I need everyone that reads to comment. Let us start a discussion about F*##!

My sons, AKA Brother & Baby, came to me awhile back with a comment.  Baby had a job at a local big-box retailer and had been observing people.  He said that his father and I were good to him and his older brother when they were small.  I listened while he said that a number of parents come into the store and when the kids would ask for anything, the parents reply 'Shut the F*## up' and other horrible things.  Baby said, with Brother nodding, that their father and I would just tell them either yes or no and explain why.  I said that we treated them as we wished that they treated others and used language we wanted them to use.

BUT, this has bothered me for a long time, WHY do people use such horrible language in public and especially towards their children?  I don't remember people using such vulgarities and obscenities in public and certainly not around children when I was growing up.  When did this become the norm?

I remember leaving a movie theater with my husband and going to the grocery right afterwards.  Dating myself, it was 'Basic Instinct'.  As we walked around, I heard people quoting lines from the movie that I don't think that they would have said unless it had been a quote. I was shocked then, and I am still shocked.  It has gone downhill from there. Now I hear people in public using language that wouldn't have been allowed in movies without an R or X rating.  In the dark ages of the 60's and 70's, they used to give X ratings for LANGUAGE!

When did it reach the tipping point that the F word is used in normal conversation with total strangers in public?  It doesn't even have a shock value (well, maybe to and for me, I used it once and Baby almost dropped a plate).  I have noticed people using it when I am shopping in daylight hours and there are still small children out.  ( a little note, I have noticed parents taking small children out all hours of the night since stores have started 24 hour shopping).  My boys now use it in conversations, thankfully not usually with me, though sometimes they do forget and have to 'rephrase'.

Is it that our language pool has shrunk in recent decades that people have to fill their sentences with obscenities to convey their thoughts and emotions?  Do people no longer own thesauruses?  Do people no longer watch Shakespeare, which conveys vulgarities in language powerful and beautiful without reaching for the coarsest of words? (for an example, see the video below)

Not only am I upset about the words people are using now, they are using them incorrectly! F*## is a verb, a rude one but still a verb.  I hear it used as an adjective constantly.  I almost laugh sometimes if I mentally insert another action verb into the sentences I hear.  Think about it, someone describing their 'floating teacher' or their 'swimming boss'?  It really disarms the sentence and changes the emphasis.  But at the same time, most people aren't even using the F word in anger.  They are using it as an adjective when they aren't even NEEDING to emphasize anything!  I overheard one young man in a diner ask his date/wife/sister/who knows to 'please pass the F*##ing catsup'.  Granted, I should be happy he said 'please'.  He was not angry or upset with her because the catsup was not within his reach, he asked her in a normal, pleasant voice.  Why could he have not just asked her to please pass the catsup?  And catsup is incapable of independent movement or reproductive actions so could not F*## no matter how many GM tomatoes were used. 

I could go on.  Believe me.  I won't.  At least today.


Give me your thoughts!  Am I just old fashion?  Is the F word no longer a conversation stopping vulgarity and now is the new filler word with 'um' and 'uh'?  Or is language going to Hell in a hand basket?