Cursing is a hard habit to break, but it’s worth it

By Taryn Gillespie

Growing up, cursing was a big no-no.

Whether you got soap, lemon juice, hot sauce of something else in the mouth, it was a reminder to not say it again.

Saying a curse word at school was an even bigger mistake.

First you have to visit the principal’s office, then punishment from your parents when you got home.

We have been taught from a very young age that cursing is bad and that it’s not acceptable, especially at school or in public.

When I was in high school, a student received detention for cussing while simply repeating a quote from another person and the teacher just happened to hear.

That drastically changed when I got to college. Early in my first semester, I remember sitting in a class listening to my teacher and “s—” came out of his mouth.

I sat there shocked as my teacher actually cursed more than once during his lecture, like it was no big deal.

Getting accustomed to this took a while for me because I grew up in a household where we got in trouble for saying the words “stupid” or “crap.”

I was very sheltered growing up, in a very good home and in an awesome high school. I feel blessed to have had the experience I did.

Coming out of my sheltered life I have now seen that cursing is accepted in many places that I never expected.

I could be walking through the hallway on any given day and hear four people cuss.

It feels like it is just a way of life now. I am so accustomed to hearing these words that it doesn’t even phase me anymore and I catch myself slipping up and using them from time to time.

Where did it all go wrong? Where did we switch from the kids afraid to say any curse word for fear we would be punished.

Our parents spent years teaching us that cursing is wrong and that it isn’t appropriate.

Where did it all change? When did we stop caring that it wasn’t looked at as a good thing and start making it part of our everyday language?

This is something that I see as a problem. This kind of language is something I do not want to get to used to saying.

I feel the cussing is looked down upon in the career field and I don’t want to have to focus on not slipping up and saying something I don’t want to because I am just so used to saying it.

To stop cursing all together isn’t a possible goal, but working on yourself and making it a point to stop yourself from using foul language is a choice you personally have to make and commit to if you want to make it happen.

Visits: 39