Language, Vulgarity, and Some Questions

While I procrastinate about the newest blog entry (which requires me to upload various photos onto my computer) I've decided to do some thinking about language. Language and swear words, in particular. The past two months in Italy have taught me a lot about swearing, probably because I've been working full time with other young people. These young people also happen to be male, and therefore swear more often, which is something I'll get to in a minute. Also, since I figure that I know everyone who reads this thing, I can actually discuss this. It's interesting!

Over the past few weeks I've noticed that various vulgar phrases have somehow ended up in my Italian vocabulary. It's interesting, since I have (obviously) a better command of English, I think that I'm less susceptible to these influences when I'm surrounded by different types of English-speakers. In Italian, since most of what I say is learned through repetition, hearing something frequently is the best way to memorize it. This is how I've learned all of the normal verbs for general bathroom/bedroom behavior that in English are known to all.

The other thing is that a lot of these Italian expressions are tied to gender. Take, for example, the constant discussion of male genitalia. A person who annoys you is "breaking your balls". In fact, anyone or anything that gives you a hard time is "breaking" - or "on top of" - your balls. This statement varies in strength depending on the vocabulary used, because naturally there are many many different ways to say the same thing, and many different tones of voice can be used. In my opinion, nothing beats the commonly heard wish or promise - "I'll do it once so-and-so is out from between my balls". What imagery! This ranges greatly; I've heard it used to refer to girlfriends, which has some degree of sense. It made less sense when one of my choir-mates told me, "I'll start having fun once high school is out from between my balls". Oh well, the idea is clear.

I do wonder at the fact that these words, coming from the mouth of a female, are either jaw-droppingly vulgar (especially from the point of view of an Italian man) or just nonsense. How can you successfully curse someone out by referencing body parts that you don't have? And why is it that any sentence stronger than "devo fare la pipi" (in English this can literally be translated as baby-talk: "I have to go pee-pee") is not permissible for me to say outside the most intimate company?

I don't like the idea that women should be more classy than men by not swearing. And since when does swearing make or break someone's class, anyway?