Today from my front stoop I heard a young kid say the f-bomb. I'd guess the kid to be around 10 or so and definitely in elementary school. It shocked me and got me thinking. Personally the f-bomb is one word that makes me cringe. I know I"m not the only one who thinks this. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a swear word. 

The whole incident brought me back to something my mother said when I was young. I described something about my day by saying, "It sucked." She reacted strongly and at the time I had no idea why. She told me later when I attempted to use the same word again that the word had a different meaning to another generation as a swear word. And so we have it—one generation/s swear word becomes a common language practice with the next. As language changes and evolves over time new ways are found to get that same great reaction whether that be cringing, lashing out in anger or whatever reason you may find to swear.

Pop culture further feeds the word evolution by introducing the fowl language over and over again. Movies, tv, and just plain street talk build on the image of pop culture and stream it into our homes while assisting the word evolution like pouring gas on a fire. Being bombarded by a word over and over again numbs the hearer to the word's true power and desensitizes like the mast amount of news imagery does to our sympathy.

Swearing is about letting off steam, showing strong emotions, sharing negativity, and who knows what else. What are we teaching our kids? What will they take to the next generation? I can't imagine what the next big bad swear word will be, but I'm sure it will come...