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<title> Teenage language: normal and harmless </title>
I must say that Shirley E Peckham and her article "Cleaning up the Language" scares me. I am well aware of the fact that the words we choose to use are not always the proper ones but is that really a reason to abuse or look down on someone else? What I will argue for is that fear is not the way to change the language spoken by teenagers. It is not right to threaten anybody into doing or not doing something. Furthermore I believe the typical language of a teenager exists only during a short period of time and lastly that it is no way near powerful enough to become general practise. If we are to change the language it will be by being good parents and adults. By good I mean to have time to listen and to guide teenagers through what probably is one of the more difficult periods of life.

To be "boxed around the ears" as Peckham writes in her article cannot be a good way of learning something positive. There are a million ways of correcting someone and lead the person on the right way without using violence, physical or psychological. I get really angry when a person, like Peckham, get so disgusted when she hears a teenager swear but in the next turn she thinks it is alright for a grown-up to hit a child or threaten to do it. I cannot see the logic in that! Peckham wants teenagers to show respect but I do not see how a slap in the face can teach them how to do that. Respect is a mutual thing and we have to be good role models. 

Unfortunately, for some people, no matter how good role models we are it is not our job to make teenagers talk in a certain way. They cannot become adults over night, we have to allow them to be teenagers first. Everybody knows that teenagers have a special language just as any other group of people in society. Maybe teenagers like to be seen and heard more than others do and maybe they sometimes use a bad language to get that effect. I do not say that it is the right thing to do but as an adult to say that these teenagers "lower themselves to dirt level" is a disgrace. If we want to tidy up the language the right way is certainly not to attack the users. Unfortunately it is quite common that strong reactions and angry voices are raced against teenagers and their language. It is different but we must remember that it is an over going face and we must also try not to overreact. Maybe a lot of swearwords is used to make them fit in in their social group but it is only for a short time.

Lastly I must comment on Peckhams fear that teenage language will take over the world and be the rule more than the exception. During the last 70 years there has always been the fear among some people that a dialect or a language like the teenage language would take over and make the national language disappear or at least to weaken it. This fear goes in waves. At some point many years ago in Sweden it was the slang that were spoken among sailors and workers in harbours that were said to take over the Swedish language. That was also a hard and sometimes raw language but still it did not even make a threat to our national language. My conviction is that swear words belong to our language just like any other words and when they are used with common sense it does not jeopardise the whole language in any way.

I think these attacks on teenage language seem to come from fear of the unknown and a lack of respect for something different. Teenagers, just like anybody else, needs to be treated as human beings. We are sometimes afraid of the unknown but if we try to remember our own up bringing we soon find that it is not that unfamiliar to us. We should be able to recognise ourselves in teenagers of today. Even if society is changing it is still the same basic needs of liberation and search for identity that are expressed in their behaviour and language. The teenage period is quite short and instead of constantly complaining we should try to accept and maybe even learn something from it.
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