Many people think I’m
weird about words. “It’s just a word,” a counselor friend declares – attempting
to convince me that it’s fine for children to curse. I don’t agree. Even while
teaching adults, I often stopped students in hallways and common areas
who were dropping f-bombs to let them know that educated people should
have attained the use of a broader vocabulary than f-ing this and f-ing that. It
simply makes people sound ignorant, in my opinion.
When it comes to my
children, I’m even more vigilant about what they can hear, because what goes in
may eventually come out. With my oldest, I managed to prevent him from even
hearing the f-word until he was ten. That wasn’t easy to do. It meant heavily
restricting his movie-watching, friends, and most-importantly: where he went to
school (private Christian school). Then one day, it happened. I left him with a
trusted sitter, someone I’d known forever and trusted. She, apparently, thought
nothing of saying it in front of my kid. And he came home and proudly repeated
it. Theory confirmed (what goes in comes out).
But the real f-word is
much more dangerous, in my opinion. The word is “fool.” I remember the first time I
heard someone use the word – in seventh grade as we were heading for our
after school buses, a worldly kid shouted at another boy, “You’re a fool!” A
felt icy cold air around me. I felt certain that boy had just signed himself up
for hell.
But I say unto you, That whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment:
and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the
council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
- Matthew 5:22
- Matthew 5:22
When I was around fifth
or sixth grade, some of my peers started using the word “idiot.” When my folks heard
us kids using the word, they put a stop to it, pointing out that idiot is synonymous to fool. I
later came to realize that most insults are also synonyms of fool. So are
there any safe insults to hurl at people? Is this the point of Matthew 5:22?
Don’t insult people? Don’t call people names?
Although, I’ve overcome
my past enough to realize much of what was taught and widely accepted was not
biblically accurate, I’m still terrified of words like fool.
And worse than fool, is
the taking of God’s name in vain – which, to my mind, I confuse with blasphemy.
Maybe I’m incorrect about that, but I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Truthfully I’d prefer to hear the f-word a million times than to hear someone
take God’s name in vain.
What do you think about
the power of words? Harmless or very potent?
I think that the power of words is very potent. And I am very religious so I completely agree with you.
ReplyDeleteHi Suz,
ReplyDeleteThe power behind words are powerful. If more people were more cognizant of the meaning, people would use the words in such a way they were meant to be. So to answer your question, potent. Thanks!
I agree with you. My grandmother has often said something similar about people using curse words and other "bad" language having a narrow vocabulary. As an editor, I've realized that when read to mean their actual definitions, the contexts in which people place them don't work at all. Take the f-word. Put that in a sentence, then replace it with its actual definition, and the sentence no longer makes sense. In fact, it might even be ridiculous! Unfortunately, I don't feel I can push my editing clients to seek alternative words and phrases for a few reasons, one of which is that it would come across as my personal bias (not based on grammar, style, or punctuation guidelines) being imposed on another author's work. I'm not their teacher or parent, just a contractor who's been hired for a job, so I don't feel I can be "the curse police," even though sometimes I'd like to be.
ReplyDeleteThe old "sticks & stones" thing comes to mind, but it's the exact opposite: the power of the body to heal physical wounds is almost automatic, but words can leave wounds that will never heal on their own.
ReplyDeleteHello, I think you are 100% right about words. My question is about taking God's name in vain, I often hear people say "OMG" and I wonder if it is just as bad to say the letters as the word, do you have any thoughts on this? Kim
ReplyDeleteHey Kim,
DeleteDo you suppose that there are some people that say "OMG" and are meaning to say "Oh my goodness"? That isn't such a bad statement, I am not condoning using the Lord's name in that context, but meaning "Oh my goodness" isn't such a bad thing, just a thought.
OMG is similar I think to when people say Frickin....
ReplyDeleteI guess we are only fooling ourselves.
Everyone knows the implication.