The Offensiveness of Swear Words in Subtitles A Case Study on Subtitling Taboo Language in The IT Crowd

In subtitles, swear words are often toned down, neutralized or omitted because of spatio- temporal constraints. This thesis analyzes how the offensive language is subtitled in season one of The IT Crowd by using an adapted version of translation strategies for offensive language taken from Ávila-Cabrera’s In An Account of the Subtitling of Offensive and Taboo Language in Tarantino’s Screenplays. For large part of the offensive language in The IT Crowd, substitution has been used, which means swear words are indeed often neutralized, but not necessarily omitted or toned down. In 2016, Ofcom published an article in which they used their own categorization of offensive language, and rated taboo words ‘mild’, ‘medium’, ‘strong’ and ‘strongest’. Participants of their research indicated that context was essential to them in assessing the acceptability of any potentially offensive language on television, but to what extent context could have an influence on the offensiveness of taboo...Show moreIn subtitles, swear words are often toned down, neutralized or omitted because of spatio- temporal constraints. This thesis analyzes how the offensive language is subtitled in season one of The IT Crowd by using an adapted version of translation strategies for offensive language taken from Ávila-Cabrera’s In An Account of the Subtitling of Offensive and Taboo Language in Tarantino’s Screenplays. For large part of the offensive language in The IT Crowd, substitution has been used, which means swear words are indeed often neutralized, but not necessarily omitted or toned down. In 2016, Ofcom published an article in which they used their own categorization of offensive language, and rated taboo words ‘mild’, ‘medium’, ‘strong’ and ‘strongest’. Participants of their research indicated that context was essential to them in assessing the acceptability of any potentially offensive language on television, but to what extent context could have an influence on the offensiveness of taboo words was never clarified. By using an online survey, it was assessed that context is indeed an important factor in deciding how offensive a taboo word is, as words placed in sentences with an aggressive tone were deemed to be much more offensive that those same taboo words placed in a humoristic setting.Show less

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The Offensiveness of Swear Words in Subtitles A Case Study on Subtitling Taboo Language in The IT Crowd