Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Swearing shows lack of creativity, disrespect
By Brianna Swisher
The Daily Athenaeum (West Virginia U.)
10/19/2007

(U-WIRE) MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As I walk along the sidewalks in front of the Mountainlair at West Virginia University and overhear the conversations of those I pass by, swearing is a large part of what makes up their dialogue.

I know many people who would consider this type of language offensive. However, an article from Yahoo News told of a graduate and a professor of management at the University of East Anglia who studied the use of profanity in the workplace and assessed its implications for managers.

They concluded that "swearing would become more common as traditional taboos are broken down, but the key appeared to be knowing when such language was appropriate and when to turn a blind eye."

I am not sure I want those "traditional taboos" to be broken down. I kind of like the fact that it is still considered "unacceptable" to swear.

Furthermore, the two of them said that cursing in front of customers or senior staff should be seriously discouraged or banned, but in other circumstances, it "helped foster solidarity among employees and express frustration, stress or other feelings."

I can see how venting with your coworkers can be extremely helpful, but I am not sure how swearing can help achieve the lessening of stress and frustration.

"Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner," said Baruch, who works in the university's business school in Norwich.

I find that sad and, at the same time, hard to believe. I find it hard to believe because most of the time when I hear "cuss words" coming out of people's mouths, it is in a "negative manner," which is the reason they are usually frowned upon.

"Swear words" are just other words, but it is the way that others use those words that usually makes them prohibited in public.

What I find sad about this statement is that swearing has become so common in our society's vocabulary that these "restricted" words have become just something to say, instead of connotating the negative meaning they normally hold.

Baruch goes on to say that banning swear words and reprimanding staff might represent strong leadership, but could remove key links between staff and have an impact on morale and motivation.

Well, that's pretty ridiculous to think that swearing has that much impact on the staff members' morale and motivation.

Management needs to reevaluate the employment status of their employees if their motivation is based on whether they are allowed to cuss or not.

"We hope that this study will serve not only to acknowledge the part that swearing plays in our work and our lives, but also to indicate that leaders sometimes need to "think differently'" and be open to intriguing ideas.

Managers need to understand how their staff feels about swearing. The challenge is to master the art of knowing when to turn a blind eye to communication that does not meet their own standards."

I don't see or like the idea that swearing should be part of the workplace. I think the idea of allowing employees to openly use cuss words is unfathomable, because once it is allowed and accepted among the employees, it will slowly become used in front of administrators and customers.

I'm not sure it should matter "how the staff feels about swearing." They are working for someone else, and their rules apply?

Most of the time, I don't find swearing offensive. I just feel that it makes a person appear to be less intelligent. If someone can't express their opinions or feelings without using swear words, it doesn't say very much for their intellect.

I have heard conversations in which every other word was a swear word. They didn't even have any real purpose within the sentence. In fact, the sentence would have made a lot more sense if all of the cuss words were taken out.

Cursing has no real point other than to show a person's lack of creativity to come up with some other way to say what they mean instead of using the same phrase that 20 other people on the street are using.

Allowing foul language to be used among employees is just one step closer to it being acceptable to use around anyone.

Not using swear words in front of someone shows your respect toward that person, and it seems like society is coming closer and closer to saying that showing respect is a thing of the past.

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