Swearing: A Second Language All Over the World
By Kate, age 17, New Hampshire
Sweet Designs Featured Writer
I'll start this article by giving props to Steph for suggesting this article. I thought it would be a good topic to write about, seeing as swearing has become a common thing to adults and kids everywhere.
I'll be honest, I swear ... a lot. I never really did until high school. It's not like I wasn't "cool" enough to swear. I just didn't.
In middle school, you were cool if you swore. You were cool if you hung out with the right people, dressed the right way, wore makeup, and swore. Middle school is so overrated, but it seems to me that's how a lot of things start; in high school, they just continue from there. By the time I was in high school, I was so used to other people swearing that it kind of rubbed off on me. Not only did I hear it from people in my class, but now I was with older kids who did a lot worse stuff than swearing.
Swearing became a part of my language, and it never really occurred to me as a bad thing. Obviously I knew to watch my mouth. I only swore when I was with my friends - never in front of teachers or parents.
But as the years went by, my parents did become an exception to that. I was never one to tell my parents to f*** off, but occasionally when I'm talking to my mom about "that b**** everyone hates", I let a few harmless words slip. She doesn't seem to mind the little things like that every now and then, but like any parent, she doesn't want to hear every swear word in one sentence, and I am careful about that.
Personally, I never cared much about it. It became part of my language. Everyone swears, and I often don't even notice when I hear or say it. It's like a fad. Fashions come and go and times are always changing. This is the 21st century and swearing has become a part of that. Maybe it was frowned upon 50 years ago, but we don't live in that time anymore. We change with the times through the years, and swearing is just one of those things that came with each passing year.
Swearing is everywhere - it's on TV, in books and songs, and it's part of conversation. You can't just tell someone they can't swear because that's just what people do. It's how they express themselves.
But with swearing does come responsibility. There will be people who don't want to hear it and you have to be respectful of that. There is a time and place for everything; if you want to swear, you need to know when and where to do it. You wouldn't swear at a job interview, would you?
You could also argue the point of young kids being exposed to the language of swearing. It isn't right to swear at or near a child, just like it isn't right to hit other people. Kids learn from what goes on around them, and it goes along with having respect. Obviously kids can pick up swears from the media, but it is the job of the parent to control what their kids are allowed to see and hear, and we have to respect that.
I don't frown upon swearing, but I do realize that it is a part of our language. As long as we realize that there is a time and place and have a little respect, I don't think there is much of a problem in the swearing world.
