My wife's a retired children's librarian from a public city library. Quite a few similar observations from her over the years. Not that a lot of kids aren't going to eventually learn to swear like sailors (I certainly did, though not from my father, who was a merchant seaman before I came along but kept his profanity to an occasional 'da…
My wife's a retired children's librarian from a public city library. Quite a few similar observations from her over the years. Not that a lot of kids aren't going to eventually learn to swear like sailors (I certainly did, though not from my father, who was a merchant seaman before I came along but kept his profanity to an occasional 'damn' or two). Just kind of disheartening that so many are never taught or never learn when to turn it on and off. I can hurl the F-bomb with the best of 'em when properly provoked, but after 5 decades of listening to 'shop talk' containing various levels of profanity on a daily basis, it gets a bit old after a while.
Spent a decade plus working in a shop often elbow to elbow with a guy who'd been there for many years and who was the most ill-tempered, profane and vulgar man I've ever known. It all got to be pretty much background noise after a while, but to illustrate...
A newly hired machinist was walking past where I was working at one end of the shop at the exact moment this fellow crashed his mill at the other end. The new guy stopped, turned around and listened in obvious amazement at the profanity-saturated tirade boiling over about 20 yards away. He then turned to me and said in all seriousness "I didn't know a human being could say the word f**k so many times without taking a breath."
I literally cracked up, then managed to choke out "Welcome to our world" while gesturing at the other fellows in the area, who though capable of salty language themselves, still looked askance at this miscreant's constant flow of verbal sewage.
My wife's a retired children's librarian from a public city library. Quite a few similar observations from her over the years. Not that a lot of kids aren't going to eventually learn to swear like sailors (I certainly did, though not from my father, who was a merchant seaman before I came along but kept his profanity to an occasional 'damn' or two). Just kind of disheartening that so many are never taught or never learn when to turn it on and off. I can hurl the F-bomb with the best of 'em when properly provoked, but after 5 decades of listening to 'shop talk' containing various levels of profanity on a daily basis, it gets a bit old after a while.
Spent a decade plus working in a shop often elbow to elbow with a guy who'd been there for many years and who was the most ill-tempered, profane and vulgar man I've ever known. It all got to be pretty much background noise after a while, but to illustrate...
A newly hired machinist was walking past where I was working at one end of the shop at the exact moment this fellow crashed his mill at the other end. The new guy stopped, turned around and listened in obvious amazement at the profanity-saturated tirade boiling over about 20 yards away. He then turned to me and said in all seriousness "I didn't know a human being could say the word f**k so many times without taking a breath."
I literally cracked up, then managed to choke out "Welcome to our world" while gesturing at the other fellows in the area, who though capable of salty language themselves, still looked askance at this miscreant's constant flow of verbal sewage.