Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1178, Using Profanity.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1178.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Cameron and Dorothy about using bad language.
Let's get started.
Oh, f. What's your language?
I don't want the kids to hear foul language.
Sorry, I stubbed my toe.
What's the big deal?
Kids hear all kinds of cursing on TV and in movies.
Not my kids, at least not yet.
I don't want them learning to swear before they learn to walk.
I don't want them to grow up to be rude and offensive people.
You can't protect them from every damn thing people say Okay, that's it.
If you're going to live here, we'll need a swear jar.
A what?
A swear jar.
For every swear word you say, you'll need to put a dollar into the jar.
We'll save the money for the kids' education.
What the f...
Hey, there will be no profanity of any kind in this house.
I don't want you to be a bad influence on my children.
Go ahead, put a dollar into that jar.
I'm not putting a dollar into that jar.
My house, my rules.
Unbelievable.
Cameron begins by saying oh well, we don't actually hear the word that Cameron is about to use or was going to use, but it begins with the letter F.
And you probably already know, without me having to explain it to you, that a very bad word in English begins with the letter F and ends with the letter K and is four letters long.
Dorothy says to Cameron, watch your language.
The expression to watch your language means to be careful with your words.
In particular, to be careful that you don't say any bad words, any profanity, P-R-O-F-A-N-I-T-Y.
Profanity would be a very bad word, what we might call foul language, words that you do not want your children to hear, words that are considered vulgar V-U-L-G-A-R.
A vulgar word is a word that is a bad word that is inappropriate for most situations.
Dorothy says, watch your language.
I don't want the kids, the children, to hear foul language.
Once again, foul language meaning bad words.
Cameron says, sorry, I stubbed my toe.
Your toe is on your foot.
Your hand has fingers.
Your feet have toes.
To stub, S-T-U-B, your toe is to hit your toe accidentally against something hard.
We have all done this.
You're walking around your house without any shoes on and you accidentally hit your foot against the chair and And stub your toe.
Your toe hits the chair and it hurts a lot.
And sometimes, when we get hurt, we like to use foul language to express our pain or to express the emotion we're going through when we feel that pain.
That's what Cameron did.
He stubbed his toe.
Cameron doesn't understand why Dorothy is upset with him.
He says, what's the big deal?
A big deal is something that is important, something that is very significant.
So when he asks, what's the big deal?
He's saying, why do you think this is so important?
When someone says, what's the big deal?
He's really saying, I don't think this is important.
Why do you?
Cameron says, kids hear all kinds of cursing on TV and in movies.
To curse, C-U-R-S-E, means to use bad words, to use foul language.
Dorothy says, not my kids, at least not yet.
She means she doesn't apparently allow her kids to watch TV shows and movies that have cursing in them, that have foul language in them.
And that's very difficult to do nowadays.
Even television in the United States has a lot of foul language that you would not want your children to hear.
Dorothy continues I don't want them meaning her children learning to swear before they learn to walk.
To swear, S-W-E-A-R, means the same as to curse.
It means to use foul language, to use vulgarities, to use bad words, to use profanity.
I should point out that technically, or at least one meaning of to curse would be to use the name of God or some higher authority when you are swearing, in particular to perhaps ask God to do something bad to another person or even the situation in which you are in.
The word God often gets connected with the word damn, D-A-M-N, followed by the word it or a person.
Someone who is frustrated, for example, might say, God damn it.
I don't like the term, and I would not suggest you use that term.
It is considered foul language in polite conversation.
Dorothy says she doesn't want her children to learn to swear before they learn to walk, meaning her children are probably very young, since children learn to walk at a young age.
I don't want them to grow up to be rude and offensive people.
Rude R-U-D-E means not polite.
Someone who is rude to you says something bad to you or isn't very polite to you.
Offensive, O-F-F-E-N-S-I-V-E, is when you hurt another person's feelings or when you insult someone.
Cameron says you can't protect them from every damn thing people say.
Remember I said the word damn is sometimes used with the word God, but damn itself is also considered offensive, a foul word or a swear word.
Certainly my mother would never allow me to use that word in our house when I was growing up.
It's used as an adjective when you are frustrated or when you are angry at something.
Again, it's considered rude, it's considered foul language and not the sort of thing you would use in public and certainly not the sort of thing you would want to use around children, although I'm sure some parents do when they're angry.
Dorothy doesn't like it.
She says, okay, that's it.
If you're going to live here, we'll need a swear jar.
A swear jar.
J-A-R is a container that some people use in some families as a way of trying to punish people children in a family from using foul language.
Every time you use a bad word, you have to put money into the swear jar as a punishment.
Jars are containers that are usually made out of glass.
When you buy certain kinds of food, like I don't know jam, or pickles or olives,
They typically are sold in the stores in jars, in glass containers.
Well, Dorothy is going to have Cameron put money into a swear jar every time he uses a bad word.
She explains this.
She says, I'm not exactly sure what the relationship is between Dorothy and Cameron.
Perhaps Cameron is some sort of relative who is staying with Dorothy, a brother or a cousin perhaps.
Dorothy says the money in the swear jar will be used for their children's education.
Cameron is shocked, surprised by this, so he almost swears again.
He says, what the f... Dorothy says, hey, there will be no profanity of any kind in this house.
A bad influence would be something or someone that causes another person to be worse, or Parents often worry about their children's friends because they don't want their children to have bad influences in their life.
Other children who may make their children worse, perhaps, than they already are.
Movies books, television programs could also be considered bad influences, depending on their content, of course.
Dorothy says, go ahead, put a dollar into that jar.
Cameron says, I'm not putting a dollar into that jar.
Dorothy then says something that many parents will say to their teenage children or adult children who are living with them.
My house, my rules.
Meaning, I own this house, therefore you must follow my rules, my regulations.
Cameron says, unbelievable.
The word here unbelievable, is used to express frustration about how surprised you are by something because you think it is so unreasonable, because you think it is wrong.
Nevertheless, it is Dorothy's house, and so Cameron, if he wants to live there, whoever he is will have to follow her rules.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Oh, fuck.
Watch your language.
I don't want the kids to hear foul language.
Sorry I stubbed my toe.
What's the big deal?
Kids hear all kinds of cursing on TV and in movies.
Not my kids.
At least not yet.
I don't want them learning to swear before they learn to walk.
I don't want them to grow up to be rude and offensive people.
You can't protect them from every damn thing people say.
Okay that's it.
If you're going to live here we'll need a swear jar.
A what?
A swear jar.
For every swear word you say, you'll need to put a dollar into the jar.
We'll save the money for the kids' education.
What the f... Hey, there will be no profanity of any kind in this house.
I don't want you to be a bad influence on my children.
Go ahead.
Put a dollar into that jar.
I'm not putting a dollar into that jar.
My house, my rules.
Unbelievable.
You won't hear any foul language coming from our scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say, in her own life or in her wonderful scripts.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
