Swearing and generation gaps
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89127830
I didn't utter a single "bad" swear word until I was a senior in high school. I never found any reason to, having no real friends outside of a scant few acquaintances. Some of my classmates actually started daring me to give them the middle finger, to say "fuck" or "shit." I think they found me to be a fascinating puzzle.
When I was little, my parents said "shit" and "fuck" around the house, and explained to me that most people didn't like when children said those words, so I just didn't say them, although I knew exactly what they meant in every context. My parents educated me well about that. My father, however, having been a Navy sailor in the late 1950's and early 1960's, made it a point to never swear even as his shipmates threw curse words around like confetti. He had instilled in me the understanding that those words were so offensive to most people that they were often forbidden, especially around kids. Even today, my dad gets easily shocked when he hears me curse. A couple of years ago when Adam and I were home for Thanksgiving, we were all watching Spiderman 2. There was a scene where Mary Jane was on a floor, about to be crushed by falling debris, and I just blurted out at the screen, "Oh would you just move, you stupid fucking cunt!" My father actually jumped a few inches out of his chair and his eyes got really wide. Adam and my mother burst out laughing. It really was funny. My dad finally saw the humor in it; he was just thoroughly stunned that his "baby girl" could curse that powerfully.
When I was a teenager, I was endlessly amused when friends of my parents told me to put my hands over my ears because they were "going to say a bad word" or that they'd say, "Oh, sorry, Joanna, I shouldn't have used that language in front of you." Even when I hit my twenties. I still looked like a teenager. Older adults didn't seem to realize that I was cursing like a sailor under my breath more than they knew.
I didn't utter a single "bad" swear word until I was a senior in high school. I never found any reason to, having no real friends outside of a scant few acquaintances. Some of my classmates actually started daring me to give them the middle finger, to say "fuck" or "shit." I think they found me to be a fascinating puzzle.
When I was little, my parents said "shit" and "fuck" around the house, and explained to me that most people didn't like when children said those words, so I just didn't say them, although I knew exactly what they meant in every context. My parents educated me well about that. My father, however, having been a Navy sailor in the late 1950's and early 1960's, made it a point to never swear even as his shipmates threw curse words around like confetti. He had instilled in me the understanding that those words were so offensive to most people that they were often forbidden, especially around kids. Even today, my dad gets easily shocked when he hears me curse. A couple of years ago when Adam and I were home for Thanksgiving, we were all watching Spiderman 2. There was a scene where Mary Jane was on a floor, about to be crushed by falling debris, and I just blurted out at the screen, "Oh would you just move, you stupid fucking cunt!" My father actually jumped a few inches out of his chair and his eyes got really wide. Adam and my mother burst out laughing. It really was funny. My dad finally saw the humor in it; he was just thoroughly stunned that his "baby girl" could curse that powerfully.
When I was a teenager, I was endlessly amused when friends of my parents told me to put my hands over my ears because they were "going to say a bad word" or that they'd say, "Oh, sorry, Joanna, I shouldn't have used that language in front of you." Even when I hit my twenties. I still looked like a teenager. Older adults didn't seem to realize that I was cursing like a sailor under my breath more than they knew.