On 5/21/2015 3:14 PM, J Burns wrote:
On 5/21/15 2:11 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Coupled with that is the ability to speak and not use curse words. My
parents have never heard me use the F word, but today, young people use
it in most every sentence. Women too. Yeah, it is just a word, but I
still think it uncouth in normal conversation. A well placed curse is
good punctuation, but should ber used on rare occasions whee it has real
meaning.

When I was 5 or 6, a couple of times I mentioned sweating to my father.
He snapped back, "Perspire! Animals sweat! People perspire!"

I don't know what animals except horses, sweat. There had been horses
on the streets when he'd been my age. I guess calling a person sweaty
was like calling the person a horse.

Profane words show disrespect for the listener. It's a matter of
consensus, which depends on time and place. In the US, "ass" is no
longer profane. The current UK list isn't quite the same as the US list.
Synonyms for profanity are perfectly acceptable.

When my niece was growing up, her parents, who considered themselves
quite educated, used profanity on her and on each other in her presence.
That disgusted me. It amounted to saying, "I win because I disrespect
you." It certainly wasn't necessary to use profanity on her. In case of
an important difference of opinion about what she should or shouldn't
do, I could win by my endless enthusiasm for arguing, like Sergeant
Carter convincing Gomer Pyle.

Once when she was 12, I found her watching TV more than an hour after
her bedtime because her parents weren't paying attention. I reminded
her. She replied with the F word. I'd never heard her use profanity
before. I didn't make an issue of it. She'd have to decide whether to
follow her parents' example. I never again heard her use profanity.

Profanity isn't profane in the Marines because voicing disrespect isn't
offensive. A friend was a drill instructor at Parris Island during his
12 years in the Marines. He and other drill instructors called their
gunnery sergeant the Deacon because he never used profanity. They were
afraid of him because he didn't need profanity to make a guy feel like
two cents if he'd done something wrong.

I like that. The guy was smart.

--
rebel