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Your momma probably told you to never to swear. But the cool kids do it, your bosses do it, and you want to fit in too. Isn’t conformity wonderful!

I wonder though. Is there really ever a need to swear? Are there no other words that can do the trick? Well, remember when awesome meant that something was deserving of awe, not that you just bought a pink highlighter? Remember when disgusting was unimaginable horror not spaghetti on the floor? When excellent, amazing, stunning, astonishing, grotesque, and unimaginable really were?

There is an abundance of words with an abundance of rich meaning. Perhaps we could revert to words that truly reflect our emotions. Abhor is essentially the equivalent of f***ing hate. Adore is the equivalent of f***ing love. Bull*** is false, a lie, an untruth, a falsification, 100% incorrect, a blatant falsehood. There are no swear words that cannot be effectively communicated with language that is acceptable for church, gramma, toddler, and TOEFL.

Buy a thesaurus (yes, a paper book) and use it. Drop the swear words from your meetings, presentations, and blog posts in favour of words with rich,  expressive content. I challenge you.