four letter words

How often do you hear people swearing? Maybe I'm overly sensitive, since I'm not fond of cussing, but it seems that this form of language is very common. I hear it in the hallways, in the cafeteria, at work, in the lounge...it's everywhere. Even in writing. I can't help but notice something that all of these words have in common.

They are almost all four letters with the exception of the alternate word for donkey, more frequently used to refer to the buttocks.

Isn't that odd? Who was it that said 99% of swear words should be four letters long? And who was it who decided that these words - that have perfectly acceptable definitions - should become dirty words? I'm not saying that I'd USE these words, but I'm pointing out a discrepancy within the point. Why are some things "bad"? Couldn't we start saying "from" is a swear word?

And if you are constantly defaulting to using these four letter words as adjectives, how much are you missing in terms of vocabulary? Why can't you just state "no" emphatically? Or say "I had a really good time" rather than "I had a **** of a good time" or "I had a **** good time"? Our English language (though it's very strange) is full of different words to describe fully what we are thinking - instead of saying "really good", you could say phenomenal, stupendous, invigorating, enlightening, enjoyable, amazing...the list goes on. Those words don't have to be the only adjectives in your vocabulary - most of them aren't adjectives at all, but rather verbs or nouns.

Even in context, I choose not to use these four letter words. I do not wish to be misunderstood, and I know I can express myself sufficiently without resorting to crude words of less than two syllables.

I do, however, choose to use one four letter word quite frequently. What is it?

And so faith, hope, and love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love.  -1 Corinthians 13:13 


-enna