@!$%^#

I just finished reading "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. Yes, it was an Oprah book of the month. I don't usually read her recommended books because of the language and content. But this one was an autobiography so I thought I would give it go. The book made me think and Larry and I did have some interesting discussions. (Another post for another day) One thing it made me think about was language and how it is used. The book is full of crass words. You name it and it is in there. After a while my mind would just skip over the f-word like it was a place holder. It was used as a noun, adjective, verb, exclamation. You get the idea.

So what makes a bad word a bad word? Is it how we use the word in our culture? Is it the value we place on a word? When I taught Third grade one of my students asked if Indians (Native Americans) had swear words. I told him I didn't know, but most cultures do have what we would call swear words. One of the other kids piped up with his version of an Indian swear word. Something like shokypocky. It made me laugh at the time.

Our Pastor's kid had her own version of a bad word when she was a rebel toddler. She made up her own anger bad word. Whenever she was mad at her mom she would use it. Sounds funny and we might be tempted to laugh at our kid if they did that, but Pastor's wife was wise to see the motivation behind the language and didn't allow her to use her word.

Take the word suck. Many of us would consider "That sucks" to be crass and we wouldn't say it. But many high school kids today don't even know the connotation of that phrase. So is it still a bad word? Will it be crass in 20 years? Or will it be the same as "that stinks"?

My kids don't really know what bad words are. We have never pointed them out. (I am not talking about using God's name in vain here.) Yesterday afternoon while we were watching a movie on a cable channel one of the movie commentators slipped in the a-word. The girls didn't even notice. Larry and I were a bit surprised. It was 4 o clock in the afternoon. We didn't say anything about it. We just ignored it. Sometimes Claire, who listens carefully and picks up vocabulary easily, will ask what a bad word means. We tell her it is a crass way to say what you really mean.

I know what the Bible tells me about my language. It mirrors what is in my heart. And maybe I am not using socially unacceptable words, but when I get angry what comes out of my mouth? Is it acceptable to God?