ON PROFANITY

"Business Writing Swear" - For whatever reason, the poet laureate for the state of Illinois also taught business writing at our undergrad. I had him as a junior and was apparently going through some rough times in regards to job prospects for the future. He was explaining something about how to word a resume - possibly my specific resume - while a friend was talking to me. TO THE FRIEND, I responded with a louder-than-intended "[Swear] all that," NOT KNOWING that the professor had directly addressed me at the same time. I was still at the age where I thought profanity was cool, so it only bothered me a little at the time, but as time has passed, I've gotten more and more ashamed of that. I should probably send him an apology email.

And another, from right around that same time:

"IMC Swear" - During a review session for an "Integrated Marketing Communications" class, we were playing a game of Jeopardy. While I had studied, I somehow missed the first question for my team, and let slip a "[Swear]ing [swear]!" Again, slightly louder than intended. And the professor kind of chuckled and said "Let's try and watch our language back there" and that was that. But I feel bad about that one as well.

I think all of this hit home for me on Monday night at an on-campus restaurant, when I heard one of my current students use absolutely filthy language. He hit most of George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words in about a forty-second span. I was really disgusted by it, to be honest.

My defense when I swore all the time was that the words only mean something dirty to the audience, and that it's the audience's problem if they can't deal with it. But I don't think I realized how ignorant it makes the swearer sound...usually. When swears are used cleverly and humorously, I believe they're totally appropriate. Sometimes a swear word is the absolute correct way to sum up feelings. But as a speech filler in everyday conversation...no.

Now, to find email addresses for those professors...