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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

More Anti-Cursing Sentiments from DBPB

I was scrolling through the website Dear Blank Please Blank when I saw this:

Dear kids who swear all the time,
I remember when "stupid" used to be a banned word, and now you're cussing out your parents.
Sincerely, what happened?

Oh, how nice it would be to go back to the good ol' days, when bad words were really taboo. Well, we can't go back in time, but we can make the future better!

Friday, November 2, 2012

IM A One and Only

This is a guest post written by Bleep! members Becca B. and Tali G. It was featured in this month's newsletter.


If you could change one part of your body, what would it be? Most teenagers would think for a moment and say something like the shape of their nose, color of their eyes, size of their stomach, etc. Very few, if any, would consider changing their tongue. As the vulnerable teenagers that we are, we automatically translate this question into something that has to do with our physicality.

Most people don’t know that our tongues can actually make a huge difference in the way that we view ourselves. By saying mean words and by talking about inappropriate topics, we are lowering our standards and self-respect. The picture that we have of ourselves, the image of who we wish to be, gets blurrier and blurrier by the second. Each curse word that we say and each rude remark we let bounce off our lips actually takes us further away from who we want to be.

Words have an extreme power. If we carry them properly, we can use them as a tool to strengthen our character. We can use the same words as a weapon to hurt, and even destroy those around us. So, not only can your tongue damage your self-esteem, but it can damage your friend’s as well.

Remember, a person’s self-esteem and self-worth are invaluable. Once destroyed, it takes an unbelievable amount of effort and strength to build back up again. Next time you’re angry, think about those around you before letting your tongue overpower your mind. Think about the love and respect that you and all of your friends deserve to have.

To read more on the topic of self-esteem and body image, check out the new website for Jewish girls www.imaoneandonly.org. Be sure to sign up for updates, and submit your own pieces to the site!

Monday, October 22, 2012

*Another* Anti-Cursing DBPB!

Dear Blank Please Blank is starting to become my favorite website! It's awesome how many submissions they post that have anti-cursing messages.
 
Dear 27-year-old veteran with death tattoos in my freshman history class,
Please continue to say "Fudge, sugar cookies" when you forget your books.

I really like this one, since it breaks down stereotypes about who is most likely to curse, and gives a cutsey alternative to using bad words. All hail DBPB!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Yet Another Anti-Cursing DBPB!

I just saw this Dear Blank Please Blank:
 
Dear little girl who screamed "holy heffelump" when she saw a spider,
Please be my new best friend...

I'm a big proponent of using jokey words, or any substitute, for bad words. I understand that it's human nature to make some sort of remark when something bad happens. You can check out this link at the Bleep! website for suggestions other than "heffelump" to say instead of cursing!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Anti-Cursing DBPB!

There's a website I love to procrastinate with called Dear Blank Please Blank. As I was surfing it today, I saw this DBPB:

Dear kids who cuss, 
Swearing doesn't make you sound grown up. It shows you can't articulate your emotions intelligently.
Sincerely, tired of "F" this and "F" thats. 
 
Yeah! It's so awesome to see something against excessive cursing online, where there are unfortunately a lot of people who wantonly use bad language.

A few of the comments on the DBPB:

I wish I didn't swear so much, I'm trying really hard to stop!
 
This post is right. Swearing doesn't automatically make someone less intelligent, but I've noticed that it is used more commonly by the less intelligent. However smart you are, swearing will always make you seem less intelligent.
 
...I agree that if it's every other word, that's a bit excessive...


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Bad Words on Clothes

In the past couple months, I've noticed a lot of people wearing clothing and accessories with bad words written on them. A while ago, I noticed a woman with a bag that had the s word on it. A week or two ago, I was on the bus with a man with a bad word on his shirt. Yesterday, I saw another man with a curse word on his shirt. While I addressed this concept in this blog post a couple years ago, I would like to expand on it a little bit now.


I feel that it's really obnoxious for someone to wear something with a bad word on it. If you want to curse, that's okay; I'm personally not a fan and can cite many, many reasons why you shouldn't, but if you choose to use that sort of language and the people around you are okay with it, it's your prerogative. However, by wearing clothing with curses on them, you're forcing everyone around you to be exposed to bad words, whether or not they want to be. I know that if I were a parent, I would be very frustrated if my (young) child saw a bad word on somebody's shirt or bag. So, people of the world: could you please avoid wearing stuff with bad language on them?

Thursday, July 5, 2012

I Was SO Embarrassed

The other day, I was hanging out with one of my friends. Her usage of bad language all the time was actually my inspiration to create Bleep!. Unfortunately, while Bleep! has reached almost 1,000 members in 31 states and 11 countries, and impacted even more, it has not really influenced this friend of mine to stop cursing. We went into my neighborhood pizza store, and after we ordered, she realized she had no money on her. She said the s word literally ten times.

Since the pizza store is close to my home and we know the people who work there, I was really embarrassed that they saw me associating with someone with such a dirty mouth. Don't get me wrong - I love this friend to death, she's my absolute best friend in the world. However, I really didn't like that she cursed so many times. Part of the Bleep! philosophy is that when you curse, it reflects poorly on your community, whether it be your religious affiliation, neighborhood, ethnicity, or circle of friends. My friend's cursing certainly did not reflect well on me. So next time you want to curse in public, think: will the people you're with be okay with it?

Friday, June 22, 2012

My Brush With Cursing on the Bus

Yesterday, I was riding on the bus, listening to my iPod. A large group of students piled onto the bus, and three girls hovered near where I was sitting. Despite securing my earbuds deep inside my ears and keeping the volume as loud as is healthy, I could hear every word of their conversation. All of the kids clearly belonged to the same ethnic group, lived in the same community and neighborhood (literally 90% of them got off at the same stop), and went to the same school. When the girls near me began using bad words (I remember hearing "OMG, she's such a bleep!" and "what the bleep?"), I was really disturbed. I knew that it was silly to judge their entire community based on these girls' behavior, especially since they were pretty young (probably in middle school) and probably didn't understand the impact of their words. However, others may not be as nice as I was in this situation. The moral of this story is: always be careful how you speak, especially in public!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

SHE Said THAT?

Here's another GIF story from That's So True about bad words. Unfortunately, teachers and parents and other important adults in our lives do sometimes slip up and say words that would best be avoided.

When your teacher swears
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Friday, April 27, 2012

He Said What?

I found another GIF story that has to do with cursing on the website That's So True, and I thought I would share it here.

You hear a little kid say a really bad word, and you look at your friend like
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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Desensitization

When you were young and heard someone curse
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The above GIF story was on the website That's So True. It's unfortunate that the sense of "OMG! S/he said a bad word!" only really applies when we're young; we get so desensitized to bad language so early in life.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

R Word Awareness Day

Today is the annual day of awareness to end the usage of the r-word (retard/retarded).

There are a lot of things you can do to help this clean-mouthed cause. 43 states have amended their laws to use terms like intellectual disability instead of mental retardation. While that is a ginormous step in the right direction, that means that 7 states have not made these extremely important changes yet! The R-Word organization suggests that if you live in Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, or Oklahoma, you should contact your state representatives here and tell them:

As a constituent of [your state], I demand respect and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities and I encourage you to introduce a measure to change the state’s official language from ‘mental retardation’ to ‘people with intellectual disabilities’.

Another way you can help spread awareness of this issue is by taking the pledge to spread the word to end the word here.

The R-Word has pretty much the same philosophy as Bleep!: "This campaign isn't about limiting speech, it's quite the opposite. We respect your right to say anything you want, but we ask that you recognize that words can be hurtful and they do matter - choose to use words that are less hurtful."

Friday, February 10, 2012

Cursin' Over Neosporin

A while ago, I was shopping with my mom at my local Walgreen's. A number of boys were in the store, too. Based on their uniforms, it was clear that they attended a local school with a specific religious affiliation. They were searching for Neosporin, as the entire store learned when one of the boys screamed out, "Where's the bleeping Neosporin??"

I cringed when he said this, and was far from the only one. In a way, I was embarrassed for him that he just didn't understand the negative effects of using such a strong word so cavalierly in public. It's not my place to go over to random people I don't know and say, "You know, using that word is really not the right thing to do," and segue into a whole Bleep! speech, but I really wish that I could do that sometimes. I know that I thought less of this boy's friends when he said what he did, along with his school and every other group he represented. I also imagine that all of the other people at Walgreen's at the time felt the same way. When will the world learn?