Is it my imagination or is public profanity everywhere? Never mind…I know it’s not my imagination. Like muck in a ditch after a thunderstorm, profanity flows from politicians, athletes, celebrities, social media influencers, and people selling cookware.

“John, you fing jerk! It’s none of your fing business how I talk!”

If that’s true, then it’s none of your business how I talk and you should probably move along since I use some big words.

When my kids reached an age that their social groupings sometimes excluded me, making it impossible to personally monitor their speech, I gave my them permission to use whatever words they wanted. I admitted I couldn’t stop them from swearing. I simply said:

“Cussing makes you sound stupid.”

Vulgarity is the language of dullards. Profanity is an itty-bitty lexicon that gives emotional people something to say when they ought to say nothing. Those who lack imagination describe their lives with a single four letter word.

Mimicking the language of smart people actually offends some dumb people (aka ‘The Common Folks’). They feel they are being dishonest. ‘Fancy talk’ is an affront to their authenticity. Some of our most chaotic thinkers celebrate their primitive utterances for being ‘raw’ and ‘genuine.’ I’ll acknowledge their raw language makes them sound genuinely stupid and congratulate them on achieving authenticity.

I believe that thoughts worth sharing deserve some consideration. Obscenity is inconsiderate. I won’t spend more time thinking about what you said than you spent thinking about saying it.

(Ephesians 5:4) Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.