Monday, March 9, 2009

Cussing, Cursing, Swearing and other Vulgarities

In his book, Vulgarians at the Gate, entertainment legend, the late Steve Allen compares vulgar language to smoking. “The hideous stench of smoking befouls the air of every social gathering from eating establishments to airlines,” he declared. Then, Mr. Allen goes on to propose that we borrow the strategy that successfully diminished the popularity of smoking, and use it to attack the onslaught of other vulgarities. In other words, in the same manner that smoking has been deemed socially unacceptable, it might be possible to sway the cultural mainstream into declaring that foul language is objectionable. One small step toward a return to civility -- what a concept! (more)