Blue Streaks: Does today's society suffer from a profane strain?

The News Enterprise | 18 May 2003 | JACOB BENNETT

[SLB]

The man I most admired most in life, my earthly father, always said that if a man could not express homself without using cuss words he was just showing how ignorant he was. I would ask all to look inside themselves on this issue. Yesterday I heard a man on a cell phone conducting a business call outside of his p/u with his young daughter inside it. (The door was open) It seemed like every other word was cursing. What is this teaching his daughter?

[SLB]

FYI -

As I read this article this morning I had to recall growing up in rural Wyoming. One of my best memories is of my dad and his quiet manner. He never cursed me, his word was law without adding any flourish to it. I try to copy his style in everything I do. I used to be able to make a sailor blush (sorry about that all you Navy folk) but now realize just how foolish and ignorant it sounds. Maybe I am a little old fashioned, but when I see and hear young girls using the language illustrated in the article above it makes my stomach turn.

[netmilsmom]

What a wonderful article!!
I have banned my husband from using these words. We say, tinkle, foofie, shoot, crap, gosh, darn etc.
We have a 3 & 5 year old. We are raising them to be ladies.
I feel they will hear enough of this in school and it does not need to be reinforced at home.

[logos]

What I find interesting, SLB, is that in face-to-face conversation everyone understands that words can "slip out," even from people who don't curse as a matter of habit. That's one thing.

It seems to me, though, that cursing on the Internet, as it's quite often done on this forum, substituting asterisks for certain letters of the word, is something else entirely. It's pretty hard to say that something just "slipped out" when you have to think about how to spell the word, asterisks or not.

IMO, those who use obscenities, vulgarities, or curse words on FR do so purposely. I suppose the reasons for doing so are different for everyone, or even different at different times from the same poster. But, bottom line, it has to be thought out to type it out, and therefore, it's done on purpose.

I should add that I speak as one who used to use such words as verbal punctuation. Now, I am of the opinion that it shows a certain level of mental laziness to curse, at the very least.

[harpseal]

Manners are the grease that allows civilization to function smoothly. The more coarse and vulgar we become as a nation the harder it becomes for people to get along. As a former Chief Petty Officer I think I can cuss with the best when it is called for but in most cases it is not only not needed it is counter productive. Further, if one does not normally use vulgar language it has far more impact when in a truly extreme situation one resorts to it.

[randog]

"It's part of today's society, man," the 28-year-old said.

"Man"? That word's still a part of our groovy society?

Several years ago I noticed a trend in the local college rag--cursing had become vogue in the student columns. I'm not talking about tossing a g-d or two into the article to spice things up; no, these kids were using the full-on F bomb. I noticed that the less a columnist had to say, or if the topic was uninteresting, the more F bombs I would see. My observations of the college rag support this article's assertion that cursing is used most often by the dull and un-inspired.

[joesnuffy]

I'm guilty...

Having been raised in the military around the combat vets of WWII and Korea and then Vietnam for me..
I understand the use of curses..its quick its easy its expressive of severe emotion during periods where nothing less would convey the message as quickly or as effectively...

Cursing is crass crude and something I dont need or want to hear from my daughters or grandchildren...
If I had a son...I probably wouldnt want to hear it around his mother or around chidren or women
(I even punched out a guy in a restaruant for his refusal to stop cursing around a group of elderly women)

Yet I am guilty of cursing...lately have gotten worse...I am at a loss at what to call a terrorist or a politician or an actor or news pundit who defends the brutal murders of children by blowing them to pieces..embedded in the structure of a bus....after seeing only the pictures of the remains...I curse them...and those who support them...

Maybe because I cant cry over my keyboard and cant express that .....the anger natually comes out in curses.. and I slip into old bad habits too easily...laziness..

Dont imagine God is happy about it...so for his Sons sake I should try to curb my tongue...
There are alot of things I know to do and dont...cursing is one of them..

[Jhoffa_]

This is not "Front Page" F***** news, ya know..

You F*** Wad!

(/Joke)

[Jhoffa_]

Don't feel pregnant, I do it also..

We're not supposed to. I can't quote scripture and verse right now (I don't have it in front of me) but it is a no-no for sure. Believe me, it's in there because I have read it.

I am working on it. It's usually when I get hurt or very angry.

Then it kind of slips out. I do it in teasing sometimes also. You know, like "guy" ribbing and stuff.

But, that doesn't justify it.

[Tall_Texan]

Marge: So what did you children learn in Sunday School today?

Bart: Hell.

Marge: BART!

Bart: Well, you sure as hell can't expect me to say we learned about Hell without saying hell, can you?

Homer: Kid's got a point.

Bart: Hell, yeah!

Marge: errrrrrrrrrr

Bart: hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, hell...

Marge: BART! Stop swearing! We're not in church any longer.

=======

What bothers me about this clever scene is not the swearing. It's the fact that this a cartoon - something long used to attract children viewers. I'm more bothered by all the swearing on "South Park" and, to a lesser degree, "The Simpsons" because children are part of the target audience. The grown up in me enjoys the humor and sometimes their point of view. I can laugh at them like everyone else. But there's also a part of me that's really bothered by the course language on cartoon shows. It mainstreams them to children who have yet to understand that foul language has consequences.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

This is all symptomatic of the loss of our language. At a glance, even the author uses 'cuss', vulgarity, profanity and obscenity as synonymous and then lumps such as 'damn' in with them. Even laudatory posters don't know the difference between crap and a vulgar obscenity.

Obscene - "disgusting to the senses" according to an older and not-PC dictionary. Does one imagine that a sewer treatment worker finds his stock in trade disgusting? Thus, 'crap' and 'sh!t' may be vulgar and obscene but not...

Profane - "not concerned with religious purposes" as would be God damn or any other vain calling of the Deity. 'Damn' is a fine and versatile vulgar anathema.

These are all 'vulgarities' as is most speech. The objective is to raise the quality of vulgar speech and writing beyond the necessity of using offensive vulgarities.

[Moonmad27]

Remember the South Park episode where they even kept a running count of one cuss word being used over and over. It made a good point about how these words are overused on TV and in life for shock value but lose that shock value very quickly. I'll try to stick with "aw shoot", myself.

[Squantos]

Agree as to a place and time, albeit it rare these days as a civilian :o).............. reverting to slang , or action verbage as I like to call it, is (IMHO) a verbal replacement of the physical application of justified violence upon a target one can not legally reach out and apply in person..........

Stay Safe !

[Travis McGee]

This hits home. It's difficult to go to the public stretch of the Pacific Ocean 2 miles from here and bring my kids (11 and 7) because under-thirties on the beach (only them, exlusively) will yell "F-Word That!" and "F-Word You, Mother F-er!" t each other as casually as if they were saying "Wow Man" 2 decades ago. I have almost been involved in fist fights over this, when I asked them to cool it around children. Half the time I get "F--- You!!! Hahaha!!!"

This society is plunging down a toilet in so many ways.

In my novel I've drawn a line. No F-word. If folks think that's corny, so be it.

[Travis McGee]

My problem is teens and 20 somethings who loudly yell the F-word right around children, and don't care at all.

If you ask them to cool it, they say, "F-YOU!!" in front of your kids.

Hit him, go to jail. He knows it. I have been nose to nose with these creeps, trying to get them to throw punch number one in front of witnesses, but they're cowards.

They even wear t-shirts out here that say "Mother F--er!!" in huge letters. My wife came out of a religious store here in San Diego Friday, and we were greeted with a 20 something wearing a black t-shirt that had "MOTHER F---er!!" as the punch line in 2 inch tall letters.

I didn't see it, I was going to our other car. (We were getting First Holy Communion gifts for my daughter, of all things, while she was at shchool.)

My wife said "that shirt is really not appropriate to wear in public."

The scum's reaction? "Then don't look!"

Some of this society needs a 5.56mm enema.

[tsomer]

My wife said "that shirt is really not appropriate to wear in public."

We've opened the public sphere to private behavior--not just cussing-- and made the private public.

Courtesy is in decline. Public places have become arenas and people impose themselves by cussing, barking into cell phones, playing radios, etc. It all seems related; we are losing our identity as a people.

[DeweyCA]

All of you have made excellent comments. I especially like your comments on how our society used to be. I miss those more "innocent" and polite times. Today's young people don't know what our society used to be like, because our "boomer" generation ruined so much of it with it's "if it feels good, do it" philosophy.

Stopping cussing can perhaps even be related to the "broken glass" theory of crime prevention that was used by Chief Bratton and Mayor Giuliani in NYC. The theory, as propounded by Prof. James Q. Wilson, is that if little crimes, such as breaking windows, panhandling, or urinating in public, are not enforced, then larger crimes will soon follow. If you allow petty thefts, then it creates an atmosphere of lawlessness where people then move on to bigger crimes. The NYC crime rate dropped dramatically when they decided to get tough on ALL crimes, including the small ones.

Even though cussing would be only a small "crime" in my life, it is one for me to control. And the discipline and mental awareness that is created when trying to control it will help me to avoid committing larger "crimes" (sins) in my life. Just a thought.

[madfly]

I put some blame on the first reality type show that was on MTV. "On the Road" or "Real Life" I don't really know. I skim this stuff to monitor society's decline. It put a group of gen-Xers together in an apartment, or on a road trip, and cameras caught their never ending whining and moaning about their petty problems, with lots of beep, beep, beeps. Daytime TV has the demonic Jerry Springer beep-a-thon. Cops is 30 minutes of beeps. Survior and all the spin-offs are beep-ridden. And then there's the Simpsons and South Park, difference being these are scripted. I think the reality shows with cameras rolling while people use obscene language has had a monumental effect on youth and language. I imagine the "Adult" rated video games contribute. I don't think I want to know! :(

I used to enjoy what I considered "Adult Entertainment". Now I am offended by the fact that kids are seeing stuff on TV; even commercials, that I would consider "Adult" if not pornographic!

[SLB]

I have taken up a crusade to return to polite times of yesterday. The hooligan across the street cranks his stereo up on his car so it litteraly bounces. I have talked to his brain dead parents with no result. I now simply crank up the weedeater or chain saw. Music to my ears.

[wardaddy]

Like when driving....we can't shoot them all.