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 Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette |
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We say the darnedest things
In all the talk about the coarsening of the culture, foul language is center-stage. It's everywhere. Except in the Post-Gazette, of course. At any rate, Jenny Deam had an un********believable piece on the subject in the Denver Post. "Swearing has been around since language was invented," she wrote, "probably when the first linguist dropped a heavy rock on his toe. What has changed is the lowered shock value of not only the occasional cuss word, but many of the 'big seven' comedian George Carlin once declared couldn't be said on the air."
That was 35 years ago, by the way, and "The Sopranos" pretty well took care of all seven words in the first two episodes, as far as television is concerned. For all we know, Howard Stern has had a similar impact on radio. But hardly any of the big seven appear in a family newspaper, or a singles newspaper, for that matter. So you'll have to check the Internet to brush up on what they are.
By the numbers
Seventy-four percent of Americans said they hear profanity in public either frequently or occasionally, according to a year-old Associated Press-Ipsos poll. And 67 percent said they were offended by it. Meanwhile, an almost equal number (64 percent) said they use the F-word anywhere from several times a day to a few times a year. Which would seem to indicate that people would rather say bad words than hear them.
Cursers in the news
Last summer, Elizabeth Venable, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside, was arrested for disorderly conduct at John Wayne Airport after she refused to stop using the f-word around small children. The charges eventually were dropped, but this is America, so the perp became the victim. Ms. Venable filed a lawsuit alleging infringement of her free speech.
In March, a Coloradan named Christopher Bass made a tactical error in his drug case. He called the judge a "dirty son of a b*******." Mr. Bass, now serving 33 months for exercising his freedom of speech, admitted his word choice was bad, but said he didn't know what else to say.
And, really, who of us hasn't been at a loss for words?
Why we curse
Most people in the AP survey thought language had gotten worse over the previous 20 years. Not so, says Timothy Jay, a psychologist and author of two books on trashy talking, including "Why We Curse." His research shows that the use of obscenity and profanity has remained steady. He swears that swearing is not really harmful; it's a basic human impulse. "This language fulfills emotional needs on two levels: my need, as a speaker, to cope with some emotion, like fear or surprise, and it conveys that feeling very effectively to someone else."
Darn tootin'.
But there's a time and a place, he told beliefnet.com, a Web site devoted to religion and spirituality: "If you're going to use this language, be mindful of where you are. Be prepared to take responsibility for it. This really starts with the family."
Here's where Imus comes in
Stick and stones may break our bones, but it's the names and the emotion behind the words that hurt us. Dr. Jay says the old curses carry less sting now than the current crop of put-downs, such as racial slurs. In the post-9/11 era, he says, race, ethnicity and religion, rather than sexuality and bodily functions, are the source of today's smears, revealing the most explosive points of social tension. Words such as "Islamofascist," "crusader," "Zionist," and "fundamentalist" are among the current unkindest cuts, he says, and those are just the printable ones.
On the other hand ...
James O'Connor, author of "Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How To Curb Your Cursing," told The Denver Post that words do matter: "As long as a relatively large segment of society finds profanity offensive, we have to take that into consideration." Indiscriminate use of profanity signals a loss of civility. In our zeal for free speech we forget -- or don't care -- about those within earshot.
Got that Elizabeth Venable, Ph.D. candidate?
