[ExI] Avoiding Coarseness in our Dialogs

[BillK]

On 5/3/07, Russell Wallace wrote:
> I agree that it is not good if the level of discourse degenerates. I don't
> agree, however, that the occasional use of profanity where it is appropriate
> constitutes degeneration. Constant, gratuitous use of profanity would be
> another matter - as would constant, gratuitous use of any
> emotionally-charged words. Swear words, like most words, have both
> appropriate and inappropriate uses.
>


Try telling that to the teenagers!
I can only speak for the UK, but the constant use of swearing in their
normal conversation is very prevalent. You only need to walk around
the mall, or listen on public transport,  whenever a group get
together. They don't think of it as swearing, it is just normal for
them. When they get angry, and want to swear, they run into problems
communicating their displeasure because they haven't got any
'forbidden' words left to use. So violence is the easy way of
expressing anger.

Look at the stuff they post in chat rooms, on MySpace, or text
messages. It is almost constant, never-ending profanity and explicit
sexual references. (All with spelling mistakes as they use 'text'
language and a sort of pidgin English).

They do tend to tone it down when talking to adults.
So maybe there is hope for them growing out of it.


BillK