Right on the edge

Asheim.psd

ARE THERE ANY “BAD” WORDS TODAY?

Bombarded with the “news” of the day about the poor east coast newbie who began and ended his short-lived on-air broadcasting career within one twenty-four-hour news cycle by “opening mouth, inserting foot” literally, I almost feel bad for the guy. It was obvious he was as nervous as a cat in a room filled with rocking chairs without repeating the grandmother of foul words on air. I cannot imagine the horror he must have felt twisting his gut around by the end of the news segment! I wonder if the station fired him because of the potential FCC finger wagging, or if the station director simply didn’t want to deal with the possibility of another slip-up in the future? After all, how many times in a day do most of us hear (or even say ourselves), at least once, the very same words the news anchor guy repeated? Think about that.

I’m not sure when we, as a society, crossed that imaginary line that the majority of us “boomers” knew was going too far when verbalizing our feelings, but it’s been a good ten, maybe fifteen, years for certain. I’m sure for some, it’s been much longer than that. However, for the majority of us who spent our teen years in the 60’s and 70’s, dropping the “F-bomb” was simply not done often. Are you kidding?

One time of having the “F” word come from my mouth as a teenager and I promise you, I’d still have the taste of soap in my mouth today! There were some words that were simply not acceptable under any circumstance, and the “F” word was most definitely at the top of that list, at least in the world I grew up in. As a child growing up in the south with my grandmother who was easily believed to be the God Mother of Appropriate Behavior, having more than a two-minute conversation with her made me jittery as I knew I would blow it along the way, unconsciously using some slang vernacular that would give her reason to stop whatever she was doing to look at me with her brow raised and say “Pardon me. I don’t think I heard you correctly.” That was my cue to say “Sorry!” then repeat what I’d just said minus the slang. Lord only knows what she would have done had I ever said “F” or any other four letter expletive in her presence. I was 19 years old when BigMama passed away. Never, not once during the 19 years I was ever with my grandmother, and many of those years I lived with her, did I ever hear her curse. She simply did not do it, and not for religious reasons or any reason other than that she saw no purpose in using profanity. She said “Intelligent people will find alternative words to relate their feelings and emotions before they stoop to scooping oral manure into their mouths.” Needless to say, she would be anything but impressed with the vernacular commonly heard on every street and inside every household today.

Which leads me back to my header line. Are there any words today that are “off limits” other than during a public broadcast? I am thinking not. I can’t think of any. Back in the days when “men were men, cars were cars and women were used” certain phrases or words were not used in “mixed company,” but with the prevalent declaration by women to be treated “equally,” the charm of asking to be pardoned or excused for the lapse of speaking eloquently before a female came to a screeching halt, then disappeared completely, with each following generation leading us to where we are today—with nervous newbie network anchors spilling oral no-no’s into live mics while thousands of viewers collectively gasp for air– not from shock but over a fit of giggles knowing someone pulled a major boner on one of the last two safe harbors of civil discourse: public air waves. The other, of course, is newsprint. To which I say, good for us!

MOORHEAD PUBLIC NOTICES:

Monday Moorhead Public Service sent out a press release regarding information worthy of remembering during a Flood Event. MPS’ goal is to continue to provide electric and water services to its customers throughout the flood, and in so saying, MPS will provide updates on the status of its electric and water systems. If a decision is made to disconnect power or shut the water off in a section of Moorhead that is affected by flooding, MPS will issue an official press release through the local media.

MPS will also provide updates regarding the status of its electric and water systems via www.mpsutility.com, www.twitter.com/mpsutility, www.facebook.com/mpsutility. For floodrelated information from the City of Moorhead, visit www.cityofmoorhead.com/flood. In the event of an evacuation, rest assured there will still be MPS employees on service calls to handle come what may.

What to do (and whom to call) in the event you must leave your home during a flood:

Electric Service: If you are evacuating your home and would like your power shut off, please call MPS at 218.299.5400. If you lose power without notice, please call MPS at 218.299.5400, and MPS will restore power to those affected by the outage, as long as MPS deems it safe and feasible.

Water Service: If you are evacuating your home for any reason, MPS requests that you shut off your water at the water meter inside your home. This is done by closing the shut-off valve located before the water meter. If you are unable to shut off the water inside your home or are unable to locate your shut-off valve, please call MPS at 218.299.5400.

Portable Generators: MPS would like to remind you to be safe when using portable generators. If you have questions or concerns on the use, wiring, or operation of a portable generator, please call an electrician. A fact sheet on portable generator safety from the U.S. Fire Administration is available on MPS’ Web site at www.mpsutility.com (click on the Flood banner).

FARGO PUBLIC NOTICES: A Public broadcast flood meetings will be held in the Fargo City Commission Room this week as follows: 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 26, 2013.

FARGO ROAD CLOSURES: Elm St. will be closed between 16th Ave. N. & 13th Ave. N.

64th Ave. S. will be closed between 33rd St. & 27th St. S. by drain 53.

For future updates, for Fargo use this: www.cityoffargo.com/flood for current flood information.

OKAY! O.K.! APOLOGIES DUE

Yep! Even the “queen of telling it the way it is” messes up and spelled it how it isn’t! Last week in my ROTE column I misspelled Moorhead City Manager’s last name. Mike “Redlinger” is the correct spelling, not “Redingler”. And boy-o-boy you can bet I won’t be making that mistake again! My apologies, Mike!

Comments, responses and questions can be sent to: sooasheim@aol.com or by snail mail to: SA, P.O. Box 123, Fargo, N.D., 58107.

Comments are closed.

  • More Stories

    Right on the edge

    December 31st, 2013

    ENDING AND BEGINNING

    December 26th, 2013

    Right on the edge

    December 18th, 2013
  • Facebook