Four Letter Words

A quick update, Duke is healing, and is still a very friendly, happy and outgoing dog.

Dealing with his escape and attack is one of the few times in my life where swearing probably would have been appropriate.  I may have even uttered a four letter work under my breath when he slipped the harness and I first started chasing him.  However, in our world today I think that swear words are extensively overused.

I'm not against swearing all together.  I think there are moments when nothing else but a curse word will do to express the strong emotion of the moment, but the way these words are casually being used in everyday conversations, musics, and movies these days is frustrating to me.  For example, if you watch something that is rated R and you here the F-word dropped every other sentence you're not going to react when the characters use it in an extreme moment of anger or panic.  If you watch something rated PG-13, and they use the one allotted F-bomb in at a crucial point, it adds emphasis.  You perk up and think "Wow!  Something is really happening now".

I think it's the same in everyday conversation.  I hear kids at the college I go to casually throwing off f### and s###, with no emphasis, or change in tone.  It makes me kind of sad.  It's a kind of a deterioration of language.  If we use these words everyday for no special purpose, what do we do then when we want to exclaim something with strong emotional content?  Are we just suppose to scream incoherently?  There is no shock factor anymore.

As for music, I just heard someones ringtone go off in the library and the second or third word was f######, and no one else reacted.  I don't think it's appropriate to hear that in a public place, much less the library where we do have policies against swear words, but because it has become so common, there isn't any social stigma attached and therefore the patron gets away with it, being reprimanded only by myself for not turning his phone off before coming into the library.  I like to think that even a few years ago he would have at least gotten a disgusted look from the other patrons.