Hi Mouse:

Why, oh why do the young say such things?

I can't answer for them (I'm old :-), but it probably is everyday language to them. And, it they put it on, it's for shocking effect, or to appear tough and defiant. They'll grow out of it.

Mark Twain was in the habit of swearing when he cut himself shaving, and his wife hated it. One morning, when he cut himself and swore terribly, she wrote down the whole string of expletives, and read them out to him when he was in a better mood.

"The lyrics are right, darling," he said, "but the melody is wrong."

Hi, there:  I've wondered about this question from another angle:  why do the rest of us let them?  It wasn't always that way.  Thirty years ago, if one used bad language on a bus, one would get kicked off the bus by the driver.  My ten-year-old fines me if I swear.

Some years ago I won tickets to a YukYuks comedy club. Same thing, every second word was the F word and sometimes inserted between syllables. It did not take long to get simply boring. Same thing in the military. The word loses its force when overused. Someone once said that "vulgarity is the effort of a feeble mind to express itself forcefully"

A vain, or vulgar word is an expression of emotions!

Are the young taught about emotions and the respect of them?

That would probably take thought, and we all know about the thinking devil of thought, chilling Dan Je Roues of the north country ... don't go there! That is the human attitude towards a thinking demon, of course it might look different from in those other shoes.

I don't know it is just a impression made while wandering as a hated Gypsy ... I think and people generally don't like my thoughts that sometimes expose hidden emotions ... it hides all the lovemaking crudities in the chilly bleu space in the dark of an inque'n. People also get mad at that too. They don't know what it means and yet do not want to know ...

So what the eL with a light flying angel of light, or a dark shadowy Ga Brea'L a veil of expression that none knows ... like a Gnostic Spirit that caresses the unknown ... don't go there either!

Don't you know that we are a social order trained in fear about doubts and reading Tomes ... or is that a misogyny of spell: Thomas? Now was Thomas a thorn in Christ's side where he put his hand for a test, proof that there was still space for something ... emotions or intelligence? Thats the nature of light ... it can carry both in all kinds of body language that can be seen. If you care to look!

How many people do you know that read in books of Dead Seas of wisdom (old salts) to see what mistakes and advances were made? Can they construct a thought between the towers of painful ignorance and Joy, or just extract roues of word, or literal words without the clues of a deeper pool?

Odd in a fixed bean eh!

 WaterBouy, I'm afraid you lost me...

On the other hand, I totally agree with Arminius (good to see ya again!), Fakirs (love that idea of your 10-year-old's) and JRT. I find it funny/pathetic when other young people swear every other word. I find it certainly doesn't make them seem any tougher, and it certainly doesn't do anything for their expression - save to make them seem like a skipping track. I can only hope that history will come full circle and the young people will be taught to respect the language and, hopefully, be taught a fuller vocabulary. Until that point in time, more music!

Thanks for the responses, by the way - never thought this would get so many so fast.

Hugs and Heartfelt Thanks,

Mouse

Mouse, it has become an "accepted" word and I wonder how THAT happened.

Hi crazyheart: THAT is not discussed on a Christian website!

Unless we Christians have learned from Hindusim, and regard THAT as a spiritual activity.

When sexual activity is regarded as divine, then sexual expletives will lose their shocking effect.

When sexual activity is regarded as divine, then sexual expletives will lose their shocking effect.

Arminius, I would like to start a thread about this to see what others think.

Yes, crazyheart, great topic! I look forward to it. You can quote me if you want.

You probably have seen the sexual depictions on Hindu temples. We would regard something like that as obscene, particularly so on our churches, but Hindus regard it as divine: An expression of life's longing for life; the divine union of opposites; physical ecstasy that is similar to mystical rapture—the obscene rendered divine!

hi, mouse!

i completely agree with you in your questioning of youth morals. i was taught at a very young age that swearing is dirty, and unintelligent. my father swears all the time, and sometimes i call him out on it.

i, like you, do use the words from time to time, when there is no other way to express feelings. however, i feel that the only way to trully intimidate someone is to out-smart them.

youth these days lack the intelligence, morals, manners and common decency to refrain from using such foul language.

it really sickens me.

