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Is Profanity Chill? Or Should We Chill on the Profanity?
February 15, 2012
Filed under News
It’s literally impossible to attend a full day of school and not hear one cuss word come out of someone’s mouth, whether it be a student or a teacher. It seems the school has transformed into a prison hall full of bad mouthed prisoners.
Senior Tyler Kivley has been surrounded by cussing all four years at school, but he does not swear.
“I think swearing is a personal choice,” Kivley said. “It hasn’t influenced me or the things I say.”
Although Kivley doesn’t choose to swear himself, being around cussing doesn’t really bother him.
“Other people swearing is beyond my control,” Kivley said. “If a person chooses to swear so be it, I am not going to correct them on it.”
Since swearing occurs so much at school, there is no doubt that some teachers and supervisors have been exposed to it.
English teacher Corinne Jolliff hears cussing everyday.
“I can’t walk the hall without hearing someone drop the F-bomb,” Jolliff said. “It makes me cringe.”
Jolliff does have a certain “tolerance” when it comes to understanding why someone might have used a swear word.
“There’s various reasons why people swear. It could be out of anger or frustration,” Jolliff said. “The people who swear because they are too ignorant to think of anything else to say are the ones that bother me.”
Jolliff tries not to let her judgement kick in when she hears her students say swear words.
“I have lost that certain aspect of respect for someone who constantly ran their mouth in class, even after being warned,” Jolliff said. “I feel that if they cannot respect me enough to keep it outside the classroom, I shouldn’t respect them.”
Students might be the main offenders when it comes to swearing, but stories of teachers or campus supervisors letting words “slip” is not unheard of.
“I’m not perfect,” Jolliff said. “And I know that there are probably many other adults here that aren’t either. Sometimes you just lose it, and it seems uncontrollable.
Junior Mickey Walbridge is one who Jolliff hears.
“I live with a very open family and cussing has just become part of my language,” Walbridge said. “There’s various reasons that could cause me to cuss, but the biggest reason I do is because I believe cussing is very effective in making a point.”
Senior Donovan Souza plays both roles when it comes to swearing.
“I admit that sometimes I do swear. It’s something I’m obviously not proud of but it has happened,” Souza said. “It is my personal choice to swear, and its just become part of the vocabulary.”
Souza isn’t necessarily offended by swearing, but he doesn’t like when people swear “directly” at one another.
“I hate true verbal abuse. I don’t like when people swear at one another because it’s just crude,” Souza said. “Especially when people fight and call one another names such as the B-word.”
When it comes to timeliness, Souza is very careful of what he says because he feels with certain individuals he has to uphold a certain image of himself.
“Swearing for me is a voluntary action,” Souza said. “I’m self aware when I’m at church, around families, or in a professional environment.”
Due to Souza’s guidelines with his own swearing, he is “critical” of others who do not show the same discipline.
“Teachers, who swear in class, show a lack of restraint and self control,” Souza said. “I’m not offended by it; it’s just judgement that naturally comes to mind when I hear a teacher or role model who is supposed to be setting a good example cuss. It’s not exactly viewed positively.”