Watch out. Lifebuoy causes blindness.
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 ...
Kids don't learn curses from adults. Kids learn them from other, older kids. Kids learn one set of words to use at home, and one set to use around their friends.
Now, parents could do more to choose their kids friends but that doesn't work too well if they go to school or spend hours hanging around the mall.
You'll probably laugh, but I didn't know what the "f" word actually was until I was 14 and read it in a book, because I hung out mostly with other homeschooled kids, there was always a mom around, and that kind of language brought swift punishment. Teachers aren't allowed to lather young tongues, so they can't control the language kids use in the halls.
The children are learning these words somewhere and it sure isn't in the classroom from adults, it's from the other kids - but where are they learning it from?
> I use the word "Clinton" instead of something more vulgar.
Then you've made "Clinton" into a vulgar word (ignoring for the moment that Clinton did that before you). Rather than removing vulgarity from the vocabulary, you're trying to *add* to it.
> The best solution is to not have to utter anything out of the ordinary
Ucccchhh. How boring would THAT be? "Yay! Nothing worthy of either positive or negative emotion response occured today!"
I'm only 38, and when I was a kid, saying the B word earned me a whipping. My mother still looks at me hard when I say "Butt."
> If every other word out of someone's mouth is a swear word, it is an indication that that person does not know how to communicate effectively.
Wholly agreed. But it's not the swear words at fault here, but whatever culture the little darling is immersed in.
One of my very frist remarks on this thread was similar to yurs "Mouth meet soap"
I'm such a stick-in-the mud that I believe it is proper and respectful to use "thee" and "thine" and "thou" when addressing God in prayer.
> you know what they say about those with limited vocabularies...
What? That they don't go on to have careers in aerospace engineering?
Not to bring up the dreaded subject of "class in America," but it's a sign of social standing.
It ain't just the schools, crv16. I have been in the checkout line at the supermarket and listened as two well dressed middle class, middle aged women chatted away; F this and F that and F him. I'm no homebody and far from a niave innocent, but come on!
Cussing, like complaining, is seldom a sign of intelligence.
At my daughter's 8th birthday party, about 16 girls were seated along a huge table, painting crafts. While I was helping the girls at one end of the table, my husband was down at the other end. After the party, he told me that one of the little girls uttered the f-word in a normal tone, after spilling a bit of paint on her artwork. My husband said that when he looked over to where the word came from, all the girls around her were staring at her with that, "I cannot believe you just said that/you are going to get into big trouble" look. My husband then scooted over next to her, made her look into his eyes, and he firmly told her that her choice of words was unacceptable. And, if she used that word again at the party, he would call her mother to come and get her.
This child is the daughter of (this I found out later that evening) a very well-known surgeon, who was on trial in our area after being accused of raping several of his patients. His wife has stood by him, although with a mouth like the one on their eight year old, it's easy for the mind to wander and wonder what that home has been like during the midst of their legal proceedings.
Sad and disgusting.
> I believe it is proper and respectful to use "thee" and "thine" and "thou" when addressing God
And what, praytell, is wrong with "Yo!" or "Wassup?"
Considering the language on your profile, I am not surprised at your take on profanity. Does your mother know you talk like that?
In my experience, kids usually learn or first hear cuss words on TV or in movies (viewed at home), then they "try them out" with their friends at school or hanging out.
There's nothing more proper or respectful about using those words as opposed to their modern counterparts. Those are just archaic versions of modern words.
Watch out. Lifebuoy causes blindness.
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