Literature

Communication is a means by which people talk, write and understand each other.  We must speak or write our thoughts and articulate our feelings to others in the same way that we must listen or read them to understand what they want us to know and feel.  Communication must always be a two-way thing. Language is a medium of Communication.  Its use and misuse may lead to offense, misunderstanding, insult and exchange of harshness.

Oftentimes, when we do not exercise caution we tend to say things that we do not mean.  When we speak before we think, trouble comes.  This is when communication becomes miscommunication and understanding becomes misunderstanding.  Instead of clarity we sow confusion and when we are not careful we may offend without our intending to.

For us to really, really communicate must carefully choose what we say and write.  The basic rule would be to have the best intentions and use the appropriate and the kindest words no matter how angry one is, how funny a situation is, how complicated the explanation to be made is.  It is also to ones good interest if he stays away from using inappropriate or unacceptable words and phrases.  According to Edward Skidelsky, inappropriate or unacceptable is the modern version of improper and indecent and the more exact terms of coarse, tactless, vulgar and lewd.  Some words must be taken out of ones vocabulary as they are both offensive and abusive, like fucking whore or bitch.

As our villages had become global communities, we are faced with the challenges of relating to people who think and talk differently from us.  We now live in a world where our neighbor is a complete cultural stranger to us.  We are confronted not only with what is decent but also with what is proper.  We must be aware of the cultural diversity around us and it is imperative for us to adopt a culturally sensitive language that would foster amity instead of enmity.  It is unfortunate that certain words can be taken out of context and construed as a slur.  This was the case of David Howard, the District Public Advocate in Washington DC.  The word niggardly, a Middle English word for miser, cost him his job.  He was talking of funding and was not being racial at all.

It is admirable that the students of West Grand School District had taken the lead in self-policing.  They would not tolerate inappropriate language like cursing, swearing, negative words and slurs on gender, religion, disability, race, ethnicity and gender orientation among their ranks.

Unsuitable language must be dropped from ones vocabulary totally and may only be used on certain circumstances that strongly justify their use.  In a classroom, where students are taught grammar, literature, social studies, law, medical sciences, they may occasionally meet these words that are inappropriate in social, formal or casual conversations, but in class discussions they have to be used for acquiring knowledge or for learning purposes.  If there are words that may substitute for an unsuitable one and just as adequately and accurately serve the purpose, then this appropriate one must be used.  Instead of fucking  sexual intercourse or sexual relations may be substituted for medical and sociological studies. Whore and bitch were used by early English and American poets in their literary masterpieces and it is necessary to use the words as they were used to fully appreciate the poets works.

Language is as essential to our daily life as much as food is.  Like food there are those that we stay away from for various reasons like health, economic, gastronomic and even religious practices.  These are not forced upon us and generally left to us to do as we see and think fit.  The use of Language, or more accurately the choice from a lot is also incumbent on us.