"…Compulsive vulgarity — talking dreck all the time — gives evidence of a troubled view of life and spreads it. Nasty language is a black-magic wand. When you touch it to a person, place or thing, you perform an act of mild (and sometimes not so mild) denigration. When you use everyone's favorite vulgar word to denote the sexual act, you reduce the act. You gut the spirit life out of it. With profanity, you denigrate what you feel is overvalued. You try to cut it down to size. Granted, some things do need to be cut down. Some people could use a dose of vulgar chastening.
But not everyone and not everything and (most important) not all the time. A sprinkle of salt gives your dinner savor; a handful kills it. When you curse compulsively you produce a view of the world that's smaller and meaner…"
I ?*!-% agree.
ReplyDeleteI think there are cases where a swear word can be used in a way that does not "gut the spirit of life". If anything, I think swear words have been turned into filler words in many conversational contexts today. Obviously, there are many cases in which they are used in a hateful or destructive manner. But, as it happens, some of the best people I know swear regularly. I would say that I don't think of them any less for it. If a friend of mine makes spaghetti, and I find it to be really good, I would probably say something along the lines of "Dude, this spaghetti is the s**t!" I don't quite see how the inclusion of that word would reduce the value of the kind remark, but maybe that's just me. Pardon my French.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that foul language holds weight in conversation is interesting to me, not because of the societal expectation, but the impact of the conversation on the people in it. I personally see vulgarity as something akin to "the great unifier". We all get mad, get excited, or flat out reject the notions of happiness at times. This enormous strain can be quelled emphatically with a loud "F#!@" or with a quiet "S.O.B". Why should that make a conversation unsavory? Young people curse more because we do not really care to filter ourselves, why should we? If we want to be emotional and expressive, then the product should reflect it. Of course, there are instances where the language is tasteless, (Professional settings, press releases, etc.), understandably so when the situation requires impersonality. Once a level of personal interaction is established and kinship is formed, I find that the rough language is just a glimpse into the soul of the person opposite of you. In short, if you are in a place with people you care about, who gives a S%^#?
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