fuck...

People who know me might notice one little thing, I swear a lot. Some might attribute this to immaturity, others to perceived rebellion. Whenever I hear myself swear, however, I do not feel anything more than it being a natural part of my speech. Yet, when I hear others swear, I cannot help but feel that they are almost a lower being, someone who isn't to be taken as seriously. This just begs me to ask, what do people think about me when I swear?

I still remember "discovering" swear words as a kid. It was in 2nd grade, during the lunch hour, that I had my first real realization that these words were special. I was using this one certain word, a word that my dad had used countless times, to describe how I felt about the taste of the cafeteria food. My friends around me were also casually using this word as well. The use of this word felt invigorating, freeing, and just overall powerful. The way it rolled off the tongue. The fact that no one else was using this word. It was like discovering chocolate or hamburgers (another story for another time) for the first time. A whole new world opened up to me. Yet, that world came crashing down a few minutes later when another kid, a girl who's name I no longer remember, told on us. Well, on me really. She called over the yard narc and told him that I and my friends have been using swear words. The yard narc was pretty cool about it, surprisingly cool looking back, and only told me to stop using that word, its a bad word.

I don't know how we as a society have reserved this one special place for words that supposedly offend people, to the point their use is forbidden in school yards, formal situations, and television. I could look up the etymology of its use and everything, but I feel that would be an exercise in futility. You see, no one really gives a crap. It's all about what it means now.

If you've ever had any sort of cool English teacher, and got them to talk about swear words, you might find out a whole bunch of interesting facts. First and foremost is that the word "fuck" is the most elastic word in the English language, as in, it can be used as a anything from a pronoun to adjective to, of course, a verb. Just look at the ways in which we use the word "fuck"-

"Fuck you!"

"You're a fucking idiot!"

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Who's that fucker over there?"

"I hate that Bill O'Reilly fucker."

"I fucked the hell out of that test."

"That test fucked the hell out of me."

So on and so forth...

A whole fuck load of fucks, huh? Of course, most of people are probably aware of this elasticity. Which brings me to my original question: what do people think of me when I swear?

There are times when I swear that I think back to that first time I was caught swearing and told down. I imagine what it would be like listening to myself as I swear. I must sound like an idiot...

So, I don't know if there is really a point to this rant. But, if there is a point to all this, I think it would be that people have got to stop caring about swear words so much. Sure, to have kids running around saying "fuck" and "shit" and "damn" all the time would be horrible, right? Well, to be honest, most kids already know about these words by 2nd grade, if we use my hardly unique experience as any marker...