So while exploring the Facebooks the other day, I saw a post by someone to the effect of "Freedom of Speech doesn't mean you have the right to say 'Fuck' in front of small children." The point I believe he was trying to make was that many people misunderstand "freedom of speech," thinking it means they can say anything they want anytime they want, but that's somewhat inaccurate. See the oft used "Fire in a crowded theater" example.
Anyway, rather than a debate about free speech and its implications, the comment thread revolved around the particular example he used, one person even going to so far as to say "[Fuck] is the #1 worst thing you can say in front of a child." Personally, I think there are a few things worse. "I'm going to rip out your eyes with rusty spoons and eat them," "It's perfectly acceptable to discriminate against people based on race, religion, sex or sexual orientation," or a friend's suggestion: "I raped your mother and you're the result" being among them. The list could go on and on, really.
After that, a few others proudly posted about how the will use "fake" swear words when swearing around children, such as "God bless it" instead of "God damn it" and patting themselves on the back for being such upstanding paragons of righteousness. However, are euphemisms really any less bad than the word they replace? (Protip: They're not.) Language is used to convey meaning and intent. Words are a series of letters and sounds that we use to represent that meaning, but the words themselves are neither benign nor evil. When I hit my thumb with a hammer and exclaim "Fudge!" any child present will know exactly what I mean, as surely as if I'd said "Fuck." Fuck is only bad because of the meanings we associate it with. When fudge, fugg, screw, eff or any other of the dozens of replacements fill the same role, they adopt the same meaning and are not really any different. It's silly to think we're somehow doing children some favor by swearing in front of them, but replacing certain words arbitrarily deemed "bad" with other words arbitrarily considered acceptable.
Even more ridiculous is how people censor so called "swear" words in type. F*ck, sh*t and so on, as if there's anyone who speaks English who won't know exactly what you're actually saying. I guess asterisks are just really magical, or something.
tl;dr Your fucking euphemisms don't make a fudging difference.
Edit: This video emphasizes the point better than anything else I could say, I think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AXPnH0C9UA
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Haha many good points!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you exactly while the f word is really not a word to use in front of children they get the meaning of how you use words even if you use another in it's place.
There are far worse things you could say to a child without cursing, as you pointed out, that would damage a child far worse.
It's great that we have freedom of speech but people need to be accounted for what they say in some cases it's not a license to go around acting like asshats.