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Summarized by Kent Larsen
To Swear Or Not To Swear
Buffalo NY News pgN2 1Feb00 D6
By Susan Martin
The Buffalo News's NeXt column talked to LDS Church member Tina
Gagliardi, 15, a sophomore at Clarence High School, in an article about
teenage swearing. Tina wrote an e-mail message to the News saying how
she felt swearing was 'disgusting.' "Personally, I think that it is just
nasty. It turns me off when a guy swears every time he opens his mouth,"
said Gagliardi.
Other teenagers had various views of swearing, ranging from those that
had never sworn in their lives to those that swear regularly.
17-year-old Amy D., for example, wrote, "I always cuss. I know it ain't
right, but it gets the point across."
According to the article, teens see swearing everywhere; on Television;
At school; during sporting events; and even at home. "Swearing has
become so much a part of our everyday culture, a numerous amount of
teens don't even think twice about mumbling those four-letter words in
public. Some teens even get away with it at home, because their parents
swear also," wrote Catherine Frandina, a junior at Williamsville South
High School.
The article also makes the point that an overload of profanity has also
had an affect. First, teenagers think that the overload means that
cussing looses its impact, "I think today people especially my age swear
way too much. . . . . It is so overused in today's society that I
believe the meaning of it is less important. It is no longer effective,"
wrote Nicole A. Gorney, a junior at Kenmore East High School.
Second, the overload of profanity simply promotes even more swearing. "I
believe that with the excessive amounts of foul language in the media,
it is a major jump start for the teens to copy," continued Catherine
Frandina. "They see their favorite singer swearing every other lyric of
the song, so they automatically do the same. In their minds, they
probably figure that if the famous person making tons of money does it,
then there is no problem and they should do the same."
But the article gives Gagliardi the last word. "I am a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and we believe
that it is crude and vulgar," she wrote.
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