THE USE OF PROFANE LANGUAGE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 199, 15 November 1879, Page 3

THE USE OF PROFANE LANGUAGE.

(!•"!" ni th. Dnuyshire Times.)

One (.if ou'- metropolitan contcin poraries is devoting some space to a correspondence upon the subject of the prevailing use of foul and profane language in this country. It is not before it was time that public attention was directed to the prevalance of this most useless and disgusting vice. It is almost impossibleto pass along the streets of our large towns without having our ears polluted by language of the most horrible description some of it so bad that we must charitably presume those who use it do so in ignorance of its meaning. Nor is the evil confined altogether to grown up persons among the lower classes. The children speedily learn, and the language we can hear any day from pit boys in this district, is often of the worst description. Neither is the use of this bad language confined to the working man. The classes him, it is true, are far better trained in this respect as a rule, but " ' Arry " can make use of oaths far too readily, and there are blacksheep in the ranks above him also. Another feature of this reprehensible habit is that the character of the bad language used, is changing, or has changed. In past ages the oaths of the people were distinctly of' ecclesiastical derivation. They were, too, mostly used toemphaticise what was said, by the process of calling npon the Almighty to witness to their statements, or by clenching their arguments by an appeal to holy men or holy subjects. Bad as this sort of language was, the "blood and 'ounds " style of swearing was infinitely less repulsive than the filthy and disgusting language which has replaced it. Scarcely a vertigo of the old style of swearing remains, except " the frequent d- ," or the impious use of the Creator's name. The rest is unadulterated filth, if filth can be so described, and the fact proves a certain amount of degradation in the classes in which to swear and curse is still considered a desirable accomplishment. The style of language, which has been alliterativel/ described as " the three b's," has swept out the old monkish oaths of the past, and even the more decent condemnatory epithets of our forefathers are giving way to it, a fact which speaks bnd'y for the swearers, as it slows that even in their low depths there is a deeper level still. Now all this sort of thing is a great disgrace to a Christian nation, and we have no doubt whatever it could speedily be greatly checked. Any town can enact by-laws by which the use of profane language is made an offence punishable by fine, and imprisonment in defrult. Many towns already enforce these by-laws, and the effect is excellent, not so much perhaps in the mere punishment of the particular delinquent fined as in the fact that by these prosecutions the attention of persons who are likely to adopt the habit is called to the subject. If* all those persons who thoughtlessly swear and curse were thus reminded of the impropriety of it, there would be a considerable improvement in the language used in places of public resort at once, and we might trust t"' the repressive measