More and More, Kids say the Foulest Things (swearing)

The Washington Post ^ | 04/12/04 | Valerie Strauss

[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."

[Gabz]

Possibly a poor choice of words on my part...so I will rephrase my question.

Why are so many adults so fearful of correcting disrespectful behavior in young people?


I grew up with the expectation that I was to show respect to my elders.....that does not seem to be very common in this day and age.

[politicket]

Irrelevant. It's the *current* usage of words that is under debate. As previously mentioned, "dirt."

It's irrelevent in what way? It's actually HIGHLY relevent and your inability to deal with it causes you to cast it aside. Not very impressive on your part...

[Gava]

That's one example where the use of dirty words is beneficial to society.

HERE'S HOW IT SHOULDN'T BE USED:

Real life Snot-faced punk: That ride $%^*@%* @#%#, I want to kill them for wasting my money!!!!!

HERE'S HOW IT'S USED IN CERTAIN ADULT-LEVEL LITERATURE (THE CORRECT WAY):

David Foster Wallace's "Getting away from already pretty much being away from it all" (pgs 100-101):

Author: She has my elbow and is helping me up the hillside's slick grass. "Did you sense something kind of sexual harassmentish going on through that whole sick exercise?"

Native Companion: Oh for $%^#'s sake slug it was fun." (Ignore the nickname)

.......

Author: "So I'm curious, then, what it would have taken back there, say, to have gotten you to lodge some sort of complaint with the Fair's management."

...

Native Companion: "You're so #$%^$%^^ innocent, Slug"


THERE ARE PLENTY OF EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE SATIRICAL USES OF FOUL LANGUAGE BUT YOU GET THE POINT

[Asphalt]

it's probabley built into the software. some people may put good quotes or whatever in if we had longer ones, but there would also be alot of pointless ones that would make scrolling down the page take twice as long.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Don't you know? It is old-fashioned and unrealistic to correct behavior. Children (and adults who act like children) are to be allowed to do or say anything they desire, with no regard for consequences. Correcting their behavior may lead to (gasp!)...a low self-esteem.

< /sarcasm>

[Asphalt]

hehe

[Disambiguator]

What's really fun are the substitutions being used by people who don't want to swear, but still can't avoid using expletives.

"freakin"
"flippin"
"forkin"
"shoot"
"shucks"

I could go on, but you get the idea. Please feel free to add to the list.

[politicket]

No way! Didn't you ever hear of Latin America! When I go there one day, I'll wow'em!

LOL!! I'm sure that you will. I would love to see the looks of puzzlement on their faces!

[Gava]

The problem I have with the "fear of discipline" tactic is that it's only temporary. Once the adults leave the area, the children are back to immoral behavior.

[Dan from Michigan]

The President himself uses it, from what I hear.

"There's Adam Clymer, major league a-hole from the NY Times"

Considering how the media treats him, I think President Bush was being nice.

[2Jedismom]

I always thought that the vulgar language used by young people was just attention seeking behavior. I assume most kids grow out of it, because I rarely hear an adult speaking profanity out in public (unless they're drunk or something.)

I don't have ANY friends that speak that way now, you know, more than the occasional emphatic slightly off-color word. (Nothing that wouldn't be allowed here on FR.)

I did work with a guy who just had an unbelievable potty mouth. He just acted like a big juvenile, even though he was probably in his mid-thirties. Not only did he use the most profane words you could imagine, he would yell at his wife on the phone, talk rudely to the patients and just exuded a general bitter attitude. I certainly didn't stick around him, but I always felt kinda bad for him. What on earth coulda made him that way?

[Modernman]

"There's Adam Clymer, major league a-hole from the NY Times"

If he had called him a jerk, it wouldn't have had the same effect, IMO.

[lupie]

Because having to go in for surgery is nothing to be happy about. Expletives are called for upon hearing such news.

Having had about 7 surgeries, a few of them pretty major, I can say it isn't worth the expletives. They don't make the pain go away, nor the scar tissue less. It doesn't even make you feel better about the news, although many trick themselves to think it does. What does help you accept it is realizing that we can't change things and there is Someone who can and who is more concerned with our heart than the words that come out of our mouth - which reflects what is in the heart.

[Gabz]

Their self esteem is not my problem :)

[Gabz]

That would not be a problem if the proper use of discipline was employed in the first place.

[texan75010]

From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks..... I would say that this is more a reflection of one's heart than speech.

I pity those who feel the need to justify the use unwholesome talk. You sound like a democrat trying to justify why we need another round of tax increases. The reasoning is correct in your own mind but reflects a shortsightedness that is glaring to all save those of your ilk.

[Dan from Michigan]

I think it gained him votes actually. It put a human element to the normal "politispeak".

[NavyCanDo]

CHILREN SEE --- CHILDREN DO

[Darksheare]

You do not understand discipline then.

[durasell]

Oderint dum metuant!

The theme that keeps cropping up in this discussion of profanity is: Hey, it's somebody else's fault that our kids swear like drunken sailors!

However, the theme should be: It's OUR responsibility that OUR kids don't swear like drunken sailors.

As long as parents treat their kids' behavior like a car wreck that wasn't their fault, the worse kids will get. My attitude toward such parents is: Hey, you made'em, you train'em.