As I walked past an outdoor cafe a teenager uttered a stream of obscenities.
I turned in astonishment, wondering what I’d done to upset her so much. However, her abuse wasn’t directed at me, and although she was talking loudly, she didn’t appear to be angry, she was merely conversing with her friends.
Outgoing chief censor, Bill Hastings, said it may seem hypocritical that language which is the norm in the streets is censored in films, but it would be damaging to young people if that sort of language was normalised.
I’m not objecting to the censorship, but I think the battle is lost.
The story I recounted above is not unusual. Language which used to be offensive to most, and still is to some, is part of ordinary conversation for a growing number of others.
Homepaddock 
I blame rap and hip hop, yet the young are expected to believe that such primitive rubbish is trendy.
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Accept it or not, bad language in the young is a sign of sloppy thought processes, and for too many an indication that they wont progress in life.
I make the distinction between people who use bad language for emphasis.. they are using the whole of the language to express themselves, but again for too many the bad language is simply a significant part of their vocabulary and thought.. they are surely lost.
JC
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[…] Bad language is already normalised « Homepaddock […]
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Being Irish, I swear prodigiously but also – and most importantly – I swear WELL. Young folk these days seem incapable of uttering a sentence that doesn’t involve the odd word propped up by a series of “effs”. The f-word should be used like a hammer, to nail home your point; never as a crutch to support a crippled skeleton of incoherence.
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Ah, Bearhunter, well spoken. Only the Irish……….!
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Having spent the first 17 years of my life on farms I learned all of the swear words at an early age. It was obvious then that they were the only words sheep dogs would respond to lol.
I pride myself on the fact that my late mother in law used to say that she never heard me swear. Don’t worry I do use those words but never in front of women, including my wife, and only for effect, usually under my breath.
Yet my children, 3 girls and a boy, all swear profusely – they did not learn it from me.
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