Potty Mouth

Post date: Sep 26, 2018 12:9:4 PM

I do not like foul language. I do not use profanity but I normally keep my mouth shut when others wants to get "colorful" with their language. But today after hearing a person on TV being bleeped several times I thought I would share a couple stories.

I know this musing may be offensive to some, because some people will feel like I am sitting in judgement but the truth is, I am not. I just don't like hearing it and choose not to use it. I feel it does not really serve a person well to use profanity. I know some like to say they have a need to express themselves, but I would say if they need to resort to profanity to express themselves, then they should work on their vocabulary.

Story 1. I hope this story will be amusing for you. Years ago while working a job, we had a metal cabinet in which tools and chemicals like WD-40 were kept for everyone's use. But one man decided to put his toolbelt in this cabinet and hang a padlock onto it. When other employees could not get something from the cabinet they then complained to the person who had locked the cabinet. He went into a long spill for a few minutes on how he had to lock his tools up or people will still his tools. But instead of using the word tools he used the word normally used for excrement starting with the letter S. On and on he went on using this word at least a half-dozen times or more. Finally in the middle of his little tirade I walked over to cock my head and stare stupidly at him. He finally stops to look at me and asks WHAT!!!??? I then told him I was confused to which he asked what I was confused about. I told him I just couldn't understand why he was concern over his manure being stolen that he felt he needed to lock it up. To which everyone laughed and he finally did himself. He then admitted he was actually was talking about something else than his tools. He then said he never had thought about what he been actually saying. The word tools was just as easy to say but he was in the habit of using profanity. He did clean up his language some afterwards. Another friend a few days later smashed his thumb, paused clutching his hand, then with a smile looked at me and yelled "MANURE".

Story 2. Back in the 1990s I was wiring a 420 foot dairy barn when a twelve year old boy who was raise in a strict religious home was working there after school let loose some words in front of a couple of friends. I had gotten to know the boy and liked him. He was hard working and quite capable. I realized he was showing off for his friends and did not say anything. But later when we were alone I asked him if he knew what white trash was. He said he didn't. I then told him to imagine that one day he got lost and turned down a road that led to a run down trailer park. There was trash, broken beer bottles and several junk cars everywhere. Many of the house trailers had broken windows. Dirty children with granny beads on their necks, looked like they haven't had a bath in a week played in the yard. One toddler had a loaded diaper that looked like it was about to fall off under its own weight. The father laid in a hammock dead to the world with empty beer cans under him. The mother was busy cussing at the children while leaning out a window. She had a cigarette dangling from from her mouth with a ridiculously long ash on it and wore a filthy tee shirt that looked as if she been wiping her dirty hands on it. I then told him the people I had described would be considered to be white trash. I went on to explain that people judge us by the words we use. If we sound like white trash, then that is the image we would project. He didn't say anything and I went back to my work. I only hope that I gave him pause and reconsider his choice of words he used in life.