expletive deleted

walking through my neighborhood today, i saw a thirty something, clean cut yuppie type playing in a driveway with a small boy, presumably his son. the boy was very cute, curly haired, maybe three or four years old. the man was tossing a ball at the kid, who was trying to hit it with a toy tennis racket. as i passed, i heard the man say (in a pleasant tone, not yelling) "swing a little slower, when you swing with all your strength, you miss the motherf****r."

 i don't even have kids, and even i know that you don't drop major league cuss words in front of a small child without expecting to hear them again. children learn by imitating the grownups in their worlds. 

the next time that man hears this oedipal swear word, it will be from that child. trust me, his parents will be mortified.

i kind of wish i could be a fly on the wall and see it happen.

believe me, i am not uptight about profanity. i love hearing offensive language used creatively and in proper context. the problem i have with using bad words casually is that they lose all impact. if i am upset enough to curse out loud, i want it to get someone's attention. if i am going to go on a tirade, i want it to be very distinct from everyday conversation.

if that child's parents aren't careful, that kid will grow up with a really bad attitude and end up working in food service.

actual exchange i overheard at work two saturdays ago between line cook danny and waiter jimmy:

danny: "dude, you got over hard eggs because you sent the ticket in over hard. if you want f***ing over easy eggs, than f***ing ring them up over easy."

jimmy (shouting) : "stop swearing at me, c***sucker, and get me those g***amn eggs!"

it's great fun to work in a place where the level of discourse could not get much lower.