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<title> Taboo or not Taboo </title>
There are people who use media solely for their own subjective purposes, and whose messages or criticisms often are unjustified. I find it very difficult to take those people seriously. One example of such a person is Mrs Shirley E Peckham who in her article "Cleaning up the language" complains over children swearing too much. Peckham's arguments are not well founded and what is more; she offers no solutions to the acclaimed problem with swear words. There are many things in Peckham's article I find offending. 

One source of irritation is a paragraph in which Peckham describes herself listening to four or five boys at the railway station while they were in a conversation with each other about college. Although the boys looked so respectable and surely came from respectable families, much to her surprise they were using a very bad language. By their looks they could have been Peckham's own sons. This sounds like a very shallow reflection to me. Peckham obviously has a habit of judging people's characters by their appearances. This particular time she found out that that is not always possible. Nowadays the differences between social groups are not as explicit as they used to be; much do to the media. Children, no matter what background, are affected by the same influences and trends. Especially groups of friends tend to behave, talk and dress in the same manner, and develop a special jargon. It serves to create a feeling of unity. Just as it did with those boys on the railway station. I am sure they were unawear of any old lady listening in on them and therefore they spoke uninhibited. If the boys had known Peckham was eavesdropping, they would have chosen a more appropriate language. In my opinion Peckham's article is an insult to children's intelligence.

"Children these days don't seem to know what speaking normally and decently is" Peckham declares. Clearly she must have forgot what it was like to be young. How important it is for a child to be respected. From reading her article I sense that respect is a virtue that Peckham does not possess. Apparently Peckham only comes in contact with children when they are at recess or on their way home from school and they pass by her husband's shop. Of course children use a different language then. During school hours I am sure they are not allowed to swear and many times feel restrained by rules. In order to earn the teachers' and others respect they can not always use the words, which come naturally to them. I too vary my language. Among strangers I really make an effort to behave and speak in the best way I know how, but in the presence of my friends I feel free to talk as I choose. Childern learn this from an early age and most of them have grown out of the unrestrained swearing by the time they apply for employment or higher education. So did I and I am positive that our childern will too. Our physical and intellectual development goes through a number of stages. To swear is one of them. When children are small they hear adults, often mum and dad, swear and interprets it as a sign of being a grown up. It is not so strange then that children want to try it themselves. It is not so much the words that are important, but what they symbolize, in this case the adult world.

People have used swear words since the day man bagan to talk. At most I can say that it is sometimes bad judgement and evidence of a lack of imagination that make grown people overdo the swearing. Children are normally just going through a phase when searching for their own identity. Once they have gained a selfconfidence they usually have developed a good control over their language too. There is no doubt in my mind that children today will not rise to any occasion. If we trust in them they will not let us down. Mrs Shirley E Peckham should not worry so much; things have a tendency to work out one way or the other. If swearing seem to be fashionable right now that does not mean that it will be popular in let us say ten years.
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