Comments (2)

By Alyssa, February 4, 2010 4:22 pm

I was making our bed yesterday and had just pulled the sheets up to the top when my hand lost its grip and I slammed my knuckles into our headboard.  Hmmm… that doesn’t sound painful enough… I lost my grip and slammed every single one of my knuckles into the solid wood grooves on our headboard with a resounding thud.  So then I did it, I dropped a “F#(@!” before I even knew it was out of my mouth and grabbed my red and swollen knuckles.  I looked around the room and thanked God that the children were downstairs before finishing the bed.

I realized that it had been a long time since I’d used that word.  It’s not like I’m completely unfamiliar with cussing.  Growing up I’ve heard my dad occasionally swear, usually in association with his work on old farm machinery, and, in the Army, I’ve heard bad words used as adjectives, nouns, adverbs, you name it.  I don’t like it when I hear men swear, but I’m not a man, so I can’t speak to why they do it.  One thing I’ve never gotten used to in and out of the military is when women have potty-mouths.

Swearing is a negative habit, but, I’ll admit, I judge women more for it.  I think that women shouldn’t swear.  We, women, just sound silly when we try to cuss and I wish an older, wiser military mentor would have told me that a long time ago.  I swore in the Army to fit in.  As the only ponytail in the room, I thought swearing might make me sound like I had my stuff together.  Here’s the thing that I learned, cussing doesn’t make you sound smarter, look tougher, or even really help you get your point across. Once I accepted that I didn’t need to be masculine to lead in the military, I embraced my feminine leadership skills.  Swearing and femininity don’t go together in my opinion.

I will tell you that after I let out that f-bomb yesterday making the bed, I followed it up with a “Son of a Gun on Toast!”  When I stopped swearing regularly, I found that I still really needed something to yell to relieve the pressure of anger or pain.  I’ve been known to yell “Crap and a Half,” and “Hot Dang” too.  Ridiculous?  Yes, but still effective.  I’m not only a woman, but I’m a mother.  Now when my four-year-old stubs his toe on the playground and yells, “Gun and Toast!” to his friends, I celebrate that he learned that and not “#$&@” from his mom.