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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: sharktrager
Without fowl language, can I assume your family never ate fried chicken?

LOLOL!!Ok.....got it finally!!.....ate lots of fried chicken and never once had any " FOUL" language....there, is that better?? *grin*

261 posted on 04/12/2005 3:46:51 PM PDT by pollywog (Psalm 121;1 I Lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help.)
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To: iconoclast

scratch the "in"


262 posted on 04/12/2005 3:59:31 PM PDT by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: flying Elvis
I remember watching Star Trek: Generations when my then 4 year old repeated Data saying, "Oh sh--" I told him we do not say that and not to repeat it again or I would wash his mouth with soap. A minute later he said it again. As I dragged him to the bathroom he kept saying, "Not again." It was the first time it had ever happened to him.
He is now 10 and has not sworn to this day. I am the one with the potty mouth. I say, "flippin'" (that's the exact word). Of course, my 4 year old keeps telling me how he heard a neighbor boy say "shut up".
263 posted on 04/12/2005 4:15:57 PM PDT by HungarianGypsy (Walk Softly, For a Dream is Born)
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To: Choose Ye This Day

> Cussing does not make you immoral.... It is often a symptom of an already existing lack of or laxness of morals.

I would argue that an intentional lack of cussing denotes considerable immorality. Cussing is about the best way possible to express honest emotions; and hiding ones emotions is a form of dishonesty. Habitual dishonesty is generally accepted as immoral.

I do not trust anyone who is unwilling to express their true feelings.


264 posted on 04/12/2005 4:25:13 PM 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: orionblamblam
"Tell me again how dirty words hurt us as a society."

In my case it hurts not at all. Quite the contrary.
Hearing those words used habitually immediately gives me useful guidelines in which people I will choose to not associate myself with in the future.

265 posted on 04/12/2005 4:26:01 PM PDT by Stormcrow ("It's not that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't so.")
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To: orionblamblam

Cursing doesn't express true feelings since every curse and combination of curses out there is just another cliche. If your true feelings reside in the common language of vulgarity, then those feelings aren't worth expressing. Also, cursing isn't used so much to express true feelings today, it's used as punctuation (exclamation points, primarily) and lacks any real meaning.


266 posted on 04/12/2005 4:28:32 PM PDT by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: MamaB

> You must not have had a good education if you use that kind of language.

That's funny.

> It is never permissable. I

Incorrect.

> I can truthfully say that I have never heard my mother use words like that

My condolensces on such a limtted, and limiting, vocabulary.

> There are plenty of words to use in place of those.

Tell me: if you simply replace a "dirty" word with a non-dirty word in the same context, aren't you dirtying up the non-dirty word? What's worse... the actual sound of the word, or the feeling it expresses?

> My teacher use to say it just shows your IQ

Your teacher was, of course, wrong. Unless you, like the Left, believe that Bush is a moron.


267 posted on 04/12/2005 4:28:55 PM 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: Protagoras

Wrong again.


268 posted on 04/12/2005 4:29:41 PM 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: beezdotcom

> Would you rather JimRob just open the floodgates wide and put no limits on the language used in the forum? If not, why not?

This is a private enterprise. JimRob can thus do as he likes. If this was a website paid for by tax dollars, you can bet your keister I'd demand that normal speech be allowed.


269 posted on 04/12/2005 4:30:57 PM 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: durasell

> If your true feelings reside in the common language of vulgarity, then those feelings aren't worth expressing.

Wrong. A simple four-letter word can express frustration better than anything else out there.

Trust me, I'm an engineer... I know from frustration.


270 posted on 04/12/2005 4:33:18 PM 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: orionblamblam

Okay, so we have frustration being adequately expressed by four letter words -- how about friendship, love, admiration, joy, etc. etc? Are they best expressed in four lette words as well?


271 posted on 04/12/2005 4:35:35 PM PDT by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: Choose Ye This Day

>>Those who demand respect do not deserve it.

> So, God does not deserve respect?

*Anyone* who demands respect does not deserve it. Respect is earned, not given. Demanding respect is a mark of immaturity every bit as much as an inability to speak a sentence without using a dirty word.


272 posted on 04/12/2005 4:36:07 PM 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

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


Possibly because those adults are Baby Boomers... and they knew deep down that the sixties and seventies are their fault, and that they are thus not deserving of respect. How can anyone respect a generation that gave us hippies, disco and Jimmy Carter????


273 posted on 04/12/2005 4:37:46 PM 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: orionblamblam
This is a private enterprise. JimRob can thus do as he likes. If this was a website paid for by tax dollars, you can bet your keister I'd demand that normal speech be allowed.

Well, that's not exactly the question I asked - but you've already answered my other questions by your insistence that cussing is "normal speech". For courteous people, it's not.
274 posted on 04/12/2005 4:37:53 PM PDT by beezdotcom (I'm usually either right or wrong...)
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To: politicket

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

>It's irrelevent in what way?

Let me type slower. Maybe it will help you:

It's--- the--- *current*--- usage--- of--- words--- that--- is--- under--- debate.


275 posted on 04/12/2005 4:38:57 PM 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: lupie

> 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,

My condolensces. Proper usage of expletives has always been a massive stress reliever for *me*. Pity that outlet seems unavailable to you.


276 posted on 04/12/2005 4:40:26 PM 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: beezdotcom

> your insistence that cussing is "normal speech". For courteous people, it's not.

How odd. I've been surrounded by courteous people all my life who cuss up a blue streak on occaision. Perhaps in your mind "courteous" and "stiff" are the same.


277 posted on 04/12/2005 4:43:47 PM 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: durasell; orionblamblam
how about friendship, love, admiration, joy, etc. etc? /i>

Hey, you ARE talking to an engineer, now...

278 posted on 04/12/2005 4:43:51 PM PDT by beezdotcom (I'm usually either right or wrong...)
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To: orionblamblam
Please - that is utter nonsense. Both my husband and I are baby boomers. We grew up in the 60s and 70s we didn't give anyone hippies, disco, or Carter. Little old ladies did not give us that either.

I'm no puritanical prude, I can swear like a sailor as well as anyone - however there is a time and place for it. A checkout line in the supermarket or on public transportation or in front of children are not among the times or places.

279 posted on 04/12/2005 4:45:29 PM PDT by Gabz (John Paul II, pray for us.)
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To: orionblamblam
How odd. I've been surrounded by courteous people all my life who cuss up a blue streak on occaision.

On OCCASION. I also cuss ON OCCASION. And I usually apologize. You argue that NOT cussing HIDES your true feelings - I argue that it DISPLAYS self-control, which a useful capability in ANY society.

Or do you think it's impossible to communicate in a controlled fashion?
280 posted on 04/12/2005 4:46:53 PM PDT by beezdotcom (I'm usually either right or wrong...)
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