How
often do you swear, and why?
Swearing:
it’s everywhere nowadays. People just throw the words around. They curse to
describe everything: the mosquito that just bit them, the hammer they just
dropped on their foot, the paper due tomorrow in English, that person they hate,
the commercial interrupting the basketball game, said basketball game, the delicious cake they’re
about to eat, their favorite movie, their best friend… The list goes on and on.
Personally, I try not to
swear when it isn’t necessary. Of course, there was a time when I didn’t
realize what the words meant, but I knew what they were, and I used them. I was
much younger then. About 3 or 4 years old in fact. One specific story comes to
mind: I was out walking with my dad in the cornfield across the street. We had
found some arrowheads and other neat things, so we went out looking for more.
On this walk, I found the coolest corncob ever. I wanted to keep this corncob
for myself, but my dad wouldn’t let me. After arguing for a while, I gave up. I
threw down the corncob and shouted, “Damn it!” as loud as I could. My dad was
shocked. I told him that “I want the damn corncob!” and he was not happy
with me. The funny thing is, it’s his own fault that I knew the word. He only
said it once, but that was one time too many :).
Now that I’m older and
know better, I try not to use those words. I don’t have a problem with saying
them, I just don’t want them to lose their meaning. You see, when someone lays
down the F bomb every other sentence, it starts to lose its meaning. But, if I
don’t ever really curse, then you know something big is up when I do.
However, when the words
I’m saying aren’t really my own, I don’t mind swearing. For example, if I’m
playing a role in a play, and my character curses, I will curse. This is
different from me swearing. Instead of me swearing, that is the character
swearing. Or, for instance, if I’m quoting somebody, and they swore, I’ll swear.
I mean, the saying loses some of its power if you just say, “darn the
torpedoes, full speed ahead!”
Nonetheless, I think it
is best overall to try to limit use of cuss words. If nothing else, for the
future. If I’m not supposed to swear in the place I work, starting to develop a
good filter now will become very useful. If I have kids, I don’t want to be
like my dad and have his 4 year old swear at him. All in all, I think it’s
better to try to avoid swearing.
I liked the example you have to support your point, it was very relevant and you reflected well on it. I did think some of your thoughts were jumpy though, maybe try to flow your sentences together more/ combine them. But I think what you talked about is relatable-- overall try not to cuss because it's not a good habit to pick up. I also liked the variety of examples you put in the first paragraph, but you could possibly cut down on that.
ReplyDeleteGreat use of a nice, specific anecdote to encapsulate the essence of your essay. Your other examples also make clear that you don't swear not because you are opposed to the action itself, but because, most of the time, you don't want to. I also like your emphasis on how you are okay with profanity when you are "channeling" someone else.
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