Does Language Matter?

":How can we appraise a proposal if the terms hurled at our ears can mean anything or nothing, and change their significance with the inflection of the voice? Welfare state, national socialism, radical, liberal, conservative, reactionary and a regiment of others ... these terms in today's usage, are generally compounds of confusion and prejudice. If our attitudes are muddled, our language is often to blame. A good tonic for clearer thinking is a dose of precise, legal definition." —Dwight D. Eisenhower.

I was recently in a conversation with some friends over a movie.  A movie (like many today) that had a good message but assumed that the f-bomb was a word used as a part of the common man's everyday life.  Both friends were of an older generation but they had different views on whether or not this capricious use of the word was offensive.  I recently started to watch another film and within the first three minutes of the film the characters had f-bombed repeatedly and used the Lord's name in vain three times.  Off went the movie.

I come from a generation and family in which the use of the f-bomb word guaranteed a punitive parental response.  We won't discuss my father chasing me around the table when I decided to mimic my cousin and used the Lord's name in vain!  In fact, I remember quite clearly the look of shock and horror on my mother's face when I asked what the word meant (I had discovered it written on the back of stop sign - rather appropriate - lol).

During the eighties I was chastised by my employer for taking offense at "foul language".  Afterall, words are just words and the people in question were just expressing themselves.  This was being said by someone who held a doctorate in education.  I had to wonder at his limited vocabulary after all those years in college.

After years of Hollywood continuing to assume we all talk like sailors, we have a generation to whom these words have little to no meaning.  And that is the point of this post. 

What started as a way to shock the audience and cause impact - now just rolls through our desensitized ears.  We often hear of the results of watching graphic violence and the effect it has on desensitizing our emotions, but do we think about our ears and language?  I wonder if our culture would change at all if instead of being able to drop the f-bomb someone had to graphically define the word each time it was used.  And how would our culture react to having a family member's name used as a swear word instead of the Lord's name taken in vain?

Words do have meaning - it is out of the abundance of our heart that we speak.  Be careful little ears.......

Comments

[Nuwanda]

I've tossed similar thoughts around, too. I can't get away from my upbringing--where no bad language was allowed, period--and my parents regularly turned off TV programs when they cursed too much, even really benign shows like Matlock. My children are small, and for now I can keep them from bad language, but I know they will be surrounded by it in school soon. I've come to the place where the most offensive word isn't four letters, it's three. I know plenty of Christians who use the Lord's name in vain, and it no longer shocks us. But there are movies I just can't get thru b/c of the incessant f*bombs. It seems so uneducated and vulgar, and doesn't really mean anything, so why is it still "cool"?

[Lillium]

Was sitting in my truck this morning listening to one of the most foul-mouthed college-aged kid talk to his buddy. What was strange was these two were discussing how they were punished by their grandparents when they misbehaved - all I could think was "And what would your grandmother do if she heard your mouth now?"