Such vicious venom!

Teaching Pre K-8, Mar 2000 by Mann, Thomasina

Expressing feelings without profanity builds strong minds.

"Profanity is the sign of a weak mind trying to express itself." I hung these profound words at eye-level on the bulletin board adjacent to the door, where they couldn't be missed.

I first heard a student repeat the phrase in my room, when someone used profanity. The next occasion arose when a blast of bad language from the hallway assaulted us and, before I had time to react, two students chorused the quote.

True wisdom. I showed the movie The Education of Little Tree, in which the grandfather sprinkles his conversation, when not in the presence of his wife, with some salty expressions. Subsequently, the class discussed the fitness of the language to the character and the character's moral awareness of the unfitness of profanity (because he wouldn't use it in his wife's presence). It was glorious to hear students explain that education can lead to wisdom not always attained from books, but rather from being with people who are wise, regardless of their language patterns.

This opened the door for talking about methods of linguistically expressing one's anger, awe, joy or confusion without using profanity since we are not without an education.

The value of context Once again, I learned, too. For example, "hella" is just an expression of abundance such as 'It was a hella good time." These eighth graders would never dream of saying "ella, yes," so it's not the same as using the word "hell" but rather a new term in the language of middle school.

I was also informed that as soon as adults start using a term like "awesome," it's dropped by anyone over the age of 12. It was agreed upon by all present that teachers don't need to use the latest jargon. In fact, the students said "just don't do it because you never get it in the right context anyway!"

Onward to profundity. I suggested that we could replace profanity with profundity with very little effort, amusing ourselves while increasing our vocabulary as well as our agility in using alliteration (the repetition of a beginning consonant sound).

So we commenced to find and display expressions to fit occasions in the daily routine of a middle school student. Some of the phrases my classes are experimenting with have led to amusing responses from various audiences: your vicious venom repels..., reptilian responses leave me..., antiquated antics..., bodacious bodings...

I haven't heard many "huhs" or any "it's like, you know," lately, nor any profanity. However, the thesaurus is beginning to look a mite worn! I'm amazed at the power of one simple quotation.

*Thomasina Mann is a pseudonym for a Teaching K-8 reader. The column is underwritten by a grant from Texas Instruments. The views expressed in the column are those of the author.