Are we living in an age of profanity?
This story is timely, especially if you have read some of the comments recently posted among the members blogs. We can't share opinions without using curse words, or so it would appear. Why is that? Does it make one more in control of getting their point across? I think not, it makes a person thougts and points less intelligent. So the next time your angry over a post or with a person for whatever reason, do so without the four letter profanity.
This is a story about words we can't print in this story. You probably hear these words often, and more than ever before. But even though we can't print them -- we do have our standards -- we can certainly ask: Are we living in an age of profanity?
Seventy-four percent of Americans questioned last week said they hear profanity in public frequently or occasionally, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.
Two-thirds said they think people swear more than they did 20 years ago. And as for the gold standard of foul words, a healthy 64 percent said they use the F-word.
Just ask Joe Cormack. Like any bartender, Cormack, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, hears a lot of talk. He's not really offended by bad language -- he uses it himself. But sometimes, a customer will unleash the F-word so many times Cormack has to jump in. ''Do you have any idea how many times you've just said that?'' he reports saying from time to time. ''I mean, if I take that out of your vocabulary, you've got nothin!' ''
And it's not just at the bar. Or on TV. (Or on the Senate floor, for that matter, where Vice President Dick Cheney used the F-word in a heated argument two years ago.)
'I don't want you talking that way'
Irene Kramer, a grandmother in Scranton, Pa., hears it when passing by the high school near her home. ''What we hear, it's gross,'' said Kramer, 67. ". . . I don't understand why these parents allow it.''
For Kramer, a major culprit is television. ''Do I have to be insulted right there in my own home?'' she asked. And yet she feels it's not a lost cause. ''If people say 'Look, I don't want you talking that way,' if they demand it, it's going to have to change.''
In that battle, Kramer has a willing comrade: Judith Martin, who writes the syndicated Miss Manners column. The problem is that people who are offended aren't speaking up about it, she said.
''Everybody is pretending they aren't shocked,'' Martin said, ''and gradually people won't be shocked. And then those who want to be offensive will find another way.''
Source AP
