Dear Editor,

Dancehall culture and Jamaican curse words have become inseparable. And it is difficult to understand what there is in these words that would cause the user to think that it 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 curse word, since it is mostly meaningless hot air, like that of an inflated dragon, signifying nothing. For 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.

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 generations as being offensive, however meaningless you think it is when it stands on its own, for perception often becomes more important than fact.

Therefore, even if a Jamaican curse word is hollow and neither here nor there, it nonetheless carries an offensive impact. And when meaningless offence becomes more significant than sense, the demise of civility is inevitable unless purposeful and constructive words prevail.

Homer Sylvester

h2sylvester@gmail.com