit impolite in formal situations. It's definitely no big deal in casual ones though.
Jim   Friday, February 13, 2004, 06:43 GMT
If used appropriately, it's not impolite in formal situations. The Cambridge dictionary gives four senses in which the word is used. In the sense of "blame" or "punsih" it is perfectly acceptable in the most formal of speech or writing. As an "expression" or in the sense of "very" it would be considered informal. Even in these informal senses it's not what most people would think of as a dirty word unless they were quite religious. In fact as it's a bit old fashioned it's more likely to be considered comic than dirty.

damn (EXPRESSION) [Show phonetics]
exclamation (ALSO damn it or dammit) INFORMAL
an expression of anger or annoyance:
Damn, I've spilt coffee down my blouse!
See also goddamn.

damn [Show phonetics]
adjective [before noun] (ALSO damned) INFORMAL
used to express anger or annoyance with someone or something:
Damn fool!

damn [Show phonetics]
verb INFORMAL
damn you/them/it/etc. used to express anger or annoyance with someone or something:
You got the last ticket - damn you, I wanted that!

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=19481&dict=CALD

damn (VERY) [Show phonetics]
adverb INFORMAL
used, especially when you are annoyed, to mean 'very':
He knew damn well how much trouble it would cause.
Next time he can damn well do it himself!
You were damn lucky not to have been killed!

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=19491&dict=CALD

damn (PUNISH) [Show phonetics]
verb [T usually passive]
(especially of God) to force someone to stay in hell and be punished forever:
As a child she was taught that she would be damned for her sins.

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=19497&dict=CALD

damn (BLAME) [Show phonetics]
verb [T]
to blame or strongly criticize something or someone:
The inquiry into the disaster damns the company for its lack of safety precautions.

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=19493&dict=CALD
mjd   Friday, February 13, 2004, 10:10 GMT
Jim's last two examples would not be considered rude.

1) Religious context: "The damned were cast into Hell." (If this phrase were to come up in a formal situation, it wouldn't be considered rude).

2) To blame or strongly criticize: (See Jim's last example)
To Ryan   Friday, February 13, 2004, 13:00 GMT
> and will get you in trouble in religious company in the US
oh, no! if you got in religious company, you're already in trouble. they will wash out your brain first and then take your money away. they'll leave you with nothing but their god damn book, so nothing will distract from praying to their god, because that will be the only thing you'll able to do after that, except of suicide attacks, of course.
Ryan   Friday, February 13, 2004, 18:34 GMT
There was a study done recently by some researcher at the University of Michigan that showed that the US was an anomaly among industrialized countries in the amount of religious belief of its citizens, and that the level of religious behavior among our population is similar to many Islamic countries, although not the most devout ones. It's something any person coming here has to keep in mind, although there is great variation in the religiousness of the people here, as many are also agnostic or atheists. There's always some southern state trying to get evolution off of secondary school curriculums which always alarms those of us with scientific minds.
To Ryan   Saturday, February 14, 2004, 22:40 GMT
i'm sorry if my previous was too emotional. just a few days ago one friend of mine told me a story about one his classmate. they learned together in one class but they were not really close friends, so after school each chose their own way, and my friend had not heard about him till recently. what he learned though was shocking: his classmate, who by all means was a normal guy, got involved in one spirtual group. leaving out details, the result was that this guy had lost almost everything he had: money, job, friends, and, in the end, willingness to live; he attempted to commit suicide but fortunately unsuccessfully.
what do you think should be done about such spirtual groups?
some people believe that the best remedy is promoting so-called traditional religion on the state level. imo, it is the same as fight against heroin by promoting marijuana. i'm very skeptical about this approach
Juan   Sunday, February 15, 2004, 00:42 GMT
>>trying to get evolution off of secondary school curriculums which always alarms those of us with scientific minds.<<

There has to be a fair amount of faith involved to believe in the so called "evolution theory" too.
To Juan   Sunday, February 15, 2004, 01:37 GMT
read this: "Evolution as Fact and Theory" by Stephen Jay Gould
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_fact-and-theory.html
Juan   Sunday, February 15, 2004, 06:57 GMT
>>read this: "Evolution as Fact and Theory" by Stephen Jay Gould<<

Thanks but no thanks, that article is not going to sway me. The "evolution theory" has as much credibility as the Aryan Invasion Theory. It is just that, a theory, an assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture. It is not a fact. Scientist don't like it too much when they can't explain certain phenomena and try to cover up their ineptitude by making all sort of erroneous theories. Sadly the evolution theory is one of them, there is not enough evidence, information and scientific knowledge to make it concrete. There is nothing wrong with that because that is how scienctific knowledge comes about by experimentation, intuition, trial and error etc, etc, etc,... But there is something wrong with that when they start treating and believing in their own misguided theories as fact. I'm not against the evolution theory, it could be close to the truth or then again maybe not. But it is not the truth and some scientists should stop treating it like it is. Teaching something like this at schools should be a definite no no until it is a proven fact which maybe some years away. Until then it shoud stay away from educational institutions.
Dwayne   Sunday, February 15, 2004, 17:37 GMT
>>>The "evolution theory" has as much credibility as the Aryan Invasion Theory<<<
I don't know what you refer to as "evolution theory", because there are many evolution theories.

>>>It is just that, a theory, an assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture.<<<
It can be said about any theory, for example, Einstein's theory. Do you think we have enough evidence to believe that the speed of light is the same?

>>>It is not a fact.<<<
A theory is not a fact, but evolution is a fact.

>>>Scientist don't like it too much when they can't explain certain phenomena and try to cover up their ineptitude by making all sort of erroneous theories.<<<
To make up explanations is a human trait. Not every explanation, even if it is produced by scientists, can be considered as a scientific theory. And I don't say that every scientific theory is right. In fact, every theory has its limitations, because our knowledge is limited.

>>>But there is something wrong with that when they start treating and believing in their own misguided theories as fact.<<<
Who are "they"? What are "their own misguided theories"? And would be any better if they start treating and believing in somebody's else misguided theories as fact? And what is your criteria of theory as misguided?
Don't get me wrong. I don't like when people believe in anything blindly, but also I don't like rhetorical statements that make no logical sense.

>>>Teaching something like this at schools should be a definite no no until it is a proven fact which maybe some years away.<<<
There is no single theory about anything that is absolutely truth.
The problem with education is the way they teach everything. They expect that students should accept teacher's words virtually without any proves, and never question them. For example, TEACHER: "Three main reasons of French and Indian war were ...." TEST: "Name three main reasons of French and Indian war".
In other words, students are not taught to think logically, but to be obedient and accept words of authority as truth. As result we have people who can either believe or not believe, but they cannot think logically. When they hear some theory that is attractive to their feelings and coming from someone with high scientific degree, they immediately take it as truth and never question what evidences he has had for such conclusion. Science are based on facts and logical conclusions, not on somebody's title or authority.
Juan   Monday, February 16, 2004, 06:12 GMT
I don't really want to get into a deep theological discussion but I'll reiterate. You need as much faith as the creationists have to accept
evolution as truth.
Eastie   Monday, February 16, 2004, 06:35 GMT
Evolution IS my faith. With that said, this really isn't the forum to be discussing such things. Let's get back to languages.
Jim   Monday, February 16, 2004, 07:10 GMT
Yeah, let's stop discussing this topic. I don't agree with Juan but I'm not going into why here.