-d.p☼

I wonder how much time you spend around youth?  Most of today's young people are smarter by far then we were at that age so to say they lack the intelligence is unfair to say the least.  As for their morals, manners and decency I feel they are only living what they have learned from US, the adults.  Go to any movie, bar or comedy night and the language is full of the F-word and these are situations developed by adults so how can we expect anything less from the youth?  They are also often a product of homes where too little time is spent by parents teaching the proper morals and manners and the TV is the main educator, so we get what we deserve in most cases.  Having said that, I am a great fan of teenagers and see some amazing examples of hard working, polite, respectful kids but unfortunately they do not make the news.  Don't let your opinion be colored by what you see and read in the media, go to your neighborhood highschool and volunteer, you will be pleasantly surprised!

OldFeller:

in response to your question: i'm fifteen. i spend every single day around approximately 2000 youth. and i'd be surprized if 10% of them are what we would consider "intelligent." they are ill-mannered, shallow, and completely obnoxious. it actually makes me ashamed of my generation.

Well I guess, at 64, I would be considered an "old feller" too, but I spend a lot of time around adults every single day and i'd be surprised if 10% of them are what we might consider "intelligent" as well. Most are shallow, superficial, self-centred and dis-eased. It makes me ashamed of my generation as well. I personally get rather pissed off at youth who feel they have to pass through their puberty by swearing so offensively, but why bother taking offense? It is a temporary kind of language of passage. Most of the kids today are OK and most will likely turn out better than we did.

I find kids today are more aware of what is going on around them than we ever were. My parents never talked about sex. I never felt I could have a deep discussion about anything with my parents. And these were pretty "normal" ways of parenting. Today most kids have access to more information through more sources. It may result in more profound developmental markers, but in the end, I think it results in adults who will ask more questions, be more assertive and not allow our economy and our politics get out of hand like we have let things happen. Yes, I see a lot of problems in families today. The thing is, however, that I SEE them. In my day, things were hidden and buried. We were silently destroyed, brainwashed and tortured, without much choice in the matter. It never occured to me to run away, to talk to my teacher about my abusive father, etc. In the end, I learned by working with disturbed children in my career. I learned how to deal with my feelings and work them out. I have learned more from the youth of today that the adults.

I worked for years as a social worker, working with very disturbed children and families. I learned so much from these people. They felt things so intensely and were, ultimately, able to voice these feelings instead of always acting them out. It was the quiet ones that were shallow and superficial. My advice is to not judge kids to harshly by their words. We went through our own developmental stages and our parents worried about our silences. Kids today get noticed more in their stages. Good for them. Rock on!

Why do the young say such things?

Well i would consider myself young being just under 18. One of the reasons i think young people use vulgar language is that its everywhere they go. My parents swear frequantly, so do my friends, other students at my school, and some of the bands i listen to (i'm not going to stop listening to them bacause they swear if they still have a good meaning and connect with me). Then there are rappers.... i do not like rap. There are verry few rap songs i like because all the ones i hear are usually pointless and have no real meaning behind them, besides going to "da' club" and getting with the "shorties". And their is usually a lot of swearing in rap. It just so happens that un-like me lots of other young people like it, and other meaningless pop music with poor morals.

i find myself constintly sliping up and swearing when i shouldn't, i think this is becasue i hear it so often. However i swear a lot less than most young people. i don't plan on becoming an impulsive swearer because i wouldnt get the same results as i do now. when someone swears in class for everyone to be quiet (and their a person who swears often) they get no reaction from the other studens. Now, if i was to sewar the class would fall silent in shock.

Punishing students at school for swearing would be a wast of time. You would need to have a detention room as big as a gym. Hopefully people will get over this swearing fase and give it a rest.

I personally like using big words to confuse people, or express my anger, instead of swear words because the youth of today had a small vocabulary, i don't have to try very hard to find words they won't understand. 

I hope that made some sense.

That made great sense ... we are what we experience until some of us try and change a way that is not that great. I liked your comment about using big words ... it is like the devil to some people ... at least a few begin to wonder about what you meant. ides a start!

I worked with a couple of folk over the years that every other word was eph-wards .. that would screw up and clear thinking process in the mind ... clear th'ink'n? Is that the spirit of sects? I din't like to socialize with people like that ... what could you learn with a tens' word vocabulary?