Early in my (now largely defunct) science career I was lambasted by reviewers for using idiom (not profanity, just idiom) in a scientific paper. Even today I don't believe that the idiom I used detracted from the science, but with the benefit of
hindarsesight I think it comes down to this:
In some contexts certain emotions are expected; others are taboo. Laughing at a funeral; Lusting at a baptism; Revulsion at a wedding; Irreverence in science.
Posture matters on formal occasions; candour and sincerity don't. That's pretty much a definition of what formality means. Formality means sacred; sacred means taboo.
Which is not to say that we don't experience those things at times considered inappropriate; we're just forbidden from expressing them publicly.
I have quietly giggled at certain points in a funeral -- including a funeral of someone I've loved, and cocked an eyebrow at weddings -- and kept knowledge of this fact confined just to myself and my wife. I'm generally irreverent of science while at the same time taking it seriously. I can't say that I've lusted at a baptism (as an atheist I seldom attend), but it's not impossible that if I attended often enough, I would. New mothers are sexy creatures in every species.
It's well established that taboo words create a
euphemism treadmill. We can sometimes express a taboo emotion in a formal circumstance if we use approved language. Perhaps people recognise that the emotion, while taboo, needs to be expressed.
Perhaps we need formality -- or at least some of us do. Sometimes the emotional needs of others are more important than our own. I can giggle while grieving -- perhaps everyone can; but giggling while another is grieving and remaining sympathetic requires an intimacy that we don't always have.
Should we take it seriously? I don't know whether we
should, but I do know that I intrinsically
can't. The best I can do is fake it out of compassion for others, and not always that.
