Bad Words…
For today class, to
reinforce the concept of mental programming, I thought we would turn our
attention to the bad words of the world.
As an introductory quiz, please take a clean sheet of paper and in the
next 30 seconds write down every bad word or short phrase you can think of.
Abbreviations are permissible. I’ll
wait…
Finished? OK, lemme check… Whoa! Some of you did really good! You have
listed some words that I hadn’t even thought of. On the other hand, there are a few of you who have apparently
been leading excessively sheltered lives.
You really should get out more.
Did you enjoy that little
exercise? Sort of like a mental
laxative, huh? OK, for those of you who
thought it was completely stupid, I agree with you completely. In fact, my clean sheet of paper is
still…yep, completely clean. (For those
of you who are leaping ahead and already see the full logic in this, you’re
just going to have to chill out for a couple of minutes while I bring everyone
else up to speed.)
For the rest of you, my
paper is completely clean because…are you ready for this..? There is no such a thing as a “bad”
word! THINK about it! Words are just combinations of letters or
sounds that we humans use to represent a concept. They’re just squiggly little lines on a piece of paper or
computer screen. They’re just varying
little sound waves that wiggle the tiny hairs in our middle ear. We see the squiggles and hear the sounds –
and translate them into something semi-meaningful. We produce the squiggles and sounds to communicate with other
humans. With a little luck, we will
have already generally agreed on the meanings of these symbols and
communications will occur.
Words carry only the meaning
or connotation that we have assigned to them.
We consider them to be “good” or “bad” because our parents, teachers,
society, etc., have told us –sometimes through painful reinforcement – that
they are good or bad. We
individually learn and are essentially programmed to intuitively “know” which
words are bad. Our subconscious is
programmed to apply strong negative connotations to some of these “bad”
words. And yes, to be fair here, we are
also programmed to apply strong positive connotations to many of the “good”
words.
We set limits on who can say
many of these words and where these words can be used. Think about it. When was the last time you heard a minister say “sh--” in front
of the congregation? And yet, this is
one of most expressive words in the language and is commonly used effectively
to express a wide range of emotions.
The language in the locker room is considerably different than that used
in the board room. The language used in
the bedroom is usually different than that used at the dining room table – or
in front of our kids. We normally use language that is acceptable within our
immediate environment and acceptable to us personally.
Personal acceptance and any
resulting connotation is ultimately an individual thing. No, I’m not
advocating that we all fill our daily conversations with those words that are
not acceptable in our immediate situation/environment. What I am saying is that the personal – and
sometimes emotional – impact that words have on us is the result of our
life-long programming and that in reality, the power of words – all words – is
limited to that which we personally bestow upon them. Maybe some of us should consider reducing that power level a
couple of notches. Just a thought.