Swearing and Profanity

“Talk in order that I may see you.” 

(Socrates, Communication of Ideas, p. 72.)

The words we use reveal a great deal about who we are. I was raised in a home where degrading language was not spoken nor allowed. There were times in my tween years, that my sister and I would get into arguments and I’d get so angry with her that the only thing I could come up with was to swear. I’d get reprimanded every time I swore. Anger and swearing seem to go hand in hand. Interestingly enough, every time I got angry enough to swear at my sister it never made me feel better or solved the problem.


Since coming into the blogging world, I’ve been amazed at the profanity used by people. It seems to be common place to use profanity to express certain feelings or to get a point across. Certainly, as vast and diverse as language is, there are more intelligent ways to accurately express our ideas and emotions other than using language that is degrading and offensive.


Right about now, some people may be thinking that I’m just being a prude. Maybe so, but I don’t think so. When profanity is used, either by you, or someone around you, take a minute to see how it makes you feel. Was it enlightening and did it make you feel better? Or did it cast a dark shadow over the conversation? Profane words never edify or create positive emotions.


Here is what 17 year old BreeAnna H. said about the subject:


“After you swear a lot, you will start to feel just like the words you are saying. When you do any kind of swearing, you hurt the Lord, yourself, and sometimes others.”


Bob Greene of the Field Newspaper Syndicate speaks of swearing in his article: 

Hear Pollution

“Obscenity, the open use of which used to be a mark of lower social strata, has somehow become acceptable in everyday conversation for everyday people.
“Those who disagree are probably saying, ‘after all, it’s only words.’ But words are vehicles; they convey messages. And to some people, the message of profanity is a message of ugliness and aggressiveness and a disrespect for civil behavior.
“Bathroom and sexual obscenities can now be heard in certain popular songs on the radio, and even some magazines and newspapers have begun to print language that would have been unthinkable five years ago. This practice is usually defended under the name of ‘freedom.’ But whose freedom is it? If the language of ugliness becomes so much a part of our society that it is impossible to escape no matter where one turns, then who is free and who isn’t?”


Whether you are religious or not, these scriptures put it very well:


“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Eph. 4:29.)


“… Let your words tend to edifying one another.” (D&C 136:23–24.)


Elder Robert K. Dellenbach of the Seventy, LDS:


"It’s the same mouth you use to pray, to bear testimony... Be careful to keep it clean."


What are your feelings and attitudes towards the topic of today’s discussion?


This topic will be followed up in the next week coming weeks discussing your comments and with a post on 'How to Control and Stop using Profanity. I hope you’ll join me!


About Becky Jane