I just realized after I posted a comment on a friend's blog that I used the word "sucks." And it got me thinking...Is "sucks" a bad word??
Should I delete my comment? I realize that we don't want our three year-olds saying it. Or even our six year-olds.
But my dad's wife when I was growing up had absolutely no language filter at all, so "sucks" was seriously mild at their house. I even remember saying, "That SUCKS!" a time or two when I didn't like a decision that they had made.
So now I need to know--from people who maybe had better language boundaries than I did--Is "sucks" a bad word?
Do I need to start substituting something a little bit more appropriate, such as "Gee, Beav, that sure is a bummer!"?
7 comments:
I think it used to be. Way back when you used to spend a lot of time at my house, my mother wouldn't have tolerated it. Now, however, it doesn't rock her world so much. Perhaps it is because her kids have grown. Or maybe it is because, as a teacher, she has heard her elementary school kids use it to the point that she has been desensitized.
Heck, in a world where everything but the F-bomb can be said on network television, "sucks" has become relatively tame. I think it's kinda sad, really.
Since my kids are still little, it's a no-go in our house, as would it be in my classroom at school. However, it's welcome over coffee (or a diet dr. p.) with my friends! :) Especially when someone is commiserating with me...
I'd rather hear this "s" word than any other word in my house! It kind of ranks in the "crap" category (use rarely, but appropriate use is ok). My kids prefer "This BITES" but only because I "cuss" less than anyone I know! But I'm not offended by the comment you left...it made me laugh!!
The word doesn't bother me. To me, it's a slang word that has evolved to mean "this stinks." I say it in school and allow my students to say it (or else I don't correct them). I know many of my collegues hate that word, but they are all old...
It's funny; The term used to be considered highly offensive, even up until the mid-1980s. Eddie Murphy was once on David Letterman around that time and was discussing a previous movie he had done, and said, "Well, it was OK, it was alright.... It didn't suck." The audience gasped and Letterman looked like he had just been hit with a baseball in the chest. Murphy seemed puzzled and surprised by the reaction around him. Just after that, Barry Corbin famously used the term at the end of "War Games" to describe the WHOPR nuclear defense computer by dryly stating "Your new defense system sucks." to a huge uproar of laughter by the audience. Since then, it seems to have settled snugly into our national vocabulary.
I'm 64 and when I was growing up it was a bad word, so it shocks me when people use it now. One of my yoga teachers uses it all the time and I find it very inappropriate and offensive. Just the way I was raised, I guess!!
I'm 64 and when I was growing up it was a bad word, so it shocks me when people use it now. One of my yoga teachers uses it all the time and I find it very inappropriate and offensive. Just the way I was raised, I guess!!
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