Saturday, July 14, 2007

Curses!

I've been thinking a lot about foul language lately.

I've never been one to use a lot of coarse language, probably because I actually care about language. But a lot of my friends do, or did, and often for the same reason that they say "soda" instead of "cola"... it's just what they've learned in their region or their family or from their television.

What interests me the most is that "bad words" seem to be arranged into the wrong order of offensiveness. What I mean is, the words which should be most offensive seem to be the least offensive, and vice versa. Well, not across the board, but nearly.

I find that there is general misunderstanding of the various kinds of "bad words" so I shall now teach a lesson in Profanity 101:

There are three basic types of "bad words": vulgarity, profanity and cursing.

Vulgarity is a fascinating concept, and these are the words which should, I think, be least offensive to us. Our word for it comes from Latin (vulgaritas) and means, roughly, "the multitude." It was originally a term used to delineate the language used by different classes of people. Most of the words that describe body parts, bodily functions or sexual acts are words that are vulgar, or common. A refined person would not use them.

Of course in the United States this has ceased to be true, since we work so hard (so we say) to eliminate class distinctions.

Nevertheless, the "queen mother of swear words" (the "F word") is often nothing mroe than a vulgarity. In some sense we as a culture have agreed to these words. There is no reason, for instance, that I should feel free to type "crap" right now but not another excratory word that starts with "s". There is no real difference in the words, other than history. And that one is offensive to many people, and one is offensive to a few people. I'm sure someone out there can explain this to me.

Profanity, on the other hand, is the taking of something that should be holy and using it in a way that makes it unholy. It is an attempt to make the holy something common. Thus, the using of the Lord's name in vain, or to speak of any holy thing in an inappropriate way. Perhaps the "f word" does this, since it takes the holy act of sex and gives it a sense of meaningless physical action.

Cursing, of course, is the wishing of harm to someone. The most evil curse is to wish damnation upon someone (or something). This has become common language that is widely acceptable for some reason unknown to me.

Perhaps what has caused me to think about this lately is that a lot of Christians in my generation have felt a newfound freedom to use vulgarity and cursing in their common speech. In fact, it's hip right now to feel free to use both, even in church services. The concept behind this freedom is, actually, a concept that I think is noble (though slightly misguided). Most people I've talked to about this say that the reason that we must allow language like this up front at church is that it allows us to be more authentic with our lives. In other words, "I use vulgar words when I am at home. I should not project a false impression of perfection to the church. So I will use vulgar words at church so that people will see the real me."

And, in some ways, I heartily applaud this. I think it is wise to be forthcoming with our flaws and issues, and even to proclaim them publicly.

At the same time, I think the solution to the problem is wrong-headed. It seems to me that the solution should not be only to admit one's faults, but to strive to overcome them. In other words, rather than speaking vulgarity from the pulpit, one should try to stop speaking it at home. Oh, I suppose I should take this moment to mention that this is not anything that my pastor(s) have an issue with... more of an observation of my own generation.

Anyway, I won't go into all the Biblical reasons to watch how we speak. I have plenty of personal examples (some here on this blog!) of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and in the wrong way. And I have, yes, I have used language at some time that falls into one of the categories above. And done far worse things than that.

So. It doesn't offend me to hear vulgarities. I don't use "hard" vulgarities myself, though I'm sure I have a couple of words in my vocabulary that certain portions of the U.S. would find offensive. I don't use profanity if I can help it, and I try to steer away from curses (as I actually think they can be effectual and thus are dangerous).

I was just interested to hear so many Christians defending it lately. And as my good buddy Shakespeare would say, methinks they do protest too much.

Good night, and good luck.

7 comments:

  1. Man, I am a long-winded fella, ain't I?

    I notice I didn't really talk about offensive language that comes from racism. To be totally frank, I just don't hear it often in the circles I run in. People might be cursing and hurling vulgarities, but they speak with respect toward other races, sexual orientations, etc.

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  2. Anonymous7:20 AM

    Actually, it's funny that you should write about this topic--I've been thinking about it myself lately. I'm the music director of a fairly liberal Lutheran church right now...most of my friends there don't see a problem with foul language. Not at church, neccessarily, but definitely in their normal lives. I've gotten used to hearing it and it doesn't bother me as much as it used to, but I really have no desire to speak that way myself. I can communicate quite nicely without it, thanks! But I always wonder if it should bother me to hear it more than it does.

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  3. Matt, thank you for proclaiming quite definitively what I have been thinking about recently: We don't live in a "G-Rated" world, but that doesn't mean that we're able to rattle off all the swear words we can if things don't go our way.

    It doesn't offend me if someone swears, but I do think in most circumstances it demonstrates a lack of breadth in their vocabulary. It is a novelty for the church crowd, undoubtedly, but I also think there is an element of linguistics that can't be ignored.

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  4. the new lowest common denominator! Just remember, what's acceptable today will be what your teenagers will try to go beyond just to show how cool, hip, accepting of others. Pretty misguided I think. I find it sad that ministers or leaders in christian arenas would be such 'followers' to use that type of language. We're all to LEAD, not follow whatever feels good or sounds right or seems acceptable to everyone else. Yes, I've had my share of vulgar moments but if you don't try to grow pass where you are today, why, you'll always be in junior high.

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  5. I dont know what anybody thinks about this but concerning vulgar, profane, cursing, and any other words that pass through our lips it seems that our intentions that stem from a pure and Christ honoring heart. I am wondering what anybody's thoughts on this are. Our speech needs to reflect who we are in Christ and I understand that Christ ministered to those that would be that their language would probably be that of the areas of vulgarity at least. So I can understand not be offend by the vulgarity of others, but where is the line in our own lives and the church in the sense of cultural relevancy. What should our speech be like not in words that the culture says are ok or not ok to speak, but rather that our desire is to speak in manner that is Christ exalting but more importantly Christ-like.

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  6. I'd like to start out by stating that my profane Blogger word verification for permission to post this comment is "BWURF". Profanity in the making!

    The older I get, the more conviction I have about past/current habits. In short, to make room for Matt's long-windedness, I have found that the things I once considered to be okay to watch, listen to, think, do, or say, are now over-ridden by what I want my children to be exposed to. Even if they are not in the room at the moment, if I would be ashamed to have my kids see, or mimic, what I do, then, that is enough conviction for me that what I'm doing is not pleasing in God's eyes. That sounds very simplistic and doesn't cover that I would also be uncomfortable with seeing my three year old driving my car, or riding a bike without a helmet. Overall though, this kid-barometer reveals that at one time, I was a very jaded to saying, thinking, and watching things that were not right, holy, or edifying.

    One more thing. Profanity is easy as bwurf whereas true comedy is quite the bwurfing opposite.

    Chris

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  7. Matt! I didn't realize you had a blog, I'm glad I found it.
    I too wanted to thank-you for writing on a subject that's been on my mind lately and seems to be all around the blogosphere.
    I really like your 3 categories (where did they come from?) and your observation that we tend to make the more serious swear words to mean less.
    On your comment of defending swearing, I think Rom 14 applies well. If a brother or sister asks us to not do something, we should be willing to give it up, it goes with Phil 4 quote of putting others before ourselves.
    Also, what's the reason for using swear words? Do we have an angry heart? Or are we being selfish because something didn't go the way we wanted. Like you said, yes, this may be what people normally feel, but should we strive to not be that way instead of embracing it?

    Hope my thoughts are somewhat helpful

    -Chris Bogstad

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