From the archives: F-ck the whole business

Profanity isn’t merely ornamental. It instead serves an incalculably important role in our self-expression…

For a variety of reasons, it’s been a rough fucking month.

No details are needed here, because I imagine we all have those dips and valleys. But, suffice it to say that between business, politics and the usual pressure of prepping for a hectic summer, there have been plenty of things pushing me to feel a little tense nowadays.

And when that happens, it sometimes takes a lot for me to maintain a G or PG rating with my interior monologue. As a former radio guy, however, my censor button generally works well while vocalizing my frustrations.

But not always.

Recently, while struggling with a project I’ve been working on for some time, I began to fall behind on a few other things — such as this blessed newsletter. As a result, the frustrations began to build, and before too long I found myself with an unslakable temptation to hurl a torrent of exclamations at my computer — as if it was technology’s fault my mood had soured. (It was not.)

While the outburst didn’t exactly fix what was ailing my attitude, it actually did help improve my mood in the short-term. As it turns out, letting a few vulgarities roll off one’s tongue can, occasionally, have a truly cathartic and positive therapeutic impact on our immediate perspective of the world.

However, that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Language is a powerful tool — and those uncouth utterances we’re supposed to keep restrained around polite company are among the most powerful of all. I’ve written before:

Profanity isn’t merely ornamental. It instead serves an incalculably important role in our self-expression, communicative abilities with others, and even in our ability to persuade the world around us.

Hopefully I’ll be back on schedule next week with my usual publication of insights, ramblings and creative counsel for this little corner of the interwebs. In the meantime, however, it seemed appropriate to “reup” an earlier essay in which I celebrated the catharsis of the unutterable.

Click the essay below, share with those who don’t mind a little linguistic impropriety and, most of all, enjoy the unique role colorful language plays in our daily life:

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