Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.1
Like Ralphie, from a young age I heard cursing. Every so often it would get out of hand and mom would break out the swear jar to try to reel it in. Your standard ones were only a dollar but if you dropped an f-bomb for any reason, that was a $5 word every time. This would eventually fizzle out with regard to enforcement and the cycle would begin again.
As I got older I found myself enthralled by the likes of 2 Live Crew, NWA and Snoop (Doggy) Dogg. An 8-year-old listening to 2 Live Crew was not the best idea but what mom and dad didn’t know (until now) didn’t hurt them. This music was full of misogyny, violence and swearing…lots of swearing.
This evolved into public school where the average recess would make a sailor blush. Coupled with work on farms with much older individuals, I developed very colourful language.
Over time, I’m learning that some of the language I used then was derogatory and I’ve made efforts to distance myself from it. However, now as a man in the final lap on my way to 40, I still curse more than some would agree with.
My question however is what’s the big deal? Who determines what is considered a “swear word”. I don’t pretend to be a scholar so I don’t know all the origins of all of the words but as far as North American English is considered, who cares?
In order to find out if I was the odd one or if swearing really was a big deal, I decided to dig in just a little bit to find out more. Do a quick Google search on “Cursing Book” and see the results. You’ll find ways to curb your swearing and others that celebrate it. I know that this is the equivalent to Ralph Wiggum typing conspiracy in the search bar and calling himself a resurcherer but I was surprised at the amount of information out there
Many scientific studies have been done on this point as well and signs point to it being good for you. A recent study posted on academia.edu concluded: ” …a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level and with higher integrity at the society level.”2
A little more digging taught me the word Fuck dates back to the 15th century and apparently Shit is even older than that. Most of our common swears apparently have Germanic roots but every language seems to have their own “forbidden words”.
In Britain, there are words that are offensive that seem laughable in Canada and the US. It seems in Australia, there is a word beginning with a C that is scattered in language the way we do with the F word. If you use that word in the US or Canada people are severely taken aback. If you don’t know the word, ask the crudest friend you have; I’m not going to type it here.
But why? Why does a word have so much power that I’m afraid to put it in a simple blog read by a couple hundred people? Who is going to be offended? Who will get me in trouble?
Maybe it’s because sometimes friends and even my pastor tend to read this. Maybe I’m just not wearing my laid back swearing hat today (refer to the previous entry for an explanation of that one).
Swearing is all around us and unavoidable. In the stores and in the parks and as I mentioned, on the school yard. It's even prevalent at work, though swearing the work place tends to vary from what I’ve seen. Some places are full of swearing, others with absolutely none, and most will fall somewhere in between. But even if you’re someone who curses like a sailor Monday to Saturday, surely you don’t swear on Sunday. To be a good church goer, a “good Christian” if you will, swearing is pretty much off the table but I’m here to tell you that I think that’s bullshit.
What if I told you that I think that church people swear all the time? What if I told you I’ve heard it from multiple people at multiple pulpits and various congregations and events over the years? Crazy am I?
We’ve put an arbitrary value on specific words while other words get a pass. If someone stubs their toe and says “shoot” we know what they mean. When Gladys misses bingo by one number and says “darn” we know what she means. How many times have you heard someone say “fricken” instead of dropping an F-Bomb. We know what they’re trying to say, why are we hiding it?
I’m not telling you to go curse out your kid’s daycare providers or you pastor; I’m just asking the question. Personally, I think that swearing is often healthy and that any attempt to completely stifle it out of you is bull crap.
1. https://www.moviequotedb.com/movies/christmas-story-a/quote_28586.html
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