Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-10
DYNAMIC
DISCOURSE


Why do 80 many men Of good morals ana
otherwise good habits employ such bad Ian.
guage In their discourse as one hears every
day In places where two or three are gath
cred together7 Profanity Is becoming
nuisance 20 common that Il calls for the at
tention Of serious consideration. We have
passed the "gadxooks" and "odsbodkins'
period only to evolve a vocabulary of OBJ
scenity and sacrilege which passes UNDER
standing. Compared with the strange oaths
Of other days that have peen preserved by
the dramatists and novelists our masculine
diction is disgusting. Perhaps there were In
the past many current expressions az
senseless and as revolving as those now in
use. but. II so, the writer's have charitably
and decently stopped our ears to them.
Maybe the writer's Of today are doing only
what their predecessors did II they at
tempted to reproduce the talk OF many men
OF the present they would be granted the
distinction Of exclusion from the public
Libraries and possibly excluded from the
mails. :,
~
Our language Is fairly replete with polite
expletives. but they do not seem to meet
the requirements Of the hoi polloi. Yet the
contraband substitutes that men smuggle
into their talk add nothing to their force
fulness. They merely befoul the atmos-
phere to no good end. They weaken the
mans powers of discrimination. He who
apples an oath to every petty case loses
his grip on the dictionary
Yet few men who have the profanity
habit swear in polite society. The users
or curses and irreverent terms are no less
than hypocrites. They speak with dou-
bic tongues" They make the great mis-
take of thinking that only women object
to strong language. Many men have SEN
sitive ears and shrink from the sound of
foul expressions as they do from unpleas-
ant sights.
Somehow or other some men seem to feel
that It Is masculine to swear and that
clean speech is a sign OF weakness. Yet
they will laud the bitter invective of a
public speaker whose language Is fit for
print In Sunday school paper. They are
simply deeply ignorant of the true power
Of words drawn from a full reservoir.
A Ccod mary men who swear profusely
are unconscious of the extent Of their in
diligence. They swear by rote. impulsively.
unthinkingly. A photographic reproduction
OF their days talk I'm their Intercourse with
other men would shock them, even as a
motion-picture record OF the conduct OF
an intoxicated man, II shown to him when
sober, would perhaps go long way to eff
feet cure.
1t is this duality of conduct that renders
the task of the conversation reformer diff
cult. You say to a friend: "Why do you
ly: "Why. swear very little, am rather
careful of my speech" And. perhaps be-
fore the dialogue closes he will be profanely
protesting in choice explosives that you
grievously wrong him.
~
Once in a while situation arises which
can only be met with strong language. No
body can really blame a man for opening
the full batteries of his vocabulary when
he is thoroughly aroused. He must be
given some latitude to meet emergencies
with vigor. Yet 1t may be doubted whether
an opponent was ever persuaded of the
folly or the unfairnesS of his position by
the rudest oath ever framed by human lips.
A damn" Is about the weakest argument
the mind can devise. and it often makes
the other man mad and so drives the situa-'
ton from bad to worse.
X n
Temper and profanity are two brothers.
The apparently even-tempered man who
interlards his talk with foul phrases in
lieu Of plain language is really indulging in
the result of early failures to control him.
self. The habit has formed while he was
mastering his passions and remains a
heritage of his struggle. Meanwhile the
irascible man peppers his talk with verbal
garbage because he lacks discipline. He
does not know how to keep his personal
premises in order. He thinks to carry con-
viction with an oath, to enforce obedience
with foul epithet or to Brighten an OPP
ponent into acquiescence with an out
burst of obscenity.
1t is a pity that we cannot all wash out
our own mouths with some effective moral
soap, even as our parents used to threaten
when our small tongues ran loose, and
so purify the air of the disgusting results
of this bad habit. UNCLE JASPER.