7:25 AM
I'm curious as to whether or not the title today made you think of Disney's Peter Pan. It made me do so. When I thought of that particular phrase, I mentally sung the song "What Makes the Red Man Red," and those lyrics made me think of Disney and other cultural conspiracy theories, which might be fun to talk about at some point, and if I do I'll tell you why I thought of the conspiracy theory bit (for instance, remember how The Wonderful World of Disney used to come on TV on Sunday nights, when all good folks should have been at church? Conspiracy or just regular ol' programming?).
How's that for getting diverted from the subject even before getting into it? Here we go, getting on track...
Although I love words and using them, I'm not a linguist, so I've not researched this subject all that well. However, I think I have a decent answer to the question, "What makes a bad word bad?"
"And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring." (James 3:10-12, NLT)
Obviously there are some things that a Christ-follower just should not be saying.
Some of you may want to brace yourselves, because although what I'm about to say is not swearing, it's not something that you see in print every day. I remember hearing a preacher say something like this in a sermon when I was a teenager: "When you say one particular curse word about someone, you're actually asking God to damn that person," as in, asking God to send them to hell. So when a person is swearing at someone, we can directly see that it's a bad thing.
When was the last time you read The Living Bible, by the way? I remember reading it as a kid and having my eyebrows go through the roof at a couple of passages.
Not long ago my think-tank and I (that hopefully makes us all sound intelligent) were looking at the origin of one particular word and found that it had been used as slang pretty much since its inception hundreds of years ago in another country. Seems to have been invented just to be a bad word.
But how about those words that we've grown up being taught that we shouldn't say -- those words that some kids mutter in hushed tones as a sort of rite of passage into teen-dom? The ones that are screamed at drivers who aren't as proficient, observant, and perfect as are we? (I'm not suggesting that I do this -- I'm just using "we" because it works better in the sentence, and I certainly can't accuse you of it.) Culturally these are regarded as "bad" words. Why?
Without Googling (which I hereby declare to be cheating in this case), I'd like to ask you to comment on what you believe generally (or specifically) makes them "bad." In this case, broad, sweeping statements are okay. Let's pretend that there are no wrong answers. Keep your language clean. Heh... After posting your comment, click on the brain above and see what the scientific community seems to say about swearing over at www.HowStuffWorks.com. Very interesting stuff. I really thought it was a joke at first.
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Manga, anyone?
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[image: Serious Post Ahead warning sign]
Not my usual post, thought it needed a warning!
I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, and noticed something that ...
6 comments:
There are some words that my kids are not allowed to say that most other kids are. This confuses my kids, of course. But my reasoning is that these words are just "ugly sounding" and shouldn't be used. I am trying to get my kids to use better language (sigh - we'll see how it goes). I think what makes a word a bad word mainly is the tone and context in which the word is used. For instance, I don't say your typical curse words (unless it's an extremely awful day and it slips out) however I use the Disney character, Jimminy Cricket, as my curse word. Yes, that's right, poor ole' Jimminy Cricket's name gets used when I am beyond frustrated and have no more intelligent word to say. So, it's not his name that's bad, it's the way I'm using it. Now for another blog, if you want to use this one, does my using Jimminy's name AS a curse word make me a hypocrite for not allowing other words to be used that way? Probably. I was just wondering WWJD and I recall his cursing the fig tree, but would that count? Probably not.
That "how stuff works" thing is funny. I had a friend (yes, I DID!) when I worked at RFCU. She would say, "Cheese and crackers!". I would fuss at her because when the first word starting coming out I thought she was using Jesus' name in vain. She never stopped saying it though. Oh well.
I'll remain anonymous and leave a comment.... I understand the argument for such things as "curse" words and what is acceptable and unacceptable. Someone of Faith may take offense to a word that you've yet to be convicted of and then that brings into question of who's right and wrong (in sense, this also plays a vital role in just simple discernment of the words we choose to use and why we've chosen to use the words). Some people may go crazy over some of the weirdest things that they have convictions about and yet we won't think twice about those, because this will really create a dissention among believers. Srsly. "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but whas is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers." ~Paul in Ephesians. What really sticks out to me in that verse is: NECESSARY EDIFICATION and THAT IS MAY IMPART GRACE TO THE HEARERS. (That same grace possibly that has been imparted to us by faith in Christ alone....Continuing on this minor sidenote, Paul was all about not offending his brother as we can read in 1 Cor 10 towards the end of the chapter he says in v.32 "Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." Still even more, Paul's point "Let all things be done for edification". He was very dedicated to ensuring the prayer of Jesus would be exercised, that "They would be One in Us."). This is fun, I should comment more on these blogs : )If I've missed anything, I'll read over this again and probably comment again, like Miss Christy did ; )
As you point out, some words are created to be mean, hateful, and naturally bad. What is interesting to me is "When Good Words Go Bad". A lot of times a good word goes bad when it is used in an entirely different context than what it was meant for. For example, at what point did the word "ass" go from being a common biblical utterance referring to a donkey to represent a part of the human body or a stupid-acting person?
Even though words can have a completely benign meaning in the right context (the above example), there are some words we just shouldn't use (the above example). Why? Because the good that God has given us is very often perverted by man. Therefore, as a Christian some things (even more than words) that aren't 'bad' should be avoided because they're not helpful to our Christian witness or to the cause of Christ.
Maybe how people (Christians and non-Christians alike) perceive something is what makes a "Good [anything] Go Bad". Be careful though, "perception is reality" can lead to moral relativism and legalism.
I wouldn't let my children ever say "that's not fair". It was a "bad word" in our house. Life isn't fair. Get over it. Quit whining.
Different way to look at it?
Phenomenal thoughts and observations! I wish I'd gotten around to replying sooner.
I particularly thought that Anonymous 1's notes, about the fact that everything should be edifying, were right on target.
Going a little deeper, why are some words considered bad in the first place? This is my little way of over-thinking things. I mean, sure, the "B" word (the longer one, in this case) is considered bad and I don't believe the Christ-follower should utilize it in speech. But why is that word bad? What made it that way? Why does our culture raise its eyebrows at it?
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