The new breed of swear words
Yesterday I busted three fourth grade kids (two girls and a boy) who were stomping down the hall chanting, "Needledick, needledick, needledick!" Even though they were point-blank howling it in my face, they denied it (the most common form of reply around here). Later that day, one of my sixth grade boys referenced the term "camel toe". Last year my husband busted one of his kids for using the word "shiznit". She denied there was anything wrong with it.
Remember when you'd get sent to the office for saying, "sucks" or even "retarded"? No more. Those are mild-- they're today's "darn". True, you can swing your weight around and bust them for it, but you're commonly seen as a nitpicker for it. I've caught kids using racial slurs I didn't hear until I was a teen. As for "gay" and "queer" and even "lesbo"-- don't even get me started. I have never seen kids so obsessed with these terms (derogatorily, of course). I don't let this go, ever. Of course, because I harp on it so much, there was a rumor flying around that I was a lesbian, despite the fact that my husband works right there in the same school.
Oh, and a nine-year-old boy flipped my husband off last week for sending him to his reading class. Unluckily for him, the 6th grade teacher turned the corner & caught him.
This is just the elementary school. I cannot begin to detail the foul language at the middle & high schools, but truthfully, that doesn't bother me much-- unless it's sexual in nature, bigoted, or the ever-popular heterosexist lexicon.
Remember when you'd get sent to the office for saying, "sucks" or even "retarded"? No more. Those are mild-- they're today's "darn". True, you can swing your weight around and bust them for it, but you're commonly seen as a nitpicker for it. I've caught kids using racial slurs I didn't hear until I was a teen. As for "gay" and "queer" and even "lesbo"-- don't even get me started. I have never seen kids so obsessed with these terms (derogatorily, of course). I don't let this go, ever. Of course, because I harp on it so much, there was a rumor flying around that I was a lesbian, despite the fact that my husband works right there in the same school.
Oh, and a nine-year-old boy flipped my husband off last week for sending him to his reading class. Unluckily for him, the 6th grade teacher turned the corner & caught him.
This is just the elementary school. I cannot begin to detail the foul language at the middle & high schools, but truthfully, that doesn't bother me much-- unless it's sexual in nature, bigoted, or the ever-popular heterosexist lexicon.
spoken by Sister Morpheme at 7:36 AM
2 Rants:
When everyone about them, including yclept "models" and "authority figures" is perceived (and often rightly so) as lying, then logos becomes cheap, worthless, and unreliable.
Denying is part & parcel with swearing - words themselves are meaningless verbal widgets. Use them, abuse them, toss them about however - ignore them, deny them. Bitter lesson for a word-person to swallow.
Sister morpheme
While I agree with you that the kinds of bigotry that shows up in kids swearing is shocking, kids themselves don't make up the slurs. They get them from the culture at large. Therefore, it is not the kids you should be exasperated with but the culture (sexist, rascist, homophobic and WOW, PATRIARCHAL). So please,don't blame the kids. Educate them. That, apparently, is your job.
And while I'm on the subject of education: you need to examine your own use of language. I mean, what does "... flipped my husband off" mean, really, think about it. Please.
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