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Posted: July 24th, 2007 at 2:03am By: Rev. Jay Speights
In this column last week, I told you that our country had a collective foul mouth and that the use of foul language in our society was as American as apple pie. If you recall, I asked that we begin the work of cleaning up America's foul mouth by policing the language of each other and ourselves. And that we could start by asking those in our presence who use foul language to stop it. In addition, I stated that there were several words I wanted to stop using, and that I would give the person closest to me a one-dollar bill whenever I used one of those words. Well, I had an interesting week, and I thought I would share my experiences as a member of the language police with you.
First, let me say I paid 30 one-dollar bills as a result of my inability to stop using my favorite cuss words. Most of them were on the golf course. I also owe $15 to various individuals who were around when one of my words rolled off my lips and I had already used up all of my dollars. In other words, I needed a lot of ones on me to cover my foul mouth, and I will make sure to pay those individuals. By the end of the week, I found that I was using the D-word and H-word a lot less. So I have to say that my self-policing efforts were good and certainly paid off for others.
Now the most interesting experiences I had over the last week as a member of the language police involved asking others to watch their usage. First, let me say that I found it is not advisable to ask strangers on the street to watch their foul mouths. When I asked strangers to watch their foul mouths, many of them responded with a highly skilled display of cussing and hand gestures and a few wanted to fight. I guess since I don't have real police powers, I will just turn a deaf ear to foul-mouthed strangers in the future.
So let's talk about my policing efforts with my family, friends and coworkers. I have to report that I am surprised how successful my policing efforts were with most of them. Some of my close friends and family members understood my language-policing concept very well after reading the column, and a few agreed and said they would consider joining the language police. Hey, after all, some of those one-dollar bills fell into their palms as well.
Now, some of my buddies on the golf course didn't care about my language policing efforts. A few of the ones that I spoke with felt that the cussing and dirty jokes are part of golf course culture. After all, if the No. 1 golfer in the world, Tiger Woods, can let the cuss words fly after hitting a bad shot on worldwide television, then it must be acceptable in golf culture. Not!
That's pretty much all I have to report about my first full week as a member of the language police. What did I learn from this experience that I can offer to my fellow foul-mouthed countrymen and -women? Well, by trying not to cuss, I became more aware of my inner state and also how I relate to others in general. And it made me want to be more respectful and polite in all of my interactions.
So that's it. We all need to go inside and establish a more civil and kinder inner dialogue and manifest it outward to our community. This will make America a more civil and kinder place, and it will certainly clean up our collective foul mouth. That's worth all of those one-dollar bills I handed out in the past week, isn't it? Again, I urge you to join the language police.
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Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website or at harmoniousday.webexone.com. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Jay Speights.
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In this column last week, I told you that our country had a collective foul mouth and that the use of foul language in our society was as American as apple pie. If you recall, I asked that we begin the work of cleaning up America's foul mouth by policing the language of each other and ourselves. And that we could start by asking those in our presence who use foul language to stop it. In addition, I stated that there were several words I wanted to stop using, and that I would give the person closest to me a one-dollar bill whenever I used one of those words. Well, I had an interesting week, and I thought I would share my experiences as a member of the language police with you.
First, let me say I paid 30 one-dollar bills as a result of my inability to stop using my favorite cuss words. Most of them were on the golf course. I also owe $15 to various individuals who were around when one of my words rolled off my lips and I had already used up all of my dollars. In other words, I needed a lot of ones on me to cover my foul mouth, and I will make sure to pay those individuals. By the end of the week, I found that I was using the D-word and H-word a lot less. So I have to say that my self-policing efforts were good and certainly paid off for others.
Now the most interesting experiences I had over the last week as a member of the language police involved asking others to watch their usage. First, let me say that I found it is not advisable to ask strangers on the street to watch their foul mouths. When I asked strangers to watch their foul mouths, many of them responded with a highly skilled display of cussing and hand gestures and a few wanted to fight. I guess since I don't have real police powers, I will just turn a deaf ear to foul-mouthed strangers in the future.
So let's talk about my policing efforts with my family, friends and coworkers. I have to report that I am surprised how successful my policing efforts were with most of them. Some of my close friends and family members understood my language-policing concept very well after reading the column, and a few agreed and said they would consider joining the language police. Hey, after all, some of those one-dollar bills fell into their palms as well.
Now, some of my buddies on the golf course didn't care about my language policing efforts. A few of the ones that I spoke with felt that the cussing and dirty jokes are part of golf course culture. After all, if the No. 1 golfer in the world, Tiger Woods, can let the cuss words fly after hitting a bad shot on worldwide television, then it must be acceptable in golf culture. Not!
That's pretty much all I have to report about my first full week as a member of the language police. What did I learn from this experience that I can offer to my fellow foul-mouthed countrymen and -women? Well, by trying not to cuss, I became more aware of my inner state and also how I relate to others in general. And it made me want to be more respectful and polite in all of my interactions.
So that's it. We all need to go inside and establish a more civil and kinder inner dialogue and manifest it outward to our community. This will make America a more civil and kinder place, and it will certainly clean up our collective foul mouth. That's worth all of those one-dollar bills I handed out in the past week, isn't it? Again, I urge you to join the language police.
— — —
Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website or at harmoniousday.webexone.com. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Jay Speights.
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