I can't take full credit for my previous post. The idea, including the orange analogy, came from a sermon I heard in college.
But it has stuck with me. And I think about it frequently.
Now, why is it that some words are "bad" but they don't really mean anything bad. The word I used simply means poo-poo. Why is it ok to say one, but not the other? Why is it ok to say bottom, but not a##, (which is my favorite "bad" word, by the way, but more in reference to a person's behavior)?
Why is it bad to say hell? Hell isn't sacred. I don't feel the need to show any respect for it. In fact it ought to be more acceptable to say that than to say "Oh heavens." If you think about it. Right?
Damning a person isn't nice. I can see why we shouldn't do that. But to just say the word because you hit your thumb? Why is that bad?
I'm not advocating that we all go out and start talking like sailors, because, for whatever reason, these words are considered inappropriate and I think we need to guard our mouths for the sake of others. I'm just sayin...
(Although, it seems to be more and more acceptable to say these things as time goes by. And I guess we can look at words we say now that at one time were taboo. As words lose their power to shock, people just come up with new "bad" words, anyway.)
So, the point of my last post wasn't even so much about the word as it was the attitude underlying it. I could act like I was all together, but when the pressure was on, my true attitude sprang forth. And I think that was even more apparant in the statement I made about God watching over us than It was in that one "bad" word.
Now you are talking (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteYes..my favorite bad word is a**..not that I say it. One of my favorite movies is "My Fair Lady". The professor says damn all the time and actually has a song full of the word. In elementary school I spent a few weeks saying that word..often..so often my teacher had a talk with my parents. :)
ReplyDeleteI see what you are saying though..it must all be the spirit in which one says it.
You know Kay, not too long ago I was thinking about this very thing. Why are some words taboo and others not??? If someone cuts me off in traffic and I mumble clown to myself its really no better than cursing at the person because its about what is in my heart. I've just been taught not to use the bad words, but isn't it what's in the heart that really matters.
ReplyDeleteFunny story - One time someone cut me off in traffic and I mumbled, something about the clown cutting me off. Only to bust out laughing seconds later when I realized it really was a clown driving - must have been in a hurry to get to a birthday party or something :)
So I'm working on not calling people clowns - major challenge in this neck of the woods because there are so many of them... I mean because its so congested here... in progress...
I remember a word that I always saw written on the bathroom walls when I was in junior high school and back then it was such a bad word! And now everybody says it. But I still can't get past how bad it seemed back then, so I am not comfortable saying it.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to go on and say it...damn. That's my favorite word.
ReplyDelete