Swearing

It is likely impossible that we will ever know the origins of spoken language, nor of the common dialects from which most of the world’s languages descend. It is equally unlikely that we will ever know when language was first adapted to a written form; the birth of reading and writing, of letters and literature.

The process itself of creating written language must have been an incredibly complex and testing one. To find a symbol for a sound, visualising thoughts in ways never before seen; logic suggests that the first written languages were compiled of mostly pictures, direct representations of what was being described. But again it is doubtful we will ever know.

What we do know though is this; the oldest known record of written language is of the ancient Sumerians and is around 5000 years old. And that whether spoken or written, language was a giant leap forward in the human ability to communicate with one another.
Think, as social animals it is imperative to our survival to be able to be social; naturally we are pack animals. Every day, in all aspects of life we communicate with one another, it may be verbally, written or through our body language and both insanity and depression have been documented as a result of prolonged seclusion from social interaction.
All three methods of communication are also evolving and always have been. It is theorised that the approximately 5000 languages spoken today all descended from around 20 languages and have been evolving since. The meaning of words also change, the most obvious example being gay, initially referring to a state of happiness now refers to sexual orientation. And on that note orientation used to mean, facing east. And words also fall out of use, pleb was a 19^th century slanderous term used against the upper classes but now refers to fool, and I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say it in either context.

The argument I am getting around to is that swearing is just another form of communication. And even that is giving it too much credit; it isn’t another form of communication, words that are deemed “swear words” are just that, words. To swear once meant assuring seriousness to a cause and in its most intense referred to “swearing an oath”, the breaking of which could result in death. Yet now a “swear word” is a sound or written symbols or a form of body language that is seen as taboo.

But why? What makes a word a “swear word”, what turns that sound or symbol or action into taboo? Furthermore what is the outcome of preforming these taboos? And what is the difference between the word cunt and the word tree? Both are comprised of four symbols, each with their own sound, compiled together to make a distinct sound with distinct meanings. Breaking it down like that seems to make its taboo status trivial but its status remains just that; a taboo. But again I ask, why?

I place the blame on social constructs; those things that have only the meaning that we place on them (i.e. money). Yet such negativity towards an evolution of language does not come from an individual’s personal distaste. If I decided that seaweed was a “swear word” that would not make it so, even if the mention of it caused me offence. Just because I didn’t like it wouldn’t make it a “swear word”, my view on seaweed wouldn’t count for shit in the worldwide opinion of the stuff.

And I believe the reason is this, we are conditioned as children on the rights and wrongs of language. And that regardless of the evolution of language as we grow, we are taught and told as children what not to say. And this is done because our parents, teachers and other agents of socialisation are as susceptible as the rest of us to these social constructs.
And as my argument broadens the secret villain is revealed; society, culture and civilisation at large. Not in the Marxist sense that the bourgeoisie aim to stifle our proletarian expression or any such thing but that the outcome of civilisation and society is a large number of people striving for similar goals and who hold similar norms and values; to quote Agent K in Men in Black “A person is smart. People are dumb”.
I believe that swearing, or the taboo status of certain words, is a matter of consensus; and that society is dependent on consensus. If everyone had their own thoughts and ideas and pursued them in their own way there would be no society or culture. Think of teamwork, if four architects were tasked with drawing up a new corporate headquarters and they each had their own conflicting design, location and materials in mind, chances are the job wouldn’t get done.

Yet the kink in the great chain is this; that we all swear. We all do it, some more than others but that’s irrelevant, the point is everyone swears at one point or another. But if the consensus says that swearing is bad, why do we do it? Exactly because consensus says it’s bad, that’s why.

 So despite the fact that we all swear, it remains a value within society not to swear. And it remains a taboo due to this false value we all seem to place on it, even though it is simply an expression, a symbol, an evolutionary development in our ability to communicate with one another.

In terms of playwork that is why we should let children swear, as it is just a word, ultimately it means only what we decide it means. Furthermore this idea of false consensus, social construct, and individuality within society is not playful, they’re very much adult terms and adult values in the sense that no child has ever come up to me and wanted to talk about Marxism or social constructs.

 And as playworkers we acknowledge (or should have acknowledged) that the existence of our jobs is also an acknowledgment, an acknowledgement that there is a lack of adult free space in which children can play. Having acknowledged that we would by hypocritical to bring with us adult norms and values, such as don’t swear.