People's words make a difference

[RecycleMichael]

People's words make a difference


By HARVEY MACKAY United Feature Syndicate
Published: 1/9/2011 

A budding superstar of the Generation Z age group is McKay Hatch, a teenager who is the force behind getting a Cuss Free Week declared annually in California during the first week in March.

He has a following of more than 20,000 members from all over the world in his No-Cussing Club. There are club chapters in all 50 states. He's been on national broadcasts on CNN, FOX News, ABC, NBC and CBS.

Hatch's cause is inspiring, and his enthusiasm is contagious. He is a charming young fellow with a very serious message: "Our members take the 'No Cussing Challenge,' which is a commitment to themselves to use better language. Through our motto, 'Leave People Better Than You Found Them,' our members are also looking for opportunities every day to help people and lift them up through their words and actions."

Did I mention that he was just 14 years old when he started his organization in 2007?

Hatch's message makes sense not only for kids but perhaps even more so for adults who aspire to be successful in business and in life.

More than 250,000 words are in the English language. Fewer than a dozen are those dirty words that once got your mouth washed out with soap. Nowadays, that language is heard routinely in conversation, movies, even in the hallowed halls of Congress.

Let me tell you, if I am interviewing a prospective employee and an obscenity enters the conversation, the interview is over.

The words you use say a lot about you. Bigger words are not necessarily better than smaller words, but they are better than dirty words. Beef up your vocabulary so that you have options when you speak. Try these strategies to improve your language:

Read a variety of materials. Read anything that stimulates your brain without contaminating it.

Use the dictionary. Look up words so that you can use them intelligently.

Practice saying new words out loud. If you want to get in the habit of using the perfect word for the occasion, you must be comfortable saying it.

Play word games. A crossword puzzle or a game of Scrabble can boost your vocabulary without feeling like hard work.

McKay Hatch has a head start on success. He has learned, at a very young age, that offending others has consequences that extend far beyond making you look ignorant. We would all benefit from his advice: to leave people better than you found them. A real language superstar doesn't need to have his language replaced with stars (****) and punctuation symbols (%&#!).

[Conan71]

love that little smile donkey.

JK

[Cats Cats Cats]

I find all words dirty except for the words you can't say on TV.  So if you do not use "bad" language, I view you as less intelligent.  Luckily, I know all the dirty words and their respective auto-replacements well enough to write this.  The rest of you are foobared

I have a dictionary you can use http://www.urbandictionary.com

[Smokinokie]

I have been trying to clean up my language for some time now. It can be difficult. We owe it to our children to set a better example.

[tulsascoot]

While I am perfectly capable of writing eloquent passages using impeccable grammar and spelling, this makes me want to curse even more. Sometimes I make a challenge to myself to make my language as filthy as possible just for fun. Life is too short to be offended by mere words. I say, piss off!

[tulsabug]

attn McKay Hatch: I'm sorry you are related to Orrin Hatch, have an overcontrolling parent who is making you front an attempt to blot out free speech, live in Utah (nuff said), and will never know a woman's touch due to the first three things I mentioned - but please stop trying to drag us all down into your personal hell. Sorry... I mean heck, goshdarnit.

[cannon_fodder]

I have been trying to clean up my language for some time now. It can be difficult. We owe it to our children to set a better example.

If my child's vernacular is my biggest concern, I'm happy!  Though I fail miserably at limiting my speech my son rarely, if ever, steps over the line.

I can cuss like a sailor.  I can turn it off and switch to formal Queens English.  To me it isn't a matter of the words you choose, but the understanding of when and where a certain form of speech is inappropriate. 

I struggle with the concept of "dirty" language.  If a synonym has the same connotation, same meaning, and the same usage ... I does't offend me to any more or less.  But if you are unable to choose the correct usage at the correct time it shows me a lack of control, understanding, or intelligence.

[RecycleMichael]

When my son was around five years old he came home and said he had learned a new bad word but he wouldn't tell us what it was. I persisted and nagged him to tell us what it was.

After some cajoling, he leaned over to me and whispered so his mother wouldn't hear and said, "Dad, it's the C word".

I was dismayed. The C word I was thinking of was a very mean insult to women and I just couldn't believe he had learned that word after just a couple of months of going to school. After he left the room, I told my wife what he had said and she too was upset that he had learned such a filthy word.

Later that night at dinner he knocked over his glass and said, "Oh, Crap". He got real red faced and embarassed. We told him that to not use that word at the dinner table ever again. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

CF's son rarely steps over the line...in front of him.  When he is around his buddies, he knows what to say and he says it.  Any other delusion is to make oneself feel better about what the boy is being taught at home.  But don't worry, even if he didn't learn it at home, he would get it from those same friends anyway.

[Cats Cats Cats]

For me the bad words got circulated around school about the third grade.  So I think that since it has been 20 years and the internet exists.  If your kids are past pres-school you are probably not saying anything they haven't heard before.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I let them learn it from their friends.  Was not about to promote the practice by my own usage.  Nor give implicit permission.

They heard it around 3rd grade +/- 1.  And probably earlier...