The English language has been tainted with words (if you can even call them that) that have turned into the overused swears of today’s society.
Swearing has, unfortunately, become an integral part of teenage conversation. Whether it is out of anger or pure spite, some teens swear as often as they breathe.
I do not think that swearing is necessary.
My justification is that I just don't like swearing. It's as easy as that. Some people ask me why I don't swear. "You're not a Catholic or something, right?" is sometimes a question I get asked. To me, swearing goes beyond religion. My conscience, not my faith, dictates to me which words are right and which words are wrong. And if they're wrong, I deem them unusable. I often say that if you can express the same meaning without swearing, you should.
When I hear a swear word, I cringe a little bit inside. Part of me wants to stare down the person, which often turns into a small glance from me to the "perpetrator."
Don't worry, though. I'm not one of those kids who will freak out when you say a curse word. Well, not anymore. I've learned that you can't really change people, just inspire change around them and hopefully they will catch your drift.
Maybe I'm a bit biased. I am vehemently against swearing because I have never sworn in my life. Why? To be completely honest, I don't know. I am constantly surrounded by people my age who swear, whether it is once in a while or incessantly.
I often get a shocked reaction from people who find out that I have never sworn. Well...there is this one time, but it taken highly out of context. I was a young child in elementary school, sitting on the bus, and I saw a word on the bus that I didn't know......
I asked a friend what it meant. Suffice to say, after I learned of its meaning, I knew I didn’t want to use it. But I think that’s where some of the problem lies.
Kids who say things, whether it be a curse word or not, should hopefully know the meanings of the words they say. People who use swear words undoubtedly know what the meanings are (if they don’t, they shouldn’t use them!), and that probes the question: why use it when you know it has a vulgar connotation?
People of all ages swear— adults, teens, and, unfortunately, young kids, too. It seems that as each year passes, younger children become more and more “mature,” and not always for the better. Even kids who should be talking about Spongebob or their fourth grade field day are heard using swears and vulgar language.
I think that the older generations, including us teenagers, are responsible for this. We set the example for the youngins, whether they like it or not. What we do and say affects them just as much as how our elders’ words and actions have affected us. You might be thinking, “Well, it’s not my choice what they say.” True, true… but you are an integral part of shaping their choices.
What they choose to do when confronted with swear words, use them or ignore them, influences them as a person and dictates what type of person they will be in the future. I’m not saying that everyone who swears is a bad person. That’s completely false; some really nice people tend to have a slip of the tongue once in a while. Kids who NEVER STOP swearing cause some of the distress. They seem to lack respect for other people and sometimes even themselves.
What we have to do as the influencing generation is show the next group of kids the right things to do and say. Some say actions speak louder than words, but swear words can speak louder than the whole lot.
Walking down the hallways of LHS, I notice that some of the students here are the most to blame for the swearing epidemic.
"What the..." is often a precursor to the mother of all swears (no pun intended). Sometimes it's the occasional exclamation of anger or forgetfulness and sometimes it's a full-blown rage. Just the other day, I saw this girl ranting about who-knows-what while using the F-Bomb and S-Word every couple of milliseconds.
What should we do to minimize swearing and maintain a more acceptable society?
My advice: take your dirty mouth to the bathroom down the hall. Take a bar of soap, wash out your mouth, rinse, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.