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Jelleke Wierenga's avatar

I fantasise about having a column where commentators are forbidden to use the word “fuck”. They shall have to use more creative language to demean someone or something. Expand the creative use of the English language. Damn someone with faint praise. Stimulate new pathways and byways in degenerative neurons. In school the English teacher forbade us to use the word “nice” to describe anything, especially your recent holiday. That steered me, an Afrikaans kid from the railways, to words like “phantasmagoric” and “quaint”. Linh, you could set the example by substituting your f’s with a more expansive use of the English language, which you both loath and love. Greetings!

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Tom's avatar

Good column, if a bit dark or harsh. American cities are probably doomed, but there is life and people still relatively normal in the U.S. countryside. The main problem as I see it is American (or "American") degenerate culture spreading abroad like cancer. Italian and French pop music used to be pretty decent until the late 70s (perhaps some songs a bit corny but innocent, like that Vietnamese lyrics), but now they have degenerated into boring rap about sex and satanism, as everywhere else (although it's still not as bad as "Sacrifice" or Arianna Grande, yet). The "transgender children" craze also seems more pronounced in America than in the rest of the world, but it's spreading too.

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