Jim Meador

No More Vulgar Words

Jim Meadors post reminiscing about his father:

Replace "hell" with "heck" for one thing. I am not one to comment here, because I do use profanity (although I don't on the net unless I slip.)

My father is 80 years old. I have never heard him use a profane word. Not one. In fact, I have never heard him use words such as darn or heck. He used to tell me that these words have no intrinsic meaning, and are therefore usless in a vocabulary other than a means to show how incapable the user was to express themselves meangingfully.

He had lots of advice. For example: An empty can makes the most noise." and, "When you start raising your voice, you are losing the debate." How about: "If you want to be heard, whisper."

He also never drank or smoked, remained faithful to mom until she died, educated us kids, and provided for the family without one word of complaint, all on a average income. He is the biggest man I know. I am not like him. I drank, smoked and cussed my way through life. Each of those vices have come back to haunt me.

The point here is that profane is simply profane. If profanity drives home a point, it is probably a point that doesn't need driving home. It is not "colorful", nor does profanity lend credibility or emphasis to ones arguement. It mearly dminishes the speaker and the topic. (however, "F____ you" does seem to express a lot more than just "darn you." Oh, shucks. Forget all I just wrote.

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:o)
Jim Meador

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