Adam Flaws, a 26-year-old trader for the Chicago Board of Trade, and his peers were unanimous as they grabbed some beers after work Wednesday: Swearing is just a part of daily life on the trading floor.
“We must hear about 400 swear words a day,” Flaws estimates.
“Every other word out of a guy’s mouth is profane,” Jack Joyce, 38, of Bloomingdale says.
Fellow trader Kurt Bruksch, 29, says everyone is doing it.
“The whole city has a swearing problem. But it’s not as bad [to swear] as it was 10 years ago. It’s more prevalent and more accepted in society.”
Language experts concede that outside of research studies of network television, it’s difficult to document a societal increase in the use of offensive words.
But what is clear, these experts say, is that society’s standards are evolving. And previously taboo words are more often finding their way into the workplace, the printed page, television and elsewhere.
Ozzy Osbourne and family have to be the most bleeped-yet-beloved TV family in history. Bono dropped the f-bomb at the Golden Globe Awards last year, Diane Keaton used the s-word at this year’s Golden Globes, and Nicole Richie let the f-word slip at the Billboard Awards.
Just last month, Courtney Love swore 15 times on Howard Stern, an apparent record for the show. Even the squeaky clean Tiger Woods talks dirty sometimes. He was fined for an outburst at the 2000 U.S. Open.
A backlash is brewing in some sectors. On Wednesday, a House committee in Washington approved a dramatic increase in penalties against broadcasters who air indecent material. And Clear Channel recently dropped Stern’s randy radio show from a handful of stations.
CBS aired the Grammy Awards with a five-minute delay, and ABC used a five-second delay at the Academy Awards, enough time to cut or bleep something verbal or Janet-esque.
Does network TV simply reflect changing societal standards, as is sometimes claimed by execs?
In the 1950s, it was common for people to say “H-E-double-toothpicks.” Today, it’s arguable whether words such as “hell” even qualify as swear words.
When Rhett Butler told Scarlett O’Hara “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” in 1939’s “Gone with the Wind,” the then-shocking line cost the producer a $5,000 fine. David O. Selznick reportedly considered other options, including “I don’t give a hoot.”
” ‘Hell’ and ‘damn’ have lost their power in our society, not through prohibition but through overuse,” said Timothy Jay, a professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and an author of five books on profanity.
“We did an analysis, and ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ are in the newspapers all the time. They’re even in the cartoons. What was impermissible on TV in the ’50s is what we consider appropriate for kids every day.”
The Parents Television Council has documented the increase in foul language on television. A study by the group found, for example, that the use of the word “ass” during prime time increased 2,108 percent between 1989 and 1999.
But vulgarity is hardly confined to television. Speaking about the war with Iraq, presidential candidate John Kerry told Rolling Stone: “Did I expect George Bush to f— it up as badly as he did? I don’t think anybody did.”
And it’s a bipartisan problem. Bush was once caught unaware by an open microphone, when he used a vulgarity to describe a reporter.
Not everyone sees the evolution as cause for concern. Donna Jo Napoli, professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, sees such change as a normal part of the evolution of language.
“We’re still shocked by lots of things,” Napoli said. “We’ve just changed what we’re shocked by. A racial slur, for example, knocks us flat.”
Others disagree. Rasheda Williams, who works for an education company that tutors young people, said she guards her speech, even avoiding the word “hate” around children. She said it appalls her that previously unmentionable expressions are finding their way into public discourse.
“For people to be able to use the f-word in any form or fashion is incredibly ridiculous,” she said.
“Freedom of speech my you-know-what. This goes beyond freedom of speech.”
Sound off
Many formerly banned words are now uttered all the time on prime-time TV. Do you think “son of a bitch,” “ass” and “pissed” are words fit for television? E-mail us at ritaredeye
@tribune.com.
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You don’t say
The Parents Television Council compared similar four-week periods from 1989 and 1999 and found that these three words were becoming far more common on prime-time shows. (Percent change from 1989 to 1999)
“Damn”
+323%
“Hell”
+432%
“Ass”
+2,108%
The blue tube
With the exception of Fox, all of the major TV networks have seen a huge increase in the number of curse words uttered between 7 and 8 p.m., the so-called family hour.
Bad words per hour
Network 1998 2000 2002
ABC 2.4 1.9 3.9
CBS 1.3 4.9 7.4
FOX 7.4 7.3 5.6
NBC 3.8 5.8 8.2
UPN 1.7 1.8 3.5
WB 1.5 3.5 4.3
TOTAL 2.9 4.5 5.7
%%
Source: Parents Television Council
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A rogue’s gallery
Folks who’ve caused a stir by saying something they shouldn’t have said.
Bush
BUST: Caught on microphone talking about a reporter.
Stern
BOOTED: Had his radio show dropped by Clear Channel.
Woods
FINED: Forced to pay for outburst at the 2000 U.S. Open.
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