Bad Words

They teach us not to drink or smoke. Not to play with matches. Not to have underage sex.

And not to swear?

OK, so I have a rather dual opinion on cursing. One is that profanity is completely unnecessary, because the English language (or any tongue I know of) has enough words to go around it, and if you use it in context it's not swearing. The other opinion is that it is mostly harmless (no Hitchhiker's Guide reference intended). Adults, many of them, cuss. And while it may offend some people, that's really due to a state of mind than actual cause of the word. F-bombs don't destroy cities. They can provoke people into doing bad things, but the words themselves don't directly do those things.

I rarely say anything you wouldn't hear on television, such as damn or hell or ass (or bloody!), but I'm not offended by them. Now when it comes to ethnic/racial and homophobic slurs, such as "enner" and "eff-got" (bundle of sticks? Cigarette? Gay person? Think about it.), I really don't like them when not used in context (such as a civil-rights novel or film), but if a child with big ears repeats something, a parent has no right to spank the child (I'm against physical discipline anyway, but that's a different discussion) - I'm talking about the parent whose words taught the child. Alcohol stunts growth and smoking is never good, no matter the age...but words are words. Not to say they don't sometimes hurt, but "clean" words can be equally offensive.

I'm trying to say that people ought not to worry so much about swearing. Also, why are movies rated R for language!? I've been hearing horrible obscenities for a long time, and I only turned seventeen (the age to see R-films without a guardian) a few days ago. I've been hearing those words for much longer. I probably won't learn anything new. (Also I find it ironic that they say "mature content" when it's immature content you shouldn't mimic. "Mature audiences" makes sense.)

Grow up, dammit!

- Lewis