The other day, this headline from Elizabeth Nickson’s Substack appeared on a website I visit daily: “’Give Us Back Our Fu**ing Money.’ How Washington Stole Everything.”

Breitbart ran the following headline the same day: “Kyle Busch Threatens Opposing Driver: ‘I’m Gonna Wreck His A**!’” As reported in the article, that was the mildest of the NASCAR driver’s profanities.

A post covering the appointment of talk show host Dan Bongino to the position of FBI Deputy Director included an obscenity-laced rant Bongino wrote in 2022 after that agency’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. You can read it here.

These headlines aren’t unusual nor are the commentators from all parts of the political spectrum who now freely weave profanity in their reporting. In 2021, for instance, the popular Megyn Kelly said, “I (expletive) love the swearing.” Media personalities Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson routinely toss around profanities during their interviews with guests.

Some celebrities also show an affinity for what was once considered crudity. Robert DeNiro lost the respect of many of his fans for the F-bombs he spat out at Trump. Novelist Stephen King left X in November because it was too toxic, but returned on Feb. 20, saying: “Just wanted to say that Trump is a traitorous, Putin-loving dips**t! Goes double for Elon!” King apparently missed the irony of his own toxic words.

Given our propensity for four-letter words, it should come as no surprise that America leads the world in swearing. A 2024 analysis of 1.7 million English-language tweets show that our nation ranks far ahead of the closest runner-up, Great Britain, in our use of profanities.

Wordtips, the blog that conducted this study, tells us, “Swearing has become fun again,” and “that just means we’re going to be exposed to more of it and that’s going to normalize it, and so people have become inured.” Mental Floss sums up what some contend are the advantages to cussing: “[L]etting curse words fly has been linked to everything from intelligence and honesty to an increase in our ability to tolerate pain.”

If obscene language is acceptable, why do so many editors and bloggers still use the grawlix, those symbols like %#, for swear words rather than the word itself?

Plenty of people I know never or rarely curse, but I have a friend who routinely constructs a string of obscene words, some of them vivid and disgusting, when we’re alone. When we’re around my grandkids, those same words never make an appearance. So, if cursing is so swell and dandy, then why do parents and almost everyone else attempt to protect children from vulgarities? And do we really want our four-year-old declaring, “I hate fu*#ing broccoli and I’m not going to eat this s%#t?”

And finally, what does our increased use of once-obscene language in our conversations and in the public square say of our culture? Does it elevate our social and civil interactions, or is it one more sign of crudity in our increasingly ragtag civilization? Does it add or subtract to the dignity of the human person?

Some public commentators recognize and honor these concerns. Newsmax contributor and radio talk show host Jennifer Kerns has said:

My goal is to have a show that moms can listen to as they drive their kids to school, therefore it’s got to be clean … we have conservatives, families and religious audiences tuning in. I feel a higher calling in my career to live up to Christian standards. It’s easy not to curse on-air—it just takes some creativity and an impeccable vocabulary.

My mother agreed absolutely with this stance. I don’t remember the circumstances – perhaps I said some word that was never spoken in our house – but Mom sat me down and explained that people cursed because they were angry or ignorant, and lacked the vocabulary and temperament to better explain themselves. That was long, long ago, but the conversation stuck with me.

Language is infectious, which means I do curse from time to time, mostly when I’m alone. But I don’t like that in myself, and I don’t want to die someday with the last word from my lips being some stupidity like “s%#t,” so I’m always working on self-censorship.

If it’s a choice between joining a culture of crudity or heeding my mother’s wise advice, Mom wins hands-down every time.

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image Credit: Pixahive