Summary notes on Stephen Fry documentary 'Planet word'

-Prescriptive attitudes are often used for control.
-Political correctness also has some element of control.
-Any society will have taboo words, including reclusive tribes in the most remote parts of the world.
-Professor Stephen Pinker says that the source of our obscenities generally tend to be topics surrounded by negative connotations/emotions. For example, a lot of our own swears stem from sexism. Our taboo language reflects the patriarchal society we live in.
-Sex has actually given us our most used swear - 'fuck'.
-According to research, taboo language is actually marked by parts of the brain.
-Swearing helps to relieve pain. However it is only most effective when the person in pain is not a regular swearer.
-Taboo language is only given power by the taboo we put on it.
-The acceptability of taboo language has changed over the last 100 years.
-In terms of taboo language, sexual language has lost its impact due to contextual factors - sex was a much more taboo subject when your grandparents were kids than it is now! - but any kind of prejudicial language is still extremely powerful.
-Politeness is euphanistic language. In older times women would 'powder their nose', whereas now they might proudly 'go for a piss'.
-We use euphanisms to protect delicate ears (i.e, children). We have euphanistic language to be less direct with children.
-Latinate lexis - Language from Latin - is used throughout a range of subjects, such as medicine, history, philosophy, science, and just academic subjects in general. This indicates that Latin at one point (perhaps even still to this day) was the language of power, because you would have to be educated to an extremely high level to be able to study these subjects, and this often was linked with wealth as well. This is why Latin was a compulsory subject in schools years ago; it is the language of power.
-Death and sex appear to harbour the most euphanisms, most likely as they are the two most sensitive topics to touch upon.
-Semantic shifts are forever occuring throughout history. For example, the term 'trolling' once meant cruising, whereas now it means to be abusive. In the same way the phrase 'to sex up' has become a way for politicians to exaggerate something.
-Studies show that non-standard English bonds people together. In fact, slang empowers young people (perhaps because it is the most subtle form of rebellion).
-Hip-hop (full of slang) is influential as it acts as the voice of the disinfranchised.
-Does language really have a 'right' or a 'wrong' or is this dictated purely by the context in which is it used?
-Lanuage seems to circulate: once you put it out there other people will pick it up.