I was reading the blog of another person today. Her entry was really funny and sprinkled with expletives that made me laugh out loud. I used to work at a place where the language was often colourful-not in a crude kind of way but in a way that made me laugh.
I do not swear well. I can when I'm alone and sometimes, when I'm really mad but usually, when I'm with other people, even though I know they likely wouldn't be offended, I just can't do it. I think it must have something to do with my upbringing. We were not allowed to use crude language at home although, when she was really mad, my mom would swear in Dutch. (She has always denied it. I know that she must have done it when she thought we kids weren't around because where else could I have learned Dutch swear words?)
When I used to work at Winnipeg Harvest, December was one of our busiest months. We put together a "small" number of Christmas hampers (200 or more) together for people who could not access one from the Christmas Cheer Board. The Christmas hamper program along with a huge increase in "drop-in" volunteers brought many of us near the edge of sanity. One of my co-workers began wishing us a Merry F****** Christmas. This would cause me to begin laughing hysterically. She was one of the most caring, generous, wise and considerate people at the food bank and she swore creatively. While I wanted to send Christmas greetings back her way, I was unable to do it in the same fashion.
Maybe successful swearing is only for the young. We middle aged folk with children are trying to be a good example to the younger generation. I think that I need to watch my tongue, especially when the kids are around and to reprimand them when their language gets too spicy. I'm not so naive as to think that my children don't swear. They're just smart enough not to do it at home when I'm around.
I have always taken my "eldest child" responsibilities very seriously. I didn't really rebel when I was a teen; I was always aware that there were younger siblings watching me and I needed to be above reproach and obedient. Maybe that's why I feel this need to start swearing now. Maybe I'm entering some kind of mid-life crisis where I need to do something naughty, something I didn't do as a young person, to sort of "experiment" with bad behaviour.
Problem is, I don't really have anything to swear about right now. Oh wait. I know. This f****** weather (tee hee). I am so d*** (hee hee) sick and tired of this f****** (oops) weather that I could SWEAR!
2 comments:
now, i hate to tell you this, but if you're REALLY going to swear, you have to print the whole word, not just the asteriks so we can guess what's there.
Otherwise i might think you're telling me you're darn tired of this flipping weather. but hey! it's a start, keep practising, and i DARE YOU to use it on kristen some day.
the other day, micah started complaining about his teacher in the car, i casually said, "yeah, that madame, she is such a bitch." absolute dead silence from the back of the car while they digested that comment.
then, as usual, i wrecked it by laughing hysterically. and we all laughed. and then i had to tell them not to swear, that you should only use the words sparingly so they don't lose their power, because of course they used the opportunity to swear WAY MORE than i'm comfortable with. ah well.
thanks for writing. i'm so BORED with myself today. last chapter. i've lost my steam.
Oh man, you become our pastor, and you just go all to hell, cussin' like a sailor! What's this world coming to? ;-)
Post a Comment