In a scene in a 1950s film, an actor berates the leading lady, and no one in the audience could decide whether he’d called her a witch or a b****. The debate raged, never had we heard such language (not the witch word) in the entertainment world. Some years later, a cop in a TV series told an impertinent brat to “p*** off!” Well!
The world nearly changed direction. Decades later, the verbal environment has enthusiastically embraced gutter parlance, and I don’t need to spell any of that out here as we hear it constantly in films and read it in print. I spent my entire working life in workshops, mines, construction and factories, all tough environments, and became inured to the use, usually gratuitous, of profanity and swearing.
When I was very young, a person hearing something surprising might have exclaimed: “Oh, my goodness.” Or: “My word!” Expressions like, “Go oooooon!” and “No way!” came and went like seasons, but all have been replaced by the universal “WTF”. If you don’t know what that means, ask almost any primary school child. What has happened to our language?
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Does swearing make a statement stronger or clearer? Does it make the user wiser or more worldly? It doesn’t, but it’s here to stay. I’m no angel in this regard, but it’s sad to witness this assault on language.
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