A little girl called Emma, who lives in the South Island of New Zealand, is running a campaign against swearing. She says we all swear too much and wrote to Close Up, our local current affairs program, expressing her concern. They told her if she did some research into the problem they’d do a news story on her campaign. Nine-year-old Emma spent last month researching the problem. She watched TV, listened to the radio, eavesdropped in the school playground and counted the number of times people swore. It was a lot! There was the F word, the C word, the S word and the B word plus a few variations, I’m sure.
In New Zealand there was a controversy about the word “bugger” especially after Toyota came out with the ad below. Personally, I thought it was amusing (good New Zealand humor) but thousands of people didn’t and complained. You judge for yourself…
I’ll admit. I swear, and thinking about it, the problem became worse after I started writing erotic romance. I guess that when nothing bad happened to me after writing the naughty words, I figured the stories my mother told me about dire punishment weren’t true. I felt free to verbalize the odd naughty word as well. Okay, Emma. I listened to you speaking on TV, and you have a point. There’s no need for us to use such bad language. I promise to do better.
Do you swear? How do you teach your kids not to swear when they’re faced with swearing on the TV and radio on a daily basis?
Oh dear, I have to agree there’s way too much swearing around. And i do swear, even though I don’t (always!) mean to. I never used to when the kids were little and would never allow them to be potty mouthed, but now two of them are considered adults (cough cough) there’s not much I can do about it apart from telling them to watch their mouths…!
And I remember the first time I saw that bugger ad, Shelley, it completely cracked me up!!
by Christina Phillips October 19th, 2007 at 12:49 amI do swear, and hardly even think about it - until now that is.
I’ll do better Emma, promise!
by Red October 19th, 2007 at 5:35 amYes, swearing is almost apart of our everyday speech now.
I swear a bit, not in front of the kids though. I usually have my own colorful words like dingle, dork or whatever; but is that swearing then?
About the commerical, I found it quite amusing. :)
by Amy Ruttan October 19th, 2007 at 5:38 amChristina - I still laugh at the bugger ad. I hadn’t seen it for ages but sat watching it with a grin on my face.
Red - swearing is so much of our everyday lives, the words have lost a lot of their impact anyway. Luckily for both of us we don’t live near Emma because she operates a swear jar at her place.
Amy - in the news story the kids all approved of the colorful type words to replace. We’re meant to say fudge, sugar and bother etc. I must say your words sound like fun
by Shelley Munro October 19th, 2007 at 1:31 pmI worked in environments where swearing was a normal part of conversation, but our children grew up believing I never swore.
I seldom swear if angry, believing it can best be expressed in good English so my target is not distracted from the message (particularly if it’s me I’m angry at)
I am saddened when our daughters swear and am pleased that our son, an Army Sergeant, has followed my lead in addressing subordinates (swearing down at people who can’t respond is distasteful)
Amy
by Amy Gallow October 19th, 2007 at 3:01 pmI swear occasionally. And most of the time I’m quite creative about it, using foreign languages and made up words. It’s a lot more fun to call a bad driver brillenlose Sumpfschleiche (swamp snake-worm without glasses) instead of idiot. :)
by Gabriele October 20th, 2007 at 3:45 pmAmy - yes, I totally agree with your stance on addressing subordinates. Good for you and your son. Oh, you’ll be pleased to know the BBQ is purchased. At last. It was driving me nuts!
Gabriele - I love it! I’m not sure I can pronounce it but I love the translation.
by Shelley Munro October 20th, 2007 at 4:20 pmOh that is Hysterical!!!
by Sam October 21st, 2007 at 1:36 pmBugger isn’t a swear word, is it?
LOL -
I don’t mind swearing. It’s just part of our languege. Nothing to get upset about - unless you’re nine years old and overly sanctimonious. You know, I already feel sorry for her future husband and kids.
I admit - I rarely Ever swear. My husband, the Frenchman, swears fluently while driving.
I do love to listen to colorful language.
I try to keep in mind who is around me and if there is someone who would be offended then I will find another way to express myself. I like to think I have a large enough vocabulary that I have choices.
However, there are times and places where I find it very liberating to just let loose and I do!!
And the clip was hilarious - I’m in the US and hadn’t seen it before -
by keatonkat October 23rd, 2007 at 6:27 pmTrue, it can be very liberating not having to censor words
The ad is a NZ one - it will probably turn up on a “funny ads” TV show at some stage.
by Shelley Munro October 24th, 2007 at 9:49 pm