You will like this little story. I was just a toddler and learning to put words together. We had chickens which were supposed to stay in their house or yard. They would get out every now and then. It was my job to clean up their messes on our front porch. One day, the porch was full of people including ministers. A chicken made a mess on the porch. I went and got a pan with a little soap and water in it. When I got back to the porch, I said, “these chickens make a mess and I have to clean up their .hit.” My parents had no idea where I had heard that but I know they must have been mortified at their toddler. We never, ever said words like that. I did have a much older sister and 2 older brothers. I just have to laugh when I think about that. I feel for the others including the ministers. God bless.
Too funny. Never heard either of my parent’s swear. We also didn’t speak about normal body functions or any body parts. When we had calves that were nursing from a bucket which had a nipple on the lower portion, it was called their dinner bucket. My mom did refer to one of our neighbors as a horse’s patoot. Just lots of stuff that was not for discussion any time or any place.
We did have an eight party phone line that everyone listened into but gossiping among adult women was considered okay. Guess I would refer to it as our version of Facebook in the early 1940’s.
My older sister (RIP)used to tell the story where I decided to try out my new word (shi*) at the dinner table. At Thanksgiving with ALL of the relatives!
I recall the time with our kids (6 or 7 the oldest) and talking about how we don’t swear in our family, etc. My one daughter (5???) says something like “Well Dad - you swear sometimes.” (Yes, on rare occasions I have if I bang my knuckles with a tool or something, but not ever in front of them. Or at least I didn’t think I did.)
“Oh? I don’t think so - what word?”
“Um, the “s” word.” (Hmm - that is not my ‘go-to’ word when I hurt myself.)
“Oh? Hmm - I don’t think so - when?”
“When you yell at the dog.”
“Huh!?”
Then my oldest son pipes up.
“Yeah Dad. You call him ‘stupid’ sometimes.”
“Oh - I guess I do once in awhile. I won’t do that anymore.”