Give Profanity the Respect It Deserves

One of my favorite lines in the 1983 classic movie “A Christmas Story” is adult Ralphie’s reflection on his father’s penchant for, ahem, colorful language: “He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.”

Yes, like oil painting or sculpting, profanity is an art. However, I’ll make a confession: Like Ralphie’s old man, I’m a chronic over-user of profanity. But I’m trying to change my ways—though maybe not for the reason you’d expect. Actually, it’s because I like profanity so much that I think we should all use it less. To put it another way, as with art, more may not always mean better.

Use—and overuse—of profanity is very much in fashion these days. According to a recent national HarrisX poll conducted for the Deseret News, a majority of Americans say they are fine with hearing profanity in public. What’s more, the same survey finds that the people who will soon be running the country, younger adults, are much less bothered by the profusion of public profanity than are older Americans.

Maybe because of these shifts in attitude, our politicians are now also publicly embracing curse words. Donald Trump is a frequent profanity-user on the campaign trail, and Beto O’Rourke garnered some news coverage when he heaved an f-bomb at a heckler during his ill-fated run for Texas governor in 2022. They are by no means alone. Speaking of the f-word, public affairs software program Quorum recently analyzed members of Congress’ X usage, and it found that occurrences of “f***”—including tweets and retweets—rose from zero in 2015 to 205 in 2023.

From average people to celebrities to politicians, Americans today seem less concerned about being tactful than they do about being authentic—and the act of cursing conveys a sense of authenticity. It shows a “realness” that comes with feeling uninhibited by propriety. But profanity isn’t a “use it or lose it” kind of thing. Quite the contrary: The more we use profane words, the less powerful they become.

There are few, if any, words that convey the strong feelings that are captured in a profane outburst—the pain of accidentally hitting your thumb with a hammer, for example, or the euphoria of winning a Super Bowl. But these days, profanity isn’t just saved for the most intense moments we experience, and as a result, it simply means less than it used to. Hearing a curse word in public really isn’t that surprising anymore—it’s just part of the background noise. In short, we use profanity so much these days that we’ve robbed these words of the power they once had.

Let me go a little further: I think our overuse of profanity is a sign of how lazy we’ve become about how we speak. For some people, curse words have supplanted use of “um” or “er” as a placeholder. Others use profanity in the place of an acerbic criticism or insult—and that’s really a shame. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once said of an attack from opposition leader John Hewson that his comments were just like “being flogged by a warm lettuce” or “mauled by a dead sheep.” Think of how much less powerful and memorable it would have been if Keating had simply called Hewson “f---ing weak!”

Again, I’m no profanity hater. Put me in the camp of Harvard professor Arthur Brooks, who wrote a couple years back in The Atlantic that swearing can make us happier, but that we have to use these words with care in order to maximize the happiness we get from them. (Yes, even cursing is subject to the law of diminishing returns.) So, to respect the power of profanity, we would do well, as Brooks says, to be mindful of how we use it, actively choosing to use a curse for great emphasis or to project the gravity of a situation instead of tossing it off casually.

At the same time, we ought to reclaim the full range of words at our disposal to express our complicated, messy thoughts and emotions. The Oxford English Dictionary says there are about 170,000 words in the English language currently in use. Our feelings have a depth and nuance that profanity simply can’t convey—but we have a deep bench of words that can capture this wide spectrum of sentiments (or deal a verbal death blow to your enemies, if that’s your thing).

While profanity is an art, overuse means we’re in danger of it losing its usefulness for good. I for one would like to see its bold and bright colors preserved, so it really means something when we finally use it.

Meanwhile ...

What I’m up to: It’s Eclipse Week! This Monday will mark the first total solar eclipse since 2017. That means those in the zone of totality will be treated to a couple of minutes of darkness, as the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth and fully blocks the face of the Sun. I don’t live in the zone of totality, but I’m heading to New York’s Finger Lakes to take in this astronomically awesome event (with proper eye protection, of course!).

The Finger Lakes is one of my favorite parts of the country—not just because of its wonderful wine, but also because it’s home to my favorite museum: the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG). Located about half an hour south of the southernmost point of Seneca Lake, Corning is a longtime, world-renowned home for both industrial and artistic glassmaking, and CMOG is an absolutely wonderful introduction to both processes. It’s a museum that truly has something for everyone—it’s part art gallery, part history museum and part science center. Plus, if you’re the hands-on type, the museum offers glassmaking opportunities for all ages—including glassblowing, beadmaking, fusing and etching. You can’t get a much better souvenir than a piece of glass you’ve made yourself!

What I’m watching: But if you can’t get to Corning anytime soon, you can do the next best thing by watching “Blown Away” on Netflix. In this reality show, some of the country’s best artistic glassmakers compete in a range of timed glassblowing challenges, including a final museum installation showdown, in the hopes of securing a cash prize and a residency at CMOG.

The show’s fourth season just concluded, and all four are worth checking out: Much like CMOG, “Blown Away” is a great way to learn the basics about the world of glass. It takes you right into the midst of the glassblowing studio (known in the biz as the “hot shop”), showing up close what it takes to create breathtaking works of art out of a finicky and unforgiving material.

Finally: Jon Gabriel is back this week, with the latest entry in his new column, “The Autodidact.” We also have essays by Kimberlee Josephson on the recent abuses of antitrust law and David Masci in praise of used bookstores. I hope you have a wonderful week!

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