F**k, and cursing in general

With Nixon, it was "expletive deleted." Most people knew what the expletives were, but they weren't spoken out loud. With Fatfuck, it's all out in the open.

 

I think there should be some leniency there for the emotion of the moment. If that'd happened in many cities — Philly, New York, Chicago — given the context, people would've been praising him.

 

I enjoy swearing. And applaud creative swearing (hat tip to Veep, the greatest swearing show of all time).

I swear here and often in my real life. But I also know when not to. Obviously never around kids or people I don’t know (or people I know who are offended by it).

Some newsrooms I’ve worked in have been the Wild West and (almost) anything was OK. Other newsrooms I’ve never used swear words outloud.

So, it’s really situational for me. Though, like George Carlin preached, they’re just words.

 

One reason I loved Carlin was the way he spoke about our use of language, including just how stupid it is to see some words as bad. Growing up I could get away with anything but the C-word. My parents mostly didn't care if I used profanity, but my mother wouldn't tolerate that, which is probably why I have trouble bringing myself to use it. Aside from that and anything racial or ethnic, I curse quite a bit.

That said, I don't do it at work. I pride myself on being able to turn it off completely. There are places and situations where it is important to speak like a professional. That includes not using profanity.

 

Work is where it's best. Especially in a fuckin' newsroom when some asshole shits the bed on deadline.

 

We have a group who every Friday climes on an overpass, busts out the flags and the F*** Biden signs. Out there for all to see. I normally couldn’t give less of a shit but I can’t imagine families with little ones.

Then again, there is so much swearing in my middle school class, I’ve given up. I’ll even drop a word heart and there just to listen to the kiddos with the worst sailor mouths suddenly have virgin ears.

 

I do.

 

Dick Cheney's quote after he cursed out Leahy was pretty applicable: "I felt better after I said it."

George Carlin's seven dirty words are eroding. I hear "piss" all the time in all of its uses on air. Lately "bullshit" has been a player on cable news, and variations like "shithole" have been heard on broadcast network TV in the "safe harbor" zone.

I always thought "asshole" was one of them but I guess it didn't make the cut.

 

I'm fine and on board with Carlin and his spoken word. I guess my problem isn't his seven words, it's printing them on shirts, that kids sound out, then read. And wear because their folks think it funny.

 

Oh, I do, too.

But I do think a lot of people don't -- part of a general breakdown of morals that someone else mentioned and with which I agree.

My post was supposed to be a bit deadpan, a joke and a play on cursing, etc. I guess it didn't quite work.