A Rant About Words
February 19th, 2008 by Sonja

I love words. I love languages. I love to find the meanings of words and then use them appropriately. I’m a stuffed shirt and have been known to correct people in my outloud voice for misusing words. I try to keep this inside my head, but it does not always work. I’ve been the bossy big sister for far too long and it leaks out sometimes. For the record, I’m always deeply ashamed of this. I do know how unsightly it is.

One might imagine that someone like me would despise profanity. Nope, just the opposite. I kind of like it. I enjoy it’s spitting rebellion. I take great delight in the shock that people try to cover up when they hear those words come out of someone’s mouth. I think that shock is really funny. Then, of course, I immediately feel bad and guilty for laughing at someone else’s expense and outrage. Because, at the end of the day, that is also wrong. So, I try very diligently to teach my children other words to say when they are angry or frustrated.

Here’s the thing though. Throughout the course of my life I’ve observed the list of allowable words grow narrower and narrower. Now some would say that on network television this is not the case. But it is. How many times do you see the word “penis” in print? And how many of you just took a breath when you saw it there? See? How about “breast” out of context? Same thing … It’s tiresome. Myself, I like the word “boob” to talk about breasts and even among women talk of bras brings about nervous laughter. Come ON, people … it’s UNDERWEAR … we all use it.

Using words properly and appropriately will not do anything to you. Well, it might give you the appearance of intelligence. However, except on certain television shows and movies, there is no magic in words. They are not charms or spells. There is nothing sacred or profane in them.  There is nothing to be afraid of.  Nothing to shrink away from.  Words are a tool with which we communicate ideas.

Over at Waving or Drowning, Mike recently wrote a post entitled “To Hell with Romans 13.”  Is the title provocative?  Yes.  Blaphemous?  Perhaps.  Heresy?  I don’t know.  Profanity?  No.  There is nothing profane about that title.  Yet one commenter was disgusted by the “profanity.”  I thought he was going to faint with the vapors.  Well, for heaven’s sake, if you have a problem with it then argue your point.  Don’t whip out your pretend profanity policeman’s badge and be a sissy with the vapors.

Grow up.  Get over your bad self.  Who died and made you God?  Oh … whoops.  You’re not.  I’m just so done with all the damn rules and regulations.  This person is made faint over the word hell, that person won’t allow the word breast on their blog, another can’t bear to sit under the teaching of women.  A school invites people to speak on campus, then dis-invites them when the heat gets too hot from their fundamentalist alumnae.  Every church website I go to has their list of fundamental beliefs that they want a body to sign up for in order to become a member.  One that I saw recently has pages worth; that indicates faith in knowledge rather than faith in Jesus.  You know what we’re all becoming?  Little gods.  This is what got Lucifer thrown out of heaven folks … the desire to be right even more than God.  It’s called “pride.”  And if you’re so damn full of it that you have to be right all the time … then you really are full of it.


32 Responses  
  • sheryl writes:
    February 19th, 20085:09 pmat

    Sonja,
    I’ve enjoyed reading your comments on the “Mapping Emerging” post at Jesus Creed. I agree with you about diversity–it isn’t just a woman thing, but one of ethnicity and skin color. I’m glad to have stumbled onto your site as a result!

  • Sonja writes:
    February 19th, 20085:26 pmat

    Hi sheryl … Welcome! I’m glad you’re here … and I’m glad I spoke up, if the result is that I meet more people.

  • Patrick writes:
    February 19th, 20085:36 pmat

    Funny thing. I totally agree with your post here. But I disagree with the linked posts over there.

    Paul wrote that verse to the Romans. Rome. Rome who was significantly worse than anything we can possibly imagine, worse than even some of the worst things we see around the world at times.

    Yet he wrote that. Yes there is a place for arguing against the establishment use of the verses. But, there’s no place for zealots on either side. They destroy in their attempts to save.

    And frankly it makes the whole thing into a distraction. They want to kill the Egyptian to save the slaves. God doesn’t work like that.

    And it’s a big deal to throw out a whole chapter just because it has been used wrong. It’s what made tyrants out of the church, and it will happen again to such people, from such people, and they’ll have to offer all kinds of apologies again after causing more chaos, and ruining more people, because they know best, and because they know best real people, real lives, become secondary to the Cause.

    And that frightens the Hell out of me.

    No thanks to the sentiment. No thanks to the fiery zealousness. No thanks to bringing that kingdom into power.

    I want the Kingdom of God, which comes through peace, even peace towards those we don’t like. All I read in that language is anger and hatred and violence–a distinct lack of peace from a person writing about good causes.

    Who needs the Spirit, when there’s passion, eh?

  • Patrick writes:
    February 19th, 20085:42 pmat

    But, I think we need strong words to make strong expressions. It’s a needed part of language. Though, I have noticed a lot of the emerging church are like freshman at college, doing all sorts of things not for any other reason than they can and the parents aren’t around to tell them not to anymore.

    It’s silly and juvenile. And God does in fact say a lot about holiness as well as justice.

    And it cheapens the language. And it undermines the message.

    I have no problem with the word in that post. But, that’s precisely the kind of thing that will undercut dialogue and ruin attempts to convey the truth in the underlying message. Anti-peace, anti-conversation… maybe anti-Christ? Possibly, as it assume a perspective that rises above the rest of the Body and judges with harshness those who are almost certainly seeking Christ in their context as much as the author, if not in the same exact way.

    And that pisses me off, because I’ve seen empty husks of good Christians burned by men with harsh words and their causes.

    Which also bothers me because you know how much I hate defending the conservative side of the church. 😀

  • Mike writes:
    February 19th, 20086:59 pmat

    Speaking of words, “vapors” just about had me on the floor!

    I can’t take credit for the post title… that comes straight from Brian Walsh. Obviously I had no problem with it or I wouldn’t have posted it. Quite frankly I think it speaks more to our misuse of scripture than to scripture itself. I think seeing the words “hell” and “Romans” gives some the vapors (still laughing) but I’m quite certain Brian did not mean it as a reflection of his view of the passage.

    As for profanity – I try not to make a habit out of it, but sometimes its just punctuation!

  • Julie Clawson writes:
    February 19th, 20087:16 pmat

    I completely agree.

    But I have to admit that some words in some contexts can’t help but make me smirk. Tony Jones’ use of the term “genitalia” in his new book was one of those. But that had a lot to do with context as well.

  • Rick writes:
    February 19th, 20088:05 pmat

    Funny thing about the Religious Left and words… you folks tend to seriously dis fundamentalism all while abhorring the behavior of people who don’t believe like you do.

    I’d like to see your rant on those words.

  • Sonja writes:
    February 19th, 20088:24 pmat

    Rick … did you read my post? It was a rant on those words.

    Actually, I believe in the same God that you believe in. I believe in the same Saviour that you believe in. I believe that he was born of a virgin. Lived a sinless life and died to redeem my sins on a cross. That he was raised from the dead after three days. I believe in the same Bible.

    I just don’t take it all to the same lengths as you. So you call it different. But it’s a matter of degrees … it’s not like I’m a Hindu or something. So … why are you here trying to pick a fight? Why is that you try to pick a fight on every emerging blog that you go to? I don’t think you’re right about everything and … I’m never going to. But I don’t abhor it either. Just because I think something is wrong or unnecessary doesn’t mean I abhor it. You’re not going to have “the best argument ever” and convince me otherwise with your stunning logic and blazing rhetoric. Because I’ve been there, done that. It’s not love. Anything that is not done in love is a clanging gong. Go read and meditate on the whole of Corinthians 13 for a while. Then think about how to love your neighbor as yourself. Think for several days about how you like to be treated and spoken to. Please don’t come back here until you’re ready to speak to me in that manner. Because I’m not going to argue with you.

  • Sonja writes:
    February 19th, 20088:49 pmat

    Patrick … I agree with you about zealots (as you know). Did you read the linked post at WorD? The whole piece written by Brian Walsh? He doesn’t actually argue for throwing out Romans 13, but for a re-mixed interpretation of it. One which is more nuanced than blindly following after one’s government even when we suspect our government is pursuing ends which are counter-Kingdom. The sentiment expressed I think would be more aptly put “To hell with the current spin that is put on Romans 13.” Does that make sense?

  • Sonja writes:
    February 19th, 20088:52 pmat

    Hah! Mike … punctuation, I like that!

    Every time I re-read that guy’s comment, all I could see was some Victorian lady fanning herself … so vapors it is.

  • Sonja writes:
    February 19th, 20088:54 pmat

    Julie, you’re right … sometimes it is context. But then there are words that are always guaranteed to make me giggle, no matter what the context.

  • Rick writes:
    February 19th, 20089:09 pmat

    Well, for heaven’s sake, if you have a problem with it then argue your point. Don’t whip out your pretend profanity policeman’s badge and be a sissy with the vapors.

    Who’s being the sissy now Sonja? I did nothing more than point out the hypocrisy of the Religious Left, who are quick to bemoan the Religious Right over their fundamentalism, all the while having sissy fits over those who show up to disagree with their points.

    This is your blog… you can certainly shut me down, delete me, or ban me… wouldn’t be the first time tolerance and open-mindedness are ballyhooed and then poo poo-ed.

    Just seems to me that if you’re going to start a fire, you shouldn’t complain about the heat.

  • Patrick writes:
    February 19th, 200810:15 pmat

    Rick, you’re tiresome and entirely a zealot too. Likely you and I share a lot of similar political leanings. You seem to be using religion and politics to make yourself seem right, for the ego, not for the truth. It’s a power thing. And to function you have to go and seek dominance.

    Very juvenile. You want tolerance. Show it. You want open-mindedness. Show it. Don’t be a cad and expect to be treated like an honored guest. That kind of behavior is the antithesis of Christ.

    And Sonja, I think I was testy too. I skimmed the article and knew what you were saying was sort of the essence. But I guess I have seen the fire being thrown by both sides enough to know that it’s just not effective and only serves to alienate. If we want people to grow it’s not enough to just be right. We can be very wrong in how we are right.

    That passage was a major reason why I became increasingly moderate. I used to be very conservative in high school. But I got so fed up with the Christian Right and their attacks on Clinton in the 90s. It was precisely that passage that made me become someone who could disagree with a politician while not making it personal. So I saw how throwing that out entirely undermined positions. So, maybe I’m over-sensitive now seeing that coming from the other side.

    “Vapors” makes me giggle too. I think using all Victorian slang would be a hilarious.

    I think those words are definitely punctuation. Maybe though it’s like overusing exclamation points. Very easy to overuse!

    Maybe too I’m just really thinking about communication these days and like with editing stuff it’s easy to start noticing expressions and styles that can alienate.

  • Lori writes:
    February 20th, 200812:04 amat

    Sonja, really, this is your blog how dare you write things that you want to write about. Why can’t you just be a coolaide drinking christain, and keep you opinions to your self 😉 Oh my, did I say that out loud LOL!

  • Sonja writes:
    February 20th, 20087:20 amat

    Loves ya, Lori and Patrick 😀

  • Rick writes:
    February 20th, 20081:10 pmat


    Rick, you’re tiresome and entirely a zealot too. Likely you and I share a lot of similar political leanings. You seem to be using religion and politics to make yourself seem right, for the ego, not for the truth. It’s a power thing. And to function you have to go and seek dominance.

    I’m sorry Patrick… have we met? You seem to know alot about me based on… what exactly? A couple of paragraphs and you’ve cyber-psychoanalyzed me and have me all figured out? You must be quite skilled… or presumptive… I think those with integrity would know which.


    Very juvenile. You want tolerance. Show it. You want open-mindedness. Show it. Don’t be a cad and expect to be treated like an honored guest. That kind of behavior is the antithesis of Christ.

    Interesting… so what Sonja did when she attacks posters on other blogs who likely aren’t here to in any way defend what they said… that’s Christ-like? Calling someone a sissy suffering with vapors is… Christ-like? I’m thinking Patrick that you should spend less time analyzing me and more time defining terms so that you don’t show yourself to be someone with clear double standards or someone who upholds them.


    Maybe too I’m just really thinking about communication these days and like with editing stuff it’s easy to start noticing expressions and styles that can alienate.

    I’m wondering Patrick if perhaps you could put on a clinic on how to alienate without alienating… clearly you think you have it down…

  • Patrick writes:
    February 20th, 20081:29 pmat

    I’m quite skilled, Rick. :-)

    It’s been a study of mine. And I don’t claim anything of myself beyond a goal. But how we choose to express ourselves in blogs like this often say much more about who we are then personal interaction. There is a real freedom of expression, and aggression, that is often constrained. So, maybe it’s not the whole you… but it is the you who you are conveying and thus it is a deep part of who you are, the specifics which escape me.

    So I take the cues, assess them according to a lot of study and a lot of interaction and a lot of training.

    And I have written a bit of a clinic. But I’m not sure I have it entirely down yet. I’m still young. Give me a few more decades and I’ll be a lot better at it. I will have a brief go here, just to try out my new desire for succinctness.

    The key, Rick, I’ve found is that we can never justify our own behavior by pointing out someone else’s. It undermines the whole point. We love those who hate us. We turn our cheek when someone strikes us. We refrain paying back evil for evil, but instead bring good to what has been bad. We show Christ by expressing Christ in our words, our actions, our every interaction, and thus show a dedication to Christ more than a dedication to our ego.

    It’s hard to discern between Christ and our ego, though, hence a whole lot of very messy Church history. I’m still working at it. But I am working at it. Or rather God is working at it in me.

  • Adam G. writes:
    February 20th, 20083:10 pmat

    Nice.

    But…I for one don’t wear bras….

  • rev. todd writes:
    February 20th, 20083:24 pmat

    I like this a lot! Keep up the good work! You have made me into another regular reader of you blog with this post!!!

  • Peggy writes:
    February 20th, 20084:36 pmat

    The Abbess suggests that when someone gives their post a title with the word “rant” in it, one should step back and listen for the heart and the hurt behind the words. There’s always a history of pain in there somewhere.

    That being said, I will venture a wee opinion:

    I believe that words ARE actually quite powerful. I think James (read the entire third chapter of his epistle) would agree with me And choosing them wisely is a very worthy discipline, otherwise they do lose their value — even taking on totally different meanings. I join C.S. Lewis in mourning the loss of totally good words in this manner.

    But Sonja is my precious sister, and love covers a multitude of…words.

    Love you….

  • Sonja writes:
    February 20th, 20089:23 pmat

    Peggy … you are quite right. Words are powerful. They can harm or cheer with great force.

    My point is more that certain words or combinations do not carry any magic, for good or bad. I may be guilty of splitting hairs in this. But I’m not so sure. I think that calling a thing what it is, or using a word for punctuation may be a bad thing if it is done with the intent to cause harm to one’s audience. But in a vacuum, just the use of those words is not necessarily a bad or wrong thing. I believe that it’s all in the intent of the speaker/writer and what they are trying to do with the words. Does that make sense?

    Speaking even good words while slicing someone’s heart to ribbons is a far more grievous act than cursing like a drunken sailor in love …

  • Sonja writes:
    February 20th, 20089:24 pmat

    Oh … and yes … 😀

    Love covers a multitude of … words!

  • Peggy writes:
    February 20th, 200810:08 pmat

    Agreed, attitude is more important (so Jesus’ “woe” passages) … I do, however, tend to think that words should be chosen more carefully that most of us do, because you can’t get them back once they’re out there.

    It is challenging to communicate in any venue because there is always someone out there who is hearing something that you are not particularly saying … because we all listen from our own perspectives. Sigh….

    It is so tiresome always balancing things in the search for truth, eh? Doing justice and loving mercy and walking humbly with Papa …

    This loving God and loving others is just plain hard work! 8)

  • Mak writes:
    February 21st, 20081:43 pmat

    yes, words are powerful, they are not magic.

    well damnit sonja, you’ve gone and done it again, pissed people off…shit, you might even get linked to by the likes of mr. silva or someone even more interesting who wants to nail your ass to the wall.

    *smirk*

    you know I’m all with ya on this one sister – – and not just about the words thing, about our whole attitude toward one another as Christians. I tried giving the fundies a break and it got me nothing but a witch hunt – extending the grace I want is important but there comes a point when that grace is not returned that it’s toxic and that’s when a post about cussing is in order 😉

    vapors – ROFLOL

  • Jarred writes:
    February 21st, 20084:59 pmat

    Very well said. Though in other circumstances, I might challenge the claim that we all wear underwear. I know a few people who…well, nevermind… 😉

  • Lori writes:
    February 21st, 20087:03 pmat

    Mak, potty mouth 😉

    I’ve been thinking about your post Sonja, and I think it’s funny that if I say breast or penis, or vagina, people cringe, but not so if I say finger, or toe, or dare I say it earlobe. And yes, I do think that we need to be aware of what comes out of our mouth, but sometimes shoot just doesn’t cut it. I use to be very prudish about cursing, and one day I realized that in my heart I was saying the “bad” word, and that God knew what I was saying, who was I trying to fool?
    Just a short story and then I’m done. When we were in Sweden a few years ago visiting family, my nephew was watching something on TV and started yelling f*@# you you mother f*@#er and flippin’ off the TV. My kids turned all shades of red, but my nephew had no idea that what he was saing was so offensive to us, he had leaned it from American movies. I say lots of words in Swedish that don’t mean anything to me, but apparently would make a Swedish sailor blush. “Bad” words are just words that we have deemed “bad”. My kids can’t say fart in front of my mom because she thinks it sounds crude, and stupid is the S word in our house. OK I’m done!

  • Lori writes:
    February 21st, 20088:56 pmat

    Oh, and one more thing, I would rather my son call his penis a penis than his dingaling;-)

  • Patrick writes:
    February 21st, 200810:21 pmat

    I think dingaling is great!

    And it reminded me of Scrubs, and Dr. Elliot Reed’s issues with saying anatomical names.

  • Jarred writes:
    February 22nd, 20089:18 amat

    Come on, everybody sing!

    “My dingaling! My dingaling!”

    Erm, sorry about that. I just love that song.

  • Lori writes:
    February 22nd, 20089:59 amat

    Hey no making fun!

  • Pistol Pete writes:
    February 22nd, 20084:24 pmat

    If there is one thing I have definitely passed onto my children it is a love of language. I love to just sit around and hear them talk – their vocabulary, sentence structure, the subtle nuanes of meaning, the play on dialects, double entendre. I think I could sit down for a family meal and just fill up on the feast of language carefully prepared and lovingly shared.

  • Winstonok writes:
    March 24th, 20087:03 amat

    Cool page., bro


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