Language (crude) and every-day life, must we hear it?
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
I was reading through The Washington Times this evening and hit the Family Times section. There-in was an article that reminded me of my visit to the ball park yesterday with my son. My son isn't that young any more, and he's certainly heard his share of foul language (and uttered his share as well), but I've tried over the years to remind him to be respectful with his language, and not toss around foul and vulgar language at every opportunity.
While sitting at the game (sadly, watching our favorite team lose), we were sitting next to a family with a young girl in their group. Best guess, the young girl was probably between 10 and 13. I really don't estimate ages that well (I'd never make it as an age / weight guesser at a carnival), but that's not the point. Beside the young girl beside us, there were also several younger people behind us, as well as a few in the rows in front of us.
Things were fine for everyone until a group of late arriving college aged young people showed up and took seats in the row behind us. At that point, the beer fueled young people decided to show everyone around them what a great mastery of the English language they have. Or at least what a great mastery of about six 4 letter words they have.
As noted above, I'm certainly no prude. I've used a ton of "colorful" language myself. I can curse with the best of them, and use language that would embarass an old grizzled Marine at times. My son is much the same. But between the two of us, I could tell that my son was less than impressed with the behavior and language of the group behind us.
Getting back to the article that reminds me of the issue, the 'Then Again...' column of the Times (by Marybeth Hicks) deals with the same issue. Read on for a snippet, and click the link to read the entire article.
Mother swears there will be no more cussing
The canopy of cool, green leaves overhead offered a welcome umbrella from the late afternoon sun. I stood against a tree waiting to cheer on my two high school runners as they competed in their first cross-country meet of the season.
Then, emerging from a well-worn dirt path came two teenage idiots.
This probably sounds judgmental. I try hard not to make sweeping generalizations about people. So I wasn't about to draw any unfair conclusions about them just because they looked scruffy, had cigarettes dangling from their lips and soft-pack coolers slung over their shoulders.
In fact, I didn't just judge these boys by their appearance, or because they were playing "disk golf" -- a game that looks a lot like "hit a tree with a Frisbee" -- while, all around them, more than 100 other teens exuded health and fitness by participating in a 3.1-mile running race.
The basis of my conclusion was this: The teen "disk golfers" emerged onto the path in the woods to play the next "hole" of their game. Just before they could fling a disk toward its target, the crowd of spectators yelled "runners" to clear the path -- and keep the golfer-teens from being trampled by a herd of approaching racers.
Apparently this annoyed said "golfers" because they shouted back something about it being a public park, and their retort included an expletive heard most often in rap and hip-hop music and sometimes in the halls of Congress.
Did I mention there were children lining the path to cheer on their older siblings? And grandparents? And others who find it uncomfortable, at best, when people drop an obscenity in public, loudly enough to reverberate through the trees and create a verbal mushroom cloud billowing upward toward the heavens?
It seemed all of us shook our heads in unison at the selfish, uncouth behavior. I thought to myself, "Idiots." Thankfully, at about this moment the first of the cross-country runners appeared from around the bend. If there was more swearing, it was drowned out by the enthusiastic screams of support from the families and friends of the racers.
{ snip }
If nothing else, the explosive language I heard from the "disk golfer" reminded me why it's important to teach my son that regardless of the messages our culture sends about casual cussing, it's still offensive and thoughtless. Swearing inappropriately -- not to mention brash guttural outbursts -- will cause people to conclude he's an idiot.
Of course, there are many more reasons to reassert a more respectable vocabulary than simply to avoid making a bad impression. Careful speech is a way to demonstrate respect for those around us. Worse, constant cussing seems to promote a coarse and caustic attitude.
... more at linked article
And there-in (in the last few sentences at the end of the clipping) is what I've tried to instill in my son over the years and what I've tried to suggest (politely if possible) at times to some others here at Joe User.
Communication is best done with real words, and respectful language, not colorful epitaphs that just become noise that everyone tunes out.
While sitting at the game (sadly, watching our favorite team lose), we were sitting next to a family with a young girl in their group. Best guess, the young girl was probably between 10 and 13. I really don't estimate ages that well (I'd never make it as an age / weight guesser at a carnival), but that's not the point. Beside the young girl beside us, there were also several younger people behind us, as well as a few in the rows in front of us.
Things were fine for everyone until a group of late arriving college aged young people showed up and took seats in the row behind us. At that point, the beer fueled young people decided to show everyone around them what a great mastery of the English language they have. Or at least what a great mastery of about six 4 letter words they have.
As noted above, I'm certainly no prude. I've used a ton of "colorful" language myself. I can curse with the best of them, and use language that would embarass an old grizzled Marine at times. My son is much the same. But between the two of us, I could tell that my son was less than impressed with the behavior and language of the group behind us.
Getting back to the article that reminds me of the issue, the 'Then Again...' column of the Times (by Marybeth Hicks) deals with the same issue. Read on for a snippet, and click the link to read the entire article.
Mother swears there will be no more cussing
The canopy of cool, green leaves overhead offered a welcome umbrella from the late afternoon sun. I stood against a tree waiting to cheer on my two high school runners as they competed in their first cross-country meet of the season.
Then, emerging from a well-worn dirt path came two teenage idiots.
This probably sounds judgmental. I try hard not to make sweeping generalizations about people. So I wasn't about to draw any unfair conclusions about them just because they looked scruffy, had cigarettes dangling from their lips and soft-pack coolers slung over their shoulders.
In fact, I didn't just judge these boys by their appearance, or because they were playing "disk golf" -- a game that looks a lot like "hit a tree with a Frisbee" -- while, all around them, more than 100 other teens exuded health and fitness by participating in a 3.1-mile running race.
The basis of my conclusion was this: The teen "disk golfers" emerged onto the path in the woods to play the next "hole" of their game. Just before they could fling a disk toward its target, the crowd of spectators yelled "runners" to clear the path -- and keep the golfer-teens from being trampled by a herd of approaching racers.
Apparently this annoyed said "golfers" because they shouted back something about it being a public park, and their retort included an expletive heard most often in rap and hip-hop music and sometimes in the halls of Congress.
Did I mention there were children lining the path to cheer on their older siblings? And grandparents? And others who find it uncomfortable, at best, when people drop an obscenity in public, loudly enough to reverberate through the trees and create a verbal mushroom cloud billowing upward toward the heavens?
It seemed all of us shook our heads in unison at the selfish, uncouth behavior. I thought to myself, "Idiots." Thankfully, at about this moment the first of the cross-country runners appeared from around the bend. If there was more swearing, it was drowned out by the enthusiastic screams of support from the families and friends of the racers.
{ snip }
If nothing else, the explosive language I heard from the "disk golfer" reminded me why it's important to teach my son that regardless of the messages our culture sends about casual cussing, it's still offensive and thoughtless. Swearing inappropriately -- not to mention brash guttural outbursts -- will cause people to conclude he's an idiot.
Of course, there are many more reasons to reassert a more respectable vocabulary than simply to avoid making a bad impression. Careful speech is a way to demonstrate respect for those around us. Worse, constant cussing seems to promote a coarse and caustic attitude.
... more at linked article
And there-in (in the last few sentences at the end of the clipping) is what I've tried to instill in my son over the years and what I've tried to suggest (politely if possible) at times to some others here at Joe User.
Communication is best done with real words, and respectful language, not colorful epitaphs that just become noise that everyone tunes out.
