Foul language is the language of foul people

Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils maslivend@sbcglobal.net

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about hearing a young man whom I’d watched grow up say the F-word, and you may be thinking, it was not of my concern. Get over it! In your mind, that probably is legitimate; if so, then, we are of two different worlds.

Having studied communication, and loving just the very word itself, I am pretty close to a communication nut. I absolutely love words! To go a whole day without speaking or writing or reading would be a terrible punishment for me. I lose interest very quickly in a person with but a handful of words. It’s a punishment, much like what a fashionista would suffer in a jail cell.

So, why is it still bothering me? Mind you, he wasn’t talking to me, and I’m sure he never meant for me to hear him. However, sound carries, perhaps several hundred feet, depending on the volume, location, pitch, etc., and so, to keep it in its place, the solution is to “harness the tongue.”

Growing up, we didn’t hear a bunch of “bad words,” as we called them. Daddy used “dadgummit,” “dat-gum,” and “doggone,” with an occasional “foot,” or “aw, shoot,” when he was angry or frustrated.

My stepmother was different. When Daddy got on her last nerve, she’d wag her head from side to side, lock him in her sights, face red, and shoot her favorites, “got-durnit all,” “sh_t,” “as_,” etc., sending Daddy out the back door and around the house toward the barn. I don’t know what he said then. Only the mules knew for sure, and you know how stubborn mules are – I got compared to them enough!

In addition, there was no “cussing” on the radio, and we didn’t hear Matt Dillon utter a single ugly word when we went down the road to watch the neighbors’ TV, and only the band instructor let fly “damn” or “hell” when someone played a wrong note for the fifth time! Ours wasn’t a “cussing environment.”

Today is different. We hear so much. Even people from whom you’d expect better, seem to have no stopper, no filter, no floodgate. Vulgarities stream forth like an ever-flowing stream...of putrid water.

Why? We live in less gentle times with less regard for others. Others are not “fellow beings.” They’re adversaries, even before we know their names. Plus, we don’t “owe nobody nothing!” We each count ourselves as above the other. So, to hold that status, we use language to “put them down,” thus rising, we think… And for heaven’s sake, don’t let another suck up our space on the highway, or accidently come too close on the sidewalk. We are obligated to move that person to another level!

Do I use “wrong color” language? Sometimes, but it’s usually directed at me, especially when I’ve not done something, or done something dumb. It’s a sort of self-chastisement. No matter how perturbed I get, there are some words, however, that are not allowed to walk my lips!

Your language defines you. Foul language is the language of foul people, who only have what others have discarded. The gutter is their thesaurus. The stench is a turnoff, attracting only maggot minions.

Remember: Your mouth defines who you are. “It is what comes out of the mouth that makes one unclean.”

Story Posted:10/14/2017