Is swearing a curse?

I recently observed a conversation between two young boys in an office waiting room. I’m guessing the boys were about 7 years old. The youngsters were discussing superheroes and who was tougher. Then the conversation switched to discussing which of the boy’s fathers could beat the other one’s father up.

I thought this was cute right up until one of the boys released a tirade of curse words on the other one. Now I’m talking about a string of curse words that would cause a sailor to blush. Some of the words I haven’t heard since I watched a

Richard Pryor concert on television.

All of this took place in front of two women who I assumed were the kid’s mothers. Neither looked up or even seemed to notice the deluge of profanity coming from the young boy. Just when I was afraid it was going to get worse, the R-rated boy was called into the back, preventing the event from escalating.

According to a study conducted by Timothy Jay, a psychology professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, children are learning to use profanity at an earlier age. His research also found children are swearing more often than children did just a few decades ago. Jay suggests the rise in profanity among children is not surprising, given the general rise in swearing by adults.

Research suggests curse words make up 3 to 7 percent of the average adult’s language on a daily basis. So it would appear that children are just following the example set by the adults.

“As soon as kids can speak, they’re using swear words,” says Jay. “That doesn’t mean they know what adults know, but they do repeat the words they hear.”

Jay also attributes low self-esteem and poor stress management skills to learning to curse at an early age.

None of us are perfect and I say my share of curse words, but I’ve made a conscious effort to not swear in front of my children. If either of my kids were to use the words that the boy did in the office, severe discipline would be coming their way in short order.

It is not the 7-year-old I blame; it is his parents. To sit there and do nothing while the child said the things he did illustrated to me that it was commonplace for people to speak that way in his household.

We have all said at various times, “What is wrong with kids today?” I think we should look for that answer in the older generations. Kids do not learn this behavior on their own. Someone has to teach them and it goes without saying that someone had to teach those kid’s parents and so on. Looks like there is plenty of blame to go around.

Of course there is one benefit to cursing in front of your parents. You learn to savor the unique, creamy flavor of your mother’s favorite soap. Top of my mom’s soap menu was Ivory. Oh, I can still remember the bitter, chalky, sour tang to this day.

I wonder if the mothers of today use body wash instead of soap? Maybe that is the problem, nobody uses old school bars of soap anymore. Damned if I know.

Uh oh …