The Language of the Streets
The Rise of Profanity in Our Public Spaces
In recent decades, the use of profanities seems to be commonplace in our common spaces. As an antidote to feelings of being powerless, we're told that the use of expletives adds gusto to what one has to say, even if it only has the effect of making one feel more powerful at the moment, in an increasingly chaotic world.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, The word 'profane' dates from the 14th century, signifying desecration – the treatment of something sacred “with abuse, irreverence or contempt."
Some would point out that it's the language of choice for the disadvantaged, and some teachers of English as a Second Language provide instruction to students to use it as a warning to others to “back off,” when the situation seems to call for it – as an alternative to accommodation. Others note that the use of humor and a confidently quick wit can be equally effective, to diffuse intimidation of all sorts.
It’s clear that the social proscriptions against swearing in the past were a kind of tacit advice to avoid finding oneself in a kind of hopeless situation which gives rise to the use of it. For those who have never faced the great obstacles: hunger, chronic mental or physical illness, deep despair and rage – often springing from righteous indignation of all kinds – the use of vulgarity could be seen, from a distance, as a form of social "disease." On closer look, it's probably more a symptom of greater, more serious, issues which have been neglected – either actively or passively – which need to be effectively addressed.
There are certainly a good number of Americans who still believe that in a civil society this language is not acceptable in a public forum – while accepting that the language individuals care to use in a private forum remains clearly their own business.
Public Broadcast Restrictions
The FCC here in the U.S. defines profanity as “including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance,” and profane speech – like indecency, generally – is prohibited on radio and television broadcasting on the public airwaves between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children are more likely to be viewing and listening. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that obscene material, by contrast, is not protected by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution and may not be broadcast on the public airwaves at any time.
The use of language can be a performance of art or product of craft. The New York-based art critic Robert Pincus Whitten reminds us, essentially, that while craft reflects the culture, it's art that moves it forward. It’s would seem reasonable to encourage students and others to "choose their own way" of responding in a difficult situation, that is more artful than crafty, so long as it’s effective.
The overuse of this language of invectives in modern times springs as much from extreme poverty, inadequate nutrition, the effects of racism of all varieties, and alienation – from families, from communities, and from belief systems, both religious and traditional. Younger generations may even have adopted it – unintentionally – as a pattern of cultural identity, perhaps in solidarity with the disadvantaged; an acknowledgment that the attitudes and institutions which failed to address these social and economic challenges may not be as worthy of deference and respect, after all. This has important implications for our social fabric, which has at the base of it one individual at a time, from which “the many” is forged.
Sources and Suggestions for Additional Reading:
Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Edwin Battistella, Bad Language: Are Some Words Better Than Others? (Oxford Univ. Press, 2005)
Andrea Millwood-Hargrave, Delete expletives? (Research undertaken jointly by the Advertising Standards Authority, British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcasting Standards Commission and the Independent Television Commission, December 2000); Bad language: What are the limits? (1998) BSC; Viewers and Family Viewing Policy (2001) BBC, ITC, BSC; Swearing & Sexual imagery in broadcasting (2005) Ofcom (The regulator for the UK communications industries, charged with “applying adequate protection for audiences against offensive or harmful material.”)
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.
