Will you kids quit fucking around? Shut the fuck up!

[slyc_willie]

My father was an army general and my mother was his superior officer in the home. We children learned early on how to behave in public--and private. Physical force was rarely needed. And neither cussed in our presence--ever. They didn't have to.

Just the point. It was the first time my mother ever said 'fuck' in my presence.

I knew I was in for it then.

 

[Guest]

. . . .

 

[Weird Harold]

Don't you think that type of behavior is typical to Wal-Mart though? It seems like that store attracts a certain type of people.

Nope, it's not just Walmart where you her that kind of "If you don't stop, I'm going to curse you louder" parenting.

I hear it in K-mart, Target, grocery stores, the bank, etc, etc, ad naseum. I hear the same kind of thing basically anywhere parents take their kids into contact with the public. I've even heard it in Neiman Marcus on one of my very rare visits the epitome of conspicuopus consumerism.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

My parents very rarely cussed in front of me and my brother. Now my grandfather on the other had, he was a truck driver, could come up with some very colorful phrases. But that was only when I was older.

My first real exposure to some of the seven bad words was when I was in high school. I was on the swim team and we had a meet with the seminary that was in the neighborhood. While in the locker room I heard everyone of those seven words you can't use on TV, until a brother came in and dragged the guy using them out by the hair.

Yeah, they could do that back then.

 

[rgraham666]

Personally, I'd be just as uncomfortable hearing a parent yelling to an unruly child, "Shut the fuck up!" as I would be hearing the same parent respond to a child offering up a toy she wanted to buy and say, "Why the fuck would you want that?"

Erk. Unpleasant flashback.

Although my old man never used the word 'fuck' that was his attitude to everything I did.

 

[Boota]

There is another side to this. I've been in public when children were acting up and the parents said nothing. Made me want to cuss at the kids.

One of my jobs (the bad one) has me working inside a store two out of five days, so I see a lot of kids running wild. Not so much with the parents cussing at them, just kids left to their own devices to wreak havoc. They go into the toy area and throw everything around, yell, scream, throw things. The ladies who run the front of the store will rarely say anything to the kids or the parents because the parents bite their heads off for insinuating that their children are any less than perfect angels.

I don't have that problem. I told one lady last week, "Your kids are horrible because you suck as a mother. Get out of the store. Now."

But to the main point, I may let some "bad words" fly in front of "my" kids, but in general I don't swear in front of children. As was pointed out above, however, I think the point is less about saying it in front of them and more about directing it toward them. Kids, like most people, will give you what you expect of them. If you expect them to need cursed at and verbally abused, they will almost certainly see to it that you're right.

I put "bad words" in quotations because, like Cloudy, I don't believe there is any such thing as a bad word.

 

[Weird Harold]

I put "bad words" in quotations because, like Cloudy, I don't believe there is any such thing as a bad word.

"There are no bad words, just bad thoughts ... and Tits doesn't even belong on the list, it's such a friendly word." -- Geo. Carlin

 

[trysail]

I guess there are actually two separate things here, cussing, and losing control.

While I agree with you in the sense that the behavior represents a "loss of self-control," I respectfully think you're missing the larger issue: manners and basic civility.

The use of language such as that cited in the OP in a public place is inconsiderate, rude, boorish, impolite and inexcusable. The fact that it occurs speaks volumes about the coarsening of the culture and the decline of standards of behavior. There are certain things that are beyond the pale and swearing, cussing or cursing in public is one of 'em.

People who engage in that kind of behavior are beyond my comprehension. When they do it, they mark themselves as "Grade-A" jerks.

There was a day when you could take kids to the ballpark without fear of being exposed to behavior one would expect in a back-alley barroom. That's no longer the case and it's a shame.

I don't give a damn what kind of language you or anybody uses at home or among friends— that's none of my business or anybody else's. God knows, I'm a sailor and perfectly capable of coloring the air blue— but there's no possible excuse for forcing it on people who may not want to hear it. That's just flat-out inconsiderate.