Everything that exits our mouths by way of speech ought to have as its goal the good of those around us even when we must speak boldly or in rebuke. We can’t escape the fact that the super majority of uses of expletives is far less than wholesome or useful for building up anyone.

My wife and I had the opportunity this summer of visiting Normandy, France.  A highlight of our trip was a day spent touring a small section of the D-Day landing beaches as well as the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.  It was a moving and somber experience as we reflected on the thousands of young soldiers whose lives were cut short in the chaos and fury of battle to rid the evil holding Europe hostage.  In preparation for our visit, we read portions of Stephen Ambrose’s book, D-Day.  After returning home, we watched several movies retelling the story of the war.  What was striking was the shift in language between movies made several years apart.  The newer the film, the greater the frequency of expletives.  It seemed to me we could make a transcript of the dialogue that might look like a textbook of symbolic logic @#$%^&!  While it was clear from a number of the direct quotations of soldiers and sailors in Ambrose’s book that they used “colorful” language, some of the films we watched took it a bit far.  The films reflected what appears to be an increased usage of “bad” language all around us.  We hear it from our political leaders, celebrities, and people very much like ourselves.  Perhaps you have a colleague, neighbor, or friend who favors such words.  We even have had examples in the last ten or fifteen years of ministers of the gospel dropping strongly colorful words in sermons!  And, who among us would dare deny ever having used one or another indiscreet term.  Our denial itself would be a misuse of the tongue.

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