I live a block away from a middle school in San Francisco so I often walk by and see kids struggling to run laps or hanging out waiting for mom or dad to pick them up. I also hear them -- it's like listening to an episode of HBO's "Deadwood." They curse like sailors or maybe just like tweens. Part of growing up is trying out adult behaviors whether it's having a cup of coffee, putting on lipstick or hurling an expletive. Evidently, today's adolescents are swearing more than in the past. According to this article in the Sacramento Bee, "the average adolescent uses roughly 80 to 90 swear words a day." Damn! (oops).

Timothy Jay, one of the leading scholars on cursing in the United States says:

Teens are more likely to drop casual expletives, or "fillers," than the generation before them and have more trouble adjusting their conversation to fit their audience. That means adults - especially strangers who cannot sanction the teens - hear more of the same language that the teens' friends hear, says Jay, author of "Why We Curse."

The article goes on to talk about punishment for swearing and teaching teens about the impact of language. What I find most interesting is this concept of "filler." Given the research on youth reading less and text/IM lingo creeping into their more formal writing and communications, do youth have less words at their disposal? To the point where cursing is really "filler" for nothing else coming into their minds to say? Or is it just fun, perceived as cool, etc.

Posted by anastasia