Emphasis

I started thinking about this after reading one of my great friends blog's on the 'F' word and Faith. This got me thinking about how much people do swear these days and it reminded me of a conversation I had with my uncle and aunt over christmas.

We started talking about how often people swear these days, and then got onto the subject of emphasis. Swear words are generally for emphasis. But when someone uses them excessively (which seems to happen so often these days) they seem to lose their emphasis. Personally I don't swear. Instead of swearing in situations when most other people would, I use words like 'darn' or 'goodness'. It's my own preferance and it seems to carry just as much if not more emphasis than any swear word!

The other thing about it is that people have noticed the fact that I don't swear. It's an uplifting thing because people notice and see it as something different and good. I don't see myself as being any better than them at all, it's just the way I am. The reason that words like 'darn', 'ahhh', or 'flip' are more effective for putting emphasis on something is most likely to do with the amount of use. Since swear words are used so often these days, the other more tame words become rare. And therefore when they're used, they are noticed more and hence carry more emphasis.

The point I'm trying to make is that you don't need to swear to put any emphasis on a point your trying to make! Use other words that people arn't used to hearing much so that they notice it and your words can carry more emphasis.

The other bonus is that it's an easy alternative to sin, which I believe swearing is. And I'm sure God would appreciate that.