Why have curse words become a norm in dancehall?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The Jamaican ‘bad wud’, or profanity, has become synonymous with dancehall music and they seem to have become inseparable.

Yet, it is a mystery to understand what is there in the Jamaican foul language, which is the greatest form of disrespect or insult that can be hurled at his or her foe. It is no less puzzling to fathom why anyone should be offended by a Jamaican bad word, since it is mostly meaningless hot air, like that of an inflated dragon – or, more like empty fury full of blasts - yet doesn’t signify anything.

When you analyse the ‘yard’ expletives, they are just like pulling any obnoxious word from the air and stringing them together with sufficient thunder and fury to create a vicious bang. Perhaps that’s why Americans used to laugh when a Jamaican would hurl a bad wud at them – they used to say that the Jamaican is feeling his strength. But, whether or not a word is pointless, it still gets its meaning from its association. If the expression is sufficiently used with negative connotation, it will survive throughout generations as a major word of offence, however meaningless you think it stands on its own, because impression often becomes more important than reason.

Even if a Jamaican bad word is hollow and is either here nor there, it is nonetheless offensive, and carries a negative impact. And, when meaningless offence becomes more significant than sense, the demise of civility is irretractable, unless purposeful and constructive words prevail.

HOMER SYLVESTER

Elmsford, New York