American Language

American English is a wonderfully expressive language, very colorful, and cursing, in the Land, used to be something of an art form. Let me first say that I have nothing against profanity when used appropriately, which usually means sparingly.

I have known many a person who could let out long strings of hilariously profane words when the situation was appropriate. I myself was once something of a master at this. When I hammered my finger to the edge of a PVC pipe with a 5 pound hammer I let fly with a string that should have been recorded to preserve its colorful brilliance, but, I did not do so at every occasion. When used rarely, such language is effective. Overuse makes it boring.

I certainly can't speak for girls, but when I was young, cursing was something of a right of passage. The first time you let out with a swear word around your Dad and he let it pass without comment, you knew you were growing up. Even more important was the first time you were allowed to continue sitting around the grown up men when the jokes got racy (do folks still even use that word?). Now,7 year olds use language in public that would have gotten me slapped and sent too my room and they probably know more about sex than I did when I was 14, and parents seem alright with this. I have ambivalent feelings. It is not a good idea to keep kids in the dark about such matters and hearing a 7 year old let loose with a curse word should not be cause for panic, but I still think that kids should be eased into adulthood. Now, it seems that they are exposed to everything at the earliest possible age and while I am not sure that this is harmful, I do believe that it costs kids in that they cannot pass through the stages of growth in an orderly manner. Then again, I don't have kids, so maybe I am just being stuffy and overly conservative.

But I do know that it is too easy to slip into frequent obscenity and when that language is over used it is boring and it robs the language of some of its beauty. English is a fine, expressive language and to use only a few words over and over is a shame. By the way, this goes for other over used words as well. Please learn to use words other than 'awesome,' 'dude,' 'bro,' and 'bitch.' Read some and learn how the language should be used. Parents, your kids learn how to speak from you more that friends or school so, tone down the cursing, use a variety of word, don't always speak in slang, and let your kids see you read every now and then. You don't have to be prudish and you don't have to sound like an English professor, but you would do your children a great favor by showing them how to use decent, expressive, and pleasant language. At the same time, if you whack your hand with a hammer and let the curses fly, you're excused.