I have a potty mouth. I don’t mean, “every once in a while I slip and say a hell or a damn.” I mean, “fuck is my favorite word.” I would say it all day if I could, and I often do. I say it when I’m angry, I say it when I’m excited, I say it when I’m annoyed, I say it all the time.
I’m not a total Philistine–I mean, I know how to express myself without it, and I certainly don’t go around writing it in the company blogs I write. So if you’re a client, you don’t need to worry that I’ll write it into a commercial script and get the FCC all over you like ants on melting ice cream. But I do love it. And I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world.
There are lots of terrible words out there. Hell and damn seem like “soft swear words” in this day and age, but think of what they mean. You want someone to go to an eternity of fire and punishment. That’s not nice. Not nice at all. So I actually prefer the F-word. It’s satisfying. The easy to pronounce F, the strong U, the hard-stop CK sound. It’s fun to say. And you’re not sending anyone to eternal fire. And think of the words people say in daily life now–“kill” or “hate”–those are awful words. Words have the power we give them, only.
I have relatively few bad habits. I am not perfect, by any standard, but really, I don’t smoke, I rarely drink, and I’m not neglecting my family or running a meth lab in my basement. I’m a writer and editor and I know grammar rules really well. I play well with others and I enjoy people, but my favorite thing to do is read a fat novel in a quiet room. I’m a wife and mom. On the whole I am a pretty boringly decent person. I don’t even watch horror movies because the trailers scare me.
Swearing is my one major vice (besides Cadbury Creme Eggs, which I hoard from February until they run out in May, at which point I weep and wait until next Easter.) And darned if it doesn’t make me more interesting to people. And if not…well, fuck it.