I'm Tired of the F -Word!

I'm tired of the F-word.  Years ago, that word carried a certain amount of shock value, but no more.  Just like the word "Reeeaaalllyyy," the F-word has lost the effect it once had.  Using it now is more likely to earn you a disgusted look than producing a shocked intake of breath and wide-opened eyes.  

I've often wanted to go up to perfect strangers in Walmart, the grocery store, or at a sporting event and ask, "What is it that made you think your shirt with that word emblazoned on it is appropriate to wear in public?"  My husband won't let me ask that question, however, because he doesn't want to have to defend me in the event that the shirt-wearer takes offense at the question. 

I wonder how parents explain the word when, in public, their young children sight-read it on a shirt (or worse, across someone's rear end) and ask what it means.  Not long ago, I was in a line at the grocery store when a young child not only pronounced the word in one of its forms, but also managed to sound it out along with the B**** word that followed it.  (The kid aced on the first try the other two words on the shirt, "I'm a . . ")  You know what happened.  Mom tried to hush the child, which only escalated the volume and frequency with which it was pronounced.  She'd shush the child, he'd up the volume, she'd try to pull his face into her skirt, he'd push away and repeat in a singsong, earsplitting register, the words over and over.

By the way, woman with the obscene T-shirt, is being a F****** B**** is something you're proud of?  Something you want to intimidate me with?  An honest assessment of your character?     

If people want to deck themselves out with obscenities or use them in everyday conversation, let them do so in the privacy of their own homes, not in public.  I'm tired of hearing it on television, hearing and seeing it in public, tired of it EVERYWHERE. 

Perhaps we should bring back some of the old words to use in an F-word situation:  Rats!  Darn it!  Drat!  Fiddlesticks!  Somehow, I doubt that the F-word users would go for those words . . .  

We Stay Here All the Time

One of the items on my bucket list was to be a volunteer RV park host.  Well, cross that item off, because I am now a park host at a large RV park in Texas, 70 full hook-up sites and on the water.  Most of the campers have two things in common:  the love of RV life and the irritating ability to spout off  "We stay here all the time" (WSHATT) as a reply to any request by park management or park hosts. 

Here's how it works.  We have a list of common-sense rules that we give to campers upon check-in.  Rule #3 reads "Dogs must be kept on leashes anytime they are out of your RV.  NO EXCEPTIONS."  Rule #4 reads "Pets are not allowed in the office, laundry room, rest rooms, or showers."  Rule #5 reads "Pet owners are responsible for picking up their pet's waste; free waste pick-up bags are provided at several places in the park for your convenience."  Couldn't be clearer.  Small words, clear rules.  Below is a small sample of how the WSHATT reply is used:

Me:  Sir, I see that your two pit bulls are running loose through the park.  Dogs must be kept on leashes when they're not in your RV.
Reply:  We stay here all the time.  (Camper never looks at me--just walks away.)

Me:  Pardon me, but you must be out of waste bags.  Here, let me give you some so that you can pick up what your pet left in several places.
Reply:  We stay here all the time.  (Camper refuses bags and continues following the pet, who is leaving a trail like the wicked stepmother did for Hansel and Gretel.)

Me:  I'm sorry, but you can't take your English sheepdog into the rest room/shower area.
Reply:  We stay here all the time.  (I return later to check that area before dark and find wet dog hair stuck to the shower floor, clogging the drain, plastered 3' up the walls, stuck to the sink and mirror, and making a small, wet carpet in a toilet stall.)

Obviously, the WSHATT reply translates into "We stay at this park a lot, and we know what we're supposed to do, but we'll damn well do as we please and have no intention of following the park rules, because WE STAY HERE ALL THE TIME."

In an earlier post, I mentioned the old "Barney and Friends" PBS television show in which no one was ever wrong and everyone was rewarded for doing little or nothing.  Rules?  What rules?  Self-esteem and egos were to be nourished at every turn.  The result?  A generation of WSHATT people, those for whom no rules apply.

I wonder what our supervisors here at the park would say if, when they ask me to take on an extra duty or two, I replied "I STAY HERE ALL THE TIME" . . . and walked away.