Naughty Words

We try, as parents, to teach our children to use proper English. When they say 'aint', we tell them, 'is not'. Then there's the foul language. This is strictly off limits! Of course, adults occasionally slip up and let a few sentence enhancers color their speech, but children using foul language, especially when they know what they're saying, is really very sad. For some reason, kids seem to figure out these words on their own. My wife and I are very conscious about what we say around our children, and for some unknown reason, they still pick it up around the age of 4 or 5. I guess this way they're ready to start school. If you stop and think about it though, who first decided these words were bad? What determined a particular word meant what it means today? Has it always meant that? Why couldn't the word 'damn', mean pony or rainbow? Who determines these things? Then there's the F word. Don't worry, I have control of my keyboard. I won't let that one slip. If you've seen me type, there's no way I could accidentally type that word and not know what I'm typing. The history of that word is unclear. Some think it's one those..... ACRONYMS that I soooo love, describing a law concerning rape. Many languages, centuries ago, had similar words describing basically the same thing. So in conclusion, it's still a good idea to teach our children right from wrong, even though they're going to learn anyways. It probably helps train their conscience. And please be careful when learning a new language. You don't want to make your waitress blush when ordering 'F'rench 'F'ries.