I am embarrassed to tell anyone this, but . . . I curse.
Like a sailor on a sinking boat.
My grandmother washed my mouth out with soap a few times when I was younger, and my father nearly knocked me to the ground once when I was a teenager and I said, "Fuck" in front of him, but I curse a lot.
I try to keep it in check when I'm in public or dealing with someone I don't know well, but let me have a deep conversation with a close friend, or my husband (who also curses), and there is no stopping the bad words.
My mother cursed, too, as does my father and my brother, so I come by this honestly. When one is raised hearing such words all the time, one becomes immune to any impropriety therein.
Besides, it doesn't hurt anything. Some people are offended by certain words, but the "F" word is the one I use the most. After coming across that particular word in court cases in my local county whilst doing research, I realized that once upon time, this word was not a bad word. The word dates back to 1310, where it has been found in English court manuscripts. And I can attest that in the late 1700s and early 1800s, it was used in court cases for divorce proceedings. "Flying fuck" originally meant having sex on horseback and was first used around 1800. (I found that interesting when I was looking this up.) The word was outlawed in print in England in 1875, so I guess it was a usable word up until about that time. We became more prim in our language, I suppose. It became a cuss word in its own right in the 1940s.
The last time I really cursed was on January 6 as I watched the seditionists attempting their coup at the U.S. Capitol. Then I cursed mightily, loudly, and for a long time.
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I love this! I have to say I curse like a sailor too, and I was right there with you cursing up a storm on January 6th. Of course I'm sure I've done plenty of cursing since then as well :D
ReplyDeleteI had to curb my language choices because I slipped at school once. Since then, I use fewer curse words and more flowery descriptions.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that you have guts to be honest. I think the key thing here is that you grew up with it and got comfortable with it. We could not even say the words stupid. We also went to church and our Bible verses reminded us to keep our hearts and minds clean. I will be honest and say I would be uncomfortable to be around bad language. I do understand you really letting lose on the January 6th.
ReplyDeleteI've seen this confession from many Facebook friends. It doesn't shock me at all. I don't curse; my daddy was a pro at it though, so it doesn't shock me. When I was about 7, I used the word crap instead of "stuff". Daddy said it all the time, but I didn't know my mother considered it a cuss word. She slapped my face for saying it. So I've never had a tendency to cuss. However, I listen so much to my weekly Bill Burr podcast that when it's just my husband and me, I let fly with a few "fucks", just to be funny; I'm usually smiling when I say it. Since the oldest grandson lives right next door, sometimes he gets to hear these lapses, but he thinks nothing of it now, since he got over the shock. I'm rather concerned that if I get dementia I'll cuss like a sailor, but I guess I won't know the difference at that point anyhow.
ReplyDeleteI try not to cuss but I also am use to hearing it around me. My mom use to get mad at me when I would say the F word. She thought it reflected “class” in a woman but was expected by a man. We had words over this once and when she said a certain someone was a bad influence concerning language , my answer shocked her into silence.she just asked I didn’t say it in front of her.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to warn me that if I "resorted" to swear words, I would be signalling to the world that I have a limited vocabulary, which would hold me back later in life. Well, I write for a living, so fuck that.
ReplyDeleteBTW, JFK -- who was very well read and an accomplished writer, as well -- believd "fuck" was the most flexible word in the English language. He cited the legendary way a soldier described his non-running jeep: "The fucking fucker's fucked."
An admission from my sister that she uses the "F" word??????? I must listen more closely to our conversations. Oh the pain, my bleeding ears!!!! Lol!
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