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More and More, Kids say the Foulest Things (swearing)
The Washington Post ^ | 04/12/04 | Valerie Strauss

Posted on 04/12/2005 10:06:43 AM PDT by crv16

Dan Horwich's English class is a bastion of clean language, where students read the classics and have weighty discussions free of invective and profanity. But when the bell rings and they walk out his door, the hallway vibrates with talk of a different sort.

"The kids swear almost incessantly," said Horwich, who teaches at Guildford High School in Rockford, Ill. "They are so used to swearing and hearing it at home, and in the movies, and on TV, and in the music they listen to that they have become desensitized to it."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: civility; culturalentropy; decencydeficit; profanity; pspl; swearing
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To: Choose Ye This Day

Take this example:

A writer uses dirty words in satire in order to satirize the use of dirty words.


141 posted on 04/12/2005 11:26:41 AM PDT by Gava
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To: Gava

I'm not sure what you mean.


142 posted on 04/12/2005 11:28:17 AM PDT by Choose Ye This Day (I'm an "outraged moralist" and I have no good argument. I'm headed to Marie Callender's.)
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To: Gabz
And who's fault is it that children have no fear of adult reprisal for use of foul language? The adults. Earlier in the thread someone mentioned a teenager in a checkoutline using foul language....had I been in the line and heard it the youngster would have heard something from me - and not foul language. Why are adults so afraid of demanding respect?

I agree. These kids should find no safe haven to practice their disgusting habit.
143 posted on 04/12/2005 11:28:46 AM PDT by politicket
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To: piceapungens
all coming from several African-American middle schoolers.

Slightly off-topic, but I find it highly offensive when this term (or any "hyphen-American" descriptor) is used gratuitously, and especially when it is juxtaposed with the term "white".

Those ever-so-naughty Anglo-Saxon words have been with us for millenia and we've survived quite nicely. Maybe it's just coincidence, but it's only been since p.c. has infected society that their cachet as "curses" has been diminished.

144 posted on 04/12/2005 11:28:57 AM PDT by bassmaner (Let's take the word "liberal" back from the commies!!)
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To: politicket

Yawn. Cussing does not make you immoral. Not cussing does not make you moral. So... did you have a point, or were you just trying to pretend to moral superiority?


145 posted on 04/12/2005 11:30:06 AM PDT by orionblamblam ("You're the poster boy for what ID would turn out if it were taught in our schools." VadeRetro)
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To: crv16

I went to a public school here in broken arrow, oklahoma last semseter, and the language was just terrible. I thought that here in the "buckle of the bible belt" half the kids would be christians and there wouldn't be much swearing. Boy was I wrong, I litteraly could not go from one classs to another without hearing profanity, and the teachers would usually ignore it.


146 posted on 04/12/2005 11:30:54 AM PDT by Asphalt (Three can keep a secret if two are dead.)
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To: crv16

Never been to the "local" in the UK after a football (soccer) match?...put sailors on shoreleave to shame.


147 posted on 04/12/2005 11:31:02 AM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
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To: frankiep

> Shouldn't the schools do whatever they can to reinforce good, socially acceptable communication skills?

Yes.

Good luck with that...


148 posted on 04/12/2005 11:31:17 AM PDT by orionblamblam ("You're the poster boy for what ID would turn out if it were taught in our schools." VadeRetro)
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To: Gabz

You can't be suggesting using fear tactics on children. Are you?

There are other ways to discourage language abuse.

For example:

A kid and a "cool" adult mentor become friends. The adult mentor does not use dirty words in regular speech. Therefore, the kid decides that using witty language to get points across is "cool".


149 posted on 04/12/2005 11:32:11 AM PDT by Gava
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To: politicket

>disrespectful moron

And yet, YOU are the one complaining about the words some people use.

How ironic.

> shouldn't you be at work designing satellites

Nope.


150 posted on 04/12/2005 11:32:53 AM PDT by orionblamblam ("You're the poster boy for what ID would turn out if it were taught in our schools." VadeRetro)
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To: crv16

Laura Ingraham was discussing this today.

Will someone do me a favor? just respond to this message with a bump or whatever, want to test responses to my computer thanks


151 posted on 04/12/2005 11:33:21 AM PDT by Burlem
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To: orionblamblam
Yawn. Cussing does not make you immoral. Not cussing does not make you moral. So... did you have a point, or were you just trying to pretend to moral superiority?

I think that most posters can ascertain your limited use of vocabulary and inability to reason through debate.

You never answered my question. Shouldn't you be designing satellites right now instead of posting on FR during a workday? I own my own business so I am not cheating anyone, but you might very well be cheating your employer if you are currently at work.
152 posted on 04/12/2005 11:33:22 AM PDT by politicket
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To: texan75010
Sure, the govornment ALWAYS uses the most efficient and effective way to do things.

It was the politically correct Clinton administration that cracked down on swearing by drill sargeants. That made their job harder, by all accounts.

153 posted on 04/12/2005 11:34:13 AM PDT by Modernman ("I'm in favor of limited government unless it limits what I want government to do."- dirtboy)
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To: crv16

I'll admit I was terrible here. That said, this is nothing knew. The f-bomb was heard from 3rd grade on, and this is in a conservative area.


154 posted on 04/12/2005 11:34:16 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("If Stabenow were any bigger a roadblock, she could halt traffic on all of I-75.")
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To: Choose Ye This Day
Profanity can be acceptable and even useful...in certain contexts...when used rarely (the infrequency adds even more power when an expletive is uttered)...by men (NOT girls or women).

I concur - there is and should be a double standard. Sorry, girls.

155 posted on 04/12/2005 11:34:31 AM PDT by bassmaner (Let's take the word "liberal" back from the commies!!)
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To: orionblamblam

well, you can stand there and say that it's sad that a school was trying to stop rampant swearing and other displays of poor culture, or you can show support for the school in trying to do the right thing. I know what I would be doing if it was the school my kids were going to.


156 posted on 04/12/2005 11:35:06 AM PDT by frankiep
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To: orionblamblam
disrespectful moron And yet, YOU are the one complaining about the words some people use. How ironic.

Do you have any clue regarding the etymology of the word 'moron'? Probably not...
157 posted on 04/12/2005 11:35:10 AM PDT by politicket
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To: Asphalt

Trust me, I hear enough teenagers in this area using foul language that one would think they had all gone through military service lol (only the guys in the military know some other words, too).

My dad learned early on that kids do say the darndest things...once he drove through a pothole which splashed mud on the clean car, and he said 'da****' and immediately my two year old half-brother repeated it. One glaring look from my stepmom cured Dad of that habit in front of the kids :)


158 posted on 04/12/2005 11:36:03 AM PDT by Okies love Dubya 2 (I came looking for you, and now you come looking for me. I thank you." Pope John Paul II)
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To: politicket
I agree. These kids should find no safe haven to practice their disgusting habit.

YAY!! We agree.

all kidding aside - I have said things to these miscreants on numerous occassions. On numerous occassions it occurred on a daily basis - but fortunately we moved away from that neighborhood.

159 posted on 04/12/2005 11:37:11 AM PDT by Gabz (John Paul II, pray for us.)
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To: bassmaner

Need there be a double standard? How about we all start using clean language?


160 posted on 04/12/2005 11:38:08 AM PDT by Asphalt (Three can keep a secret if two are dead.)
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