The Insanity of Profanity

I realized last night while playing at open gym that I really have a low tolerance for people who excessively spew profanity. I'm not talking about people who occasionally use an expletive when extremely frustrated (although, that is also uncalled for). I'm referring to those whom swearing is a part of everyday vocabulary. Those who cannot go more than a couple of sentences (or a trip up and down the basketball floor) without a thundering rendition of a foul four-letter word.

The thing that bothers me the most is that people who are constantly using profanity do not take the time to think about the words they are using. I mean, when someone says, for example, "What the F---" do they really understand what they are saying? I mean, it really doesn't even make sense, if you take them literally.

But that is just the surface of the issue here. What constant profanity really reveals is a lack of maturity, intelligence, and self-control. Let's look at maturity first:

Most of the guys I played open gym with last night are out of high school, quite a few are out of college. You would think that a "man" (I use that term loosely) around the ages of 18-24 would have grown out of the need to be "cool" by usng expletives. It really is a very juvenile thing to do. I mean, think about it, you really don't start hearing those types of words from kids until junior high. Maybe I've just been too "sheltered" or "bubbled" but it seems to me that by senior year of high school most kids have figured out that it just sounds downright stupid when one is constantly swearing.

Now, I also feel as though excessive expletive usage also points to a grave lack of intelligence. Now you may be thinking, "There are smart people who swear a lot." I would submit to you that those people are not as "smart" as you think they are. I'm not talking about the kind of intelligence that gives you a 36 on the ACT and gets you into Princeton. I'm talking about the kind of intelligence that causes a person to think before they speak. People who think about what they say before they say it are, to me, "advanced." However, the reality is that most people don't employ the simple method of thinking twice. (I guess in a way I could be referring to "book intelligence," because if one has spent twenty years of their life in school, including time in higher education, and still can't think of a better way to express oneself, then I suppose they really are stupid. Either that or they just didn't pay attention in class.)

But I'm still really only on the surface of my beef here. The heart of the issue is an immense lack of self-control. And this even applies to the use of "Christian-cursing" which I myself have been guilty of ("Christian-cursing"" is, on some level, even worse than using expletives, but I wont get into that here). The bottom line is that educated people should be able to control themselves and just use normal vocabulary. This is especially true on the basketball court (really in any sport). It really is not that hard to go through a came and not say anything to express frustration. Trust me, I do it all the time. What this issue comes down to is people being willing to control their emotions, and just keep their mouths shut. In regards to people who just use expletives as adjectives in everyday conversation, You just need to think about what you say before you say it. If there is not better way to express your idea other than using a handful of expletives, it would probably be best if you just didn't say anything at all.