i have to say, sometimes swearing is so ridiculous it's downright
humorous. one is particularly aware of this as a Christian. countless
times people have apologized to me for swearing in my presence, as
though i'm so holy that i can't be in the presence of such talk or i'll
melt. at the same time, this is usually a relief, because it's
difficult to communicate when every other word contributes nothing to
the conversation except to make me well aware that the person i'm
talking to has a vocabulary less than that of a three-year-old.
then there's the other side of the coin - people who swear around me purposefully because i'm
a Christian. somehow, one of the guys on my highschool bus in Northern
Ontario learned that i had never used profanity, and promptly felt
called to dedicate his life to causing me to curse. "just once, come
on," he'd say. i could do nothing but smile. there was absolutely no
reason that i could think of why i would want to do it merely because
he told me to, and yet he kept at it as though he had some irrefutable
case that one day i'd see the light and find freedom for my soul in
letting the f-bomb soar.
then there's my friend Aaron, from
highschool in Southern Ontario. knowing that I was a "churchie," he
would string together the most creative combination of profanities I
had ever heard, looking me straight in the face as he did. i've got to
tell you, that was hilarious.
i find it fascinating that
non-Christians will recognize profanity as something that is wrong,
despite the fact that we Christians often can't entirely put our finger
on why it's wrong even for us. there's the general principle of the
matter, found in the Bible under such ideas as thinking about what's
pure, lovely, etc., or Paul's exhortation to avoid coarse joking and
vain words, and we know that using the Lord's name in vain is bad.
however, where is the line drawn between profanity and legitimate word
usage? this is a question that hits close to home for me, since i'm a
specialized expert linguistic in using 'poop' in a creative variety of
ways (e.g. poo, poop, poopoo) in order to get accross an insulting
point, or 'crap' on occassion when something goes awry. is there really
any difference between this and, well, other words that could be
substituted?
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8 comments:
Well Keith you know I don't tend to employ certain four-letter words in my vocabulary, however...
The whole concept of "swear words" is a modern and pretty silly invention. I'm quite positive that when the scriptures speak of guarding our tongues and avoiding vain speech, it's actually more concerned with the content of our messages, not whether or not we transgress into a small set of taboo phrases. You don't see any list of "off-limits" words in the ancient greek and hebrew cultures, mainly because the greeks and hebrews would have considered such a concept stupid. And in fact our english translations of the bible "sanitize" quite a bit of the language; Paul, at times, used some very strong and very "blue-collar" phrases, particularly in Galatians and at least once in Philippians. When he said he counts all his worldy accomplishments as "rubbish"? He didn't mean rubbish.
I don't personally run around swearing because I understand how modern society views those words, and it offends some people, and generally wouldn't be a good testimony. But at the same time hearing those words doesn't bother me, nor do I scold people who use them, nor do I--and this is where people might think less of me--think they make any given song or movie "bad to watch/listen to". (It should be noted that my preferred style of music doesn't tend to involve a lot of swearing anyway.) I consider it a modern and silly cultural standard, the whole idea that a person's speech can be pure and holy as long as it avoids a half-dozen off-limits words is dumb. Really dumb.
Why? Why is it necessary to limit ourselves to a foolishly crude vocabulary when the English language is such an immense pool of expression? Why is it necessary, not only to make ourselves look less intelligent than we actually are, but also to offend others who may not care to immerse themselves in harsh 4-letter words? It may be a "silly cultural standard", but what's wrong with using "pure" speech to open yet another window whereby people may see into our lives and the differences Christ has made?
^^ That's my dear sister, the arts student. :)
Being a "potty mouth" back in elementary school probably makes me look at swearing a little differently now that I don't really do it anymore. Firstly, I did it because it made me feel like I was powerful and rebellious. Funny how just saying words can do that when you're thirteen. Don Miller talks about how cuss words rolled off his tongue when he was twelve and how it made him feel cool and older. I guess swearing can be bad if it's a way to rail against the life God wants for you. I guess it depends on the intent behind saying them.
I would have to agree with Jeremy, that the words are foolish and the fact that we get offended and sensitized to them is a recent cultural thing. But I have also been on the outside watching Christians and the not swearing thing definetely did stand out. It did make me question why they chose not to. And never once did I get a "because the Bible says not to" answer. It was usually because they wanted to glorify God with their speech. And for the most part they did. The other reason i've come across most often was that they knew others found the words offensive or degrading and so they refrained from using them.
I guess I'm a bit of a fence sitter on this issue. I laugh when Derek starts swearing at the computer in lab because Yahoo dealt him garbage euchre cards or his partner can't play. Or when his sentences are punctuated by one profanity or another. But I do find it takes away from conversations. Anytime someone uses "filler" words I get distracted by them and miss out on the message the person is trying to convey.
I like Darcie's comment about "filler" words. The vast majority or cuss-words are used regularly as "fillers". I mean, the f-word is the most versatile word in the English language. It can function as an adjective, noun, adverb, verb, etc. But is there perhaps a time and place where the use of such words CAN be appropriate? (i.e. not as "fillers")
Consider David's prayers in the Psalms. Some of them are very violent and angry. Is it possible that he used the cuss words of his day in his prayer? I don't see why it isn't at least possible. I do believe God desires us to be honest and real with Him, and if the only way we feel we can express ourselves to Him is through a certain "taboo" (by human standards anyway) word, then is there anything inherently wrong in that?
More food for thought on the topic.
Regarding "filler" words:
Overuse of any filler word certainly speaks poorly of the person's vocabulary and ability to express themselves. But I don't see much difference between someone who swears every ten seconds, or a ditzy teenage girl whose every fourth word is "like". It isn't the profanity that's their problem, it's the fact that they don't know how to speak properly.
I'm finding all of comments and the blogs about language use quite fascinating. I'd always thought the Dow kids didn't swear, was because we come from 'good' British stock that take pride in our use of the English language. (not completely true - but a plausible reason) but, commenting on Jeremy's and Kirsten's comments: I've often been impressed by those with good use of the language who can say so much with just a few concise, well-chosen words. You hit the nail on the head with your comparison to the 'like' word. Let's take advantage of all the incredibly descriptive words we have at our disposal - the dictionary makes fascinating reading - when you can't get to sleep. Isn't language a wonderful invention, and minds to think through just the right thing to say at the right time, to bless others, and honour God.
You mentioned using the word crap. This has always perplexed me. Why is it that Christians can say "crap" but not "s.h.i.t."
A BRIEF HISTORY OF WORDS:
CRAP - John Crapper invented the porta pottie or the toilet or something like that. And so poop became known as crap, makes sense. It is rather unfortunate for him but it still makes sense.
S.H.I.T. - Cow droppings used to be shipped on the sea. The poop was dried out and cubed. It was then shipped in the bottum of the ship. In those days the ships did not have windows on the lower deck. Often the poop would become moist and methane gas was released. If a person was to go into the bottum of the ship with a lantern a fire would start and some explosions were even reported. Because of this problem the letters S.H.I.T. were written on the outside of manure boxes. S-ship, H- high, I- in, T- Transit. S.H.I.T actually makes a alot more sense than crap.
So whats the deal?
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