We all remember watching a rerun of Gone with the Wind in which Rhett Butler’s last words to Scarlett O’Hara are: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”  Historians say the filmmakers had to fight very hard to keep that line in the 1939 movie.  Wow!  Damn.  How daring! 

Fifty years ago, the comedian George Carlin was arrested for disorderly conduct after he performed his classic bit, “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television,” at a festival.  Charges were dropped and his popularity popped! 

Heck, swearing has been around for centuries.  Just check out the bible’s Colossians 3:8: “Cast off and throw away all these rotten garments of anger, hatred, cursing, and dirty language.” 

Today, cursing is just coursing through our society.  Words once too blue to be uttered publicly have become increasingly commonplace.  Okay, not some of Carlin’s seven words.  Researchers say it’s part of a shift to a more casual lifestyle and the way people communicate on social media.  About one in every 10 words on Twitter, now known as X, is a swear word. 

And, there’s a significant increase in explicit and unfiltered language in movies, streaming services, and TV shows.  Some dirty words do get bleeped on TV.

No more euphemisms or coy acrobatics like freaking, frigging, and fricking!  Really?  “Damn” and “hell” are now in newspaper comic strips. 

News organizations started relaxing their style guides on profanity about 10 years ago.  We’re entertained by changes to one style manual on cursing.  It spells out the proper style for f—up as a noun and a verb and f—ed-up as an adjective.  It has spellings for s— list, s—storm, s—show, and s—hole.  In case you are curious, s— talk has a space when used as a noun, but a hyphen when used as a verb.  Last month, Vanity Fair published a headline including the phrase: “Such a F—king Nerdy Film Geek,” quoting how the director of the movie Parasite describes himself.   That’s another adjectival form as grammar freaks well know.

And, contemporary music?  Hip-hop and rap feature more explicit language than country or pop.   We wouldn’t know.  We play our old CDs.  Love that numbers of studies show that today’s music is inferior to the tunes we sang along with and danced to.  

Not surprisingly, kids are swearing more today and at very early ages.  Profanity is pretty ubiquitous on Netflix’s Teen programming.  There’s a clear disconnect between what Netflix and parents consider appropriate.  Remember when your mom threatened to wash your mouth out with soap if you used that dirty word again?

Cursing has led to a remarkably large body of academic research.  It’s a useful indicator of emotion states.  It can improve strength when exercising.  It increases the number of pushups we can do!   Swearing when we’re angry or frustrated makes us feel better.  Hell, yes!  And, a fun fact.  Chimpanzees, raised by humans and trained in sign language, have taught themselves to swear, using the sign for “dirty” when they are aggravated. 

The 2000 book “Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing” theorizes that the widespread use of foul language has contributed to the decline of civility and good manners.  Hmmm.  It’s out of print.  Guess no one gives a damn.

So, our Wrinkled Wisdom for today:  Learn a bit of sign language so you can swear like a chimpanzee in front of the grandkids.  If kids are in the room, we do give a damn about profanity!  With adults, show off your intellect!  People with higher intellects are more likely to swear.  But, oops, they are also more likely to eat spicy breakfasts and walk around the house naked.  Dagnamit!  Drat!  Gadzooks!  Cripes!  You can always charm those around you with these old-timey oaths…if you don’t mind showing your age.