Soapbox: What's wrong with swearing?

I WOULD like to take issue with a few comments raised in Gil Osman's letter ("Soapbox: Schools need to set strict standards", Open Lines, November 5).

Firstly, let's dispel the cliched and rather tired age-old myth that swearing demon- strates an inherent basic lack of language skills. That's just inaccurate, mealy- mouthed nonsense.

A cursory retrospective of some of the most important and influential writers, composers, artists and thinkers of recent times shows that even the most intelligent, profound and creative individuals are not averse to peppering their daily social intercourse with the animated additions of the occasional swear word or two.

And in a clear-cut, simple, black and white world, it would be easy to make the naive and rather unpalatable suggestion that there is such a thing as good (acceptable) and bad (unacceptable) language.

But we all know that we don't live in a clear-cut, simple, black and white world and the rules and boundaries are constantly being crossed, misunderstood or completely ignored in terms of manners, etiquette and good or bad discourse.

There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" language, there is simply language – and it should be embraced in all its weird, wonderful, organic and endlessly evolving ways.

Let's not forget, the occasional sprinkling of the odd invective can be used to enhance and enliven conversation or the written word – profanity as a useful, expressive and creative force.

Let's not be so narrow-minded, shallow and linguistically backward to think the intermittent cuss has no place or value within a contemporary conversational or literary context.

How boring, bland and uninspired the written and spoken word would be without reflecting the attitudes, beats, culture and language of how we live in the 21st century.

And I guess that's part of the problem.

As with the tsunami of complaints that flooded the BBC in the wake of Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand and, most recently, Jeremy Clarkson's antics and comments, it appears to be a cross-generational divide, a conflict between the old and new school who, it seems, are discomforted with the fact that attitudes, conceptions and times have changed and uncomfortable that we no longer aspirate our H's and nibble tiffin for tea, plus a general countrywide stuffiness in attitude that takes offence at being challenged, let alone face a disruption in the formal, mundane status quo.

My own personal theory is that people nowadays feel so worried, intimidated, defensive and threatened by everything they see or read in the news ("beware the credit crunch!", "look out for those terrorists!", "are you in danger of repossession?", "recycle your tins or destroy the planet!", "is that a paedophile by the school gates?") that they've actually forgotten how to have fun, chill out and enjoy themselves.

So when someone makes a flippant and – in both above cases – very funny, anarchic comment, the typical British moaning sensibility kicks in and we feel compelled to complain.

It's almost as if the self serving, nothing- better-to-do-with-their-time whingers are thinking "I'm not having any fun in my own life, so why should anyone else?"

And sometimes a foul-mouthed rant or a blue-tinged lambasting is a fine, refreshing, satisfying and often exhilarating way of releasing the pressures, frustrations and irritations that build up in and plague our everyday lives – like people complaining about bad language.

Let's not lose sight of the really important things: Government and council's infinite cutbacks on schools, hospitals and decent kit for our troops fighting a war we should never have got involved in, and families and the elderly not being able to pay their heating bills because the power hungry but ultimately incompetent upper echelons fritter it away on spongers, cyclists, consultants and civil servants.

Let's not lose perspective on the things that really matter – a perilous precipice over which some people are in real danger of plummeting.

So let's celebrate the swear word, shake off our prudishness of profanity and have a smirk at our own self-deprecation from time to time.

Live and let live – and we might become a better nation for it.

Jamie Caddick, by email.