The F Bomb

Remember the good old days when adults could be trusted to set a good example in front of kids? Remember when men treated women like women? I think wistfully for those days more and more.

We took the kids bowling recently on "family night." Since it was family night, you would think that everyone knew there were kids and ladies there. So, what happens? There are several young men waiting in the food line dropping the f-bomb like it was a proper adjective. Everything was f*cking this and f-ing that. When my husband confronted the main perpetrater, his response was "I didn't know there were kids around." He didn't know there were kids around ... what about the women and older people? All of us are embarrassed by that kind of talk.

Since then, I have noticed that the young adults of today do indeed think that f*cking is a perfectly acceptable adjective to use anytime and anyplace - in front of anyone. I taught my kids that it is not an adjective at all and that it is used by people whose vocabularies are incredibly small. By definition, an adjective describes a noun. The f-word describes no noun that I know of.

What has happened to the education of these people? Do their parents use this kind of language? When I was a teen and in my early twenties, I used this word, but it was always a kind of daring thing. OOOH - I'm getting away with saying a naughty word - among my friends only. I didn't use that kind of language in front of "real" grown-ups. I wouldn't have said it in front of my employer, my teachers, my parents' friends or in a public place where those people may be.

This trend to replace the real f-word with "flipping," "freaking," "frigging," etc., is not really an improvement either, is it? It still shows that young people can't express themselves with real adjectives. None of these f-word substitutes helps communication. Yes, my kids do it and I call them on it. While it might be better than the profane alternative, it's still vulgar.

I just don't get it. Are my kids and those of my homeschooling/consertive/Catholic (pick one) peers going to be the only adults who don't think the f-bomb should be dropped in polite company? Will the next generation produce politicians, teachers, lawyers and doctors who can't describe a noun without it? Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I don't think so.....