Bright Hues

I once watched a forklift operator load a pallet of something onto a truck. He was talking as he went about his work. If I would substitute his profanity for ordinary words, his sentences would've sounded like, "Truck van could you sheep van move truck car that pallet van truck sheep over truck van there?" I seriously wonder if he had a form of Tourettes or something.

People lace their speech with explicatives for added emphasis all the time, yet our rich English language has so many beautiful and specific synonyms we can trade out for weak words. We miss out on so much. Speaking is a little like painting. Quality words hone a crisp image. Dirty words are like spilling your brush water onto your canvas.

I have always had a visceral reaction to the F word in particular.  I am surprised with #metoo that the F word is still getting any press.  Look up the most basic meaning. When a word that means what the F word does is used to underscore with vehemence, doesn't it become such a rapey word?  Think of the context where people infuse the F word. It's pretty inappropriate when you think about it.

Quality people use quality words. People who are prone to use overworked explicatives might try picking up a Thesaurus sometime. They might discover a more authentic way of expressing themselves while unearthing their inner wordsmith.

-Colleen