You Lack Intelligence

Maybe I do

Growing up, I remember my father being immensely annoyed at me using a word that I thought was fine.

He asked me what I had just said, so I repeated it as I walked up the stairs.

He took two steps up, grabbed me by my throat and threw me down it.

I must have been around 8 or 9 years old. My mother was also there and tried to defend me.

My father was not a violent me, but I must have rattled his cage; for me, the word I used was not swearing.

To him, it was disrespectful, and he was having none of it.

The word I used was "knackered." To him, it was swearing. When I was young, I heard it out somewhere, and when I asked what it meant, it meant you are tied.

My dad was a hard man, uncompromising, scared of nothing, took on a challenge, walked under ladders, and his favourite number was 13.

My mother was kind-hearted, put herself last, took care of everyone but herself, yes they were chalk and cheese, but it worked.

I love my dad and would not have a bad word to say about him, he turned me into the man I am today, and for that, I thank him.

One of my editors this evening questioned an article submitted to "New Writers Welcome" due to the amount of foul language it contained. I feel so lucky that the team are very open and honest. I to seek help from them.

We decided that it should be rejected, and I 100% agree in this case; it simply added nothing to the article, I am not against swearing, and on occasion, I swear myself, although I am not condoning it.

It took me back to a time when I was in my late teens; I was watching a comedian by the name of Jimmy Carr. For most people, he is way too crude, his language is awful, and his subjects are shocking.

While some of his material is too much for me, I find around 70% of his work hilarious; he is a well-educated man who speaks with a perfect British accent.

My dad hated Jimmy Carr and would often turn the TV off when he was on, "the man has no intelligence," he used to say, "if he were educated, he would choose different words."

"People only swear when they do not know what else to say" in most cases, I would agree with my father's statement.

Whilst I don't want to fill my articles with cursing words when I think about the times I have sworn in the past, it was due to a lack of knowing what to say.

I want to make the record clear, I have never sworn in front of my children and try to be a decent father, but I thought this might be an interesting topic to get feedback on either way.

Please do not look up Jimmy Carr if you are easily offended because he is exceptionally vulgar, putting that to one side. What are your thoughts on this topic?

Is swearing a lack of intelligence? Do you swear, if so? Why? Could you have used different words instead?

You know by now that I wear my heart on my leave, am honest and try to encourage positive debate, so I would like to see what you think.

As always, thank you for reading.

Written by Robert Ralph

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