Why Nowhere Man’s grandma hates profanity
Nowhere Man, a diarist on Daily Kos, has a wonderful little piece on Why my grandma hates profanity (and why you should care). His grandmother, a progressive throughout her life, and certainly no prude [she reportedly told her mother “Oh, mother, you don't need a penis to fix a lamp cord.”], hated the abasement of language and the stereotyped communication involved in profanity.
She said that language can be used for a lot of different things: To describe a feeling, to send a message, to persuade. Profanity didn’t serve well for any of those. Any time I used a swear word, she told me, I was putting highly-skilled, hard-working words out of work, and letting some lazy, illiterate slob take its place. And it meant that I wasn’t saying anything that she couldn’t hear a hundred times a day. So what would be the point? She’d rather I used words that she’d want to pay attention to.
OK, I said, I can see why she didn’t like hearing that sort of thing. But they’re just words, after all. Just particular sounds. Why would this one or the other really be a problem? Why, for instance, is the common term for sexual intercourse such a taboo to her?
Then came another priceless reply: Can you imagine telling your worst enemy to go have a good meal? Well then, why would you want them to enjoy a different but wonderful experience?
Read the wole piece!
Add comment April 19th, 2006