To swear or not to swear...

As a writer, I often analyze things to see if they make sense.  I can't even read a book anymore without pointing out the flaws.  But one thing that continues to stump me are bad words, or I guess what you would call swear words.

All words are just a combination of letters so what makes some of them bad and others not?  Is it the tone in which you use them that makes them bad?  If that's the case, there are hundreds of bad words that people use everyday that are in a category by themselves.

For instance, lets take the F word.  If you use it followed by the word You, that is a horrible insulting thing to say.  So instead of saying that, what if you say Screw You.  Does that make the word "Screw" equally as bad?  Or what about this, many times people use the F word as an adjective.  Here is an example:  "I looked all over the f-ing place and couldn't find it."  Now-a-days people use the word friggin in place of the F word.  "I looked all over the friggin place and couldn't find it."  Same sentence, same tone, same message.  Why is one considered a bad word and the other is not?

Let's take another word.  The word hell.  If you are a Christian and you believe in God, both heaven and hell are very real places.  Most of us hope to go to heaven someday and live our lives as such.  I know I do.  Yet if you take the word hell and use it in this context, "What the hell?"  It turns into a bad word. 

I am not an advocate of using swear words.  I have told my children many times, people who constantly rely on the use of profanity are just showing their ignorance because they don't know how to convey their thoughts and feelings in any other way. 

We do not swear at my house.  It was how both me and my husband were raised and it's how we are raising our children.  I'm not saying I'm perfect and the occasional word might come out when I'm angry but for the most part, I don't use foul language and I don't like when others do either.

One of the ten commandments clearly states:  Do not take the name of the Lord in vain.  This is one of the rules I live by.  I hope you do as well.

Peace to you.

R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com