Today's Children Are Officially Potty Mouths 449
tetrahedrassface writes "When the Sociolinguistics Symposium met earlier this month swearing scholar Timothy Jay revealed that an increase in child swearing is directly related to an increase in adult swearing. It seems that vulgarity is increasing as pop culture continues to popularize vulgarities. The blame lies with media, public figures, politicians, but mostly ourselves. From the article: 'Children as young as two are now dropping f-bombs, with researchers reporting that more kids are using profanity — and at earlier ages — than has been recorded in at least three decades.'"
Anecdote (Score:5, Interesting)
My nephew just turned 4 a little while back. Sadly, he has a speech impediment that has made him difficult, if not impossible, to understand until very recently. Over over the past 6 months or so his speech has improved considerable and we finally know... that the kid swears like a sailor, he's probably been swearing for years and no one ever knew it. Seriously, we're all in the kitchen and we hear "Holy shit!" come out of the living room, go in to see what's going on and he's watching Sesame Street. Obviously we tried and failed to not laugh, so I can't imagine we helped the situation any.
Is this really a problem? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know how others feel, but I've never felt some sort of stigma against using swear words. The only time I refrain is when it's socially unacceptable (i.e. at a funeral) because then other people would potentially become upset towards me. At my funeral though? I'm going to encourage it. From the grave.
Re:Pretty sad. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Oblig. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Oblig. (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, everyone uses "curse words", just some people use more politically acceptable ones. So I don't think that's the entire answer.
I never used to "swear", though I certainly always had words I'd use if I hurt myself or was describing a negative situation etc. Since I'm no longer religious I've started drifting to using more conventional swear words - mostly when nobody else is around, in fact, so it's not to try and shock anyone. I still wouldn't swear in front of my family because they would find it heavily offensive. The most taboo of current swear words do seem to just roll off the tongue in a nice stress relieving way. Maybe it's purely a psychological thing like you say, but I think many current swear words have gotten to be where they are today just because they are fun to say, whether socially acceptable or not.
fuck fuck fuck fuck penis fuckity-fuck-fuck (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Oblig. (Score:1, Interesting)
This whole article is a very American way of thinking. Cursing in most cultures is at worst considered a sign of low class. No one shits themselves over it. I don't understand why some people here go so ape-shit over nothing more than words. It's the same thing with sex. Damn those Puritans and their ideology.
Language (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Oblig. (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps for some people you could be right. However, I used to argue with people that there was no benefit to using actual swear words. That one could simply replace them with euphemisms, nonsense words, or just screaming Kahn. Then one would never need to worry about accidentally dropping a swear word during a job interview, or around someone's kids, either of which could have serious social and/or professional repercussions.
However, every time I made that point, it was argued that it was the very edginess of the words that made them cathartic. It's not that they're being said to shock people, but just the knowledge that they're considered somewhat less than polite is what gives them their effect. With enough people giving me the same argument, I was eventually forced to admit there was something to it.
That being the case, for those people at least my initial claim stands. They depend on the very people they say they despise to get the benefits of the words they're defending. Or they were just making stuff up because they didn't like admitting there was no real logical reason for their use of swear words.
Re:Oblig. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm pretty sure I have plenty of fun. Originally, I didn't cuss because of the sin and parental threat of punishment. After a while, I took it as a badge of honor. But now, I see it as mostly an aspect of self-control.
I know myself quite well and know that I have an addictive personality. In some areas of my life, I have to reign myself in or it can get out of control (I'm addicted to the Internet....but I'm not going to "fix" that). With my addictive personality, I know that were I to begin consuming alcohol, it would go beyond social drinking.....so I don't drink. I've never smoked. I've never done drugs (other than medicine). I don't gamble. I don't cuss. It isn't that I feel like I'll be doomed if I do, but I want to retain control over myself and my actions.
Sure, it would be easy to use many of the words that have become prevelent in our entertainment (even on network TV you'll find many of them) to express emotion (because that's really how they are used, not to describe the thing the word actually represents). But instead, I choose to express that emotion with a sigh or a grunt or whatever other vocalization expresses the emotion but doesn't use any "taboo" words.
As to my fun....well, I think I live a pretty happy life and for the most part enjoy everything I do. And I don't feel like I'm missing out by limiting my vocabulary in this one area.
Re:Who the fuck cares? (Score:4, Interesting)
It IS the meaning behind the words that matters and that's what's been diluted in "the words" by overuse. So much that we don't even separate swears curses and vulgarities by category anymore.
At one time, "damn you" LITERALLY meant "I sincerely hope that God Almighty recognizes your irredeemable unworthiness and condemns you to burn in Hell for all eternity" where it was understood that both parties believed there was such a place and that a soul could be sent there to scream in agony literally forever. That would be a curse. No two year old even has enough understanding of things to muster the level of contempt for another required to utter that in sincerity.
The vulgarities were a lesser form of contempt. By using one, you were implying that the person you were speaking to was unworthy of any better. However, overuse might lead others to conclude that you yourself HAD no better and were a low person yourself. That's why parents were so adamant about their children not using vulgarities.
Obscenities were more of the nature of the vulgarities.
The fact that we're far more likely to hear "damn you" on television than "fuck you" is strong evidence that we've forgotten how to properly curse at all.
Re:Who the fuck cares? (Score:3, Interesting)
I recall Joe Bob Briggs telling that anecdote while hosting Planet of the Apes on TNT's Monster Vision. Which, immediately after the commercial break, TNT, in their fine understanding of irony, ran the censored version that strips away all the pathos of the scene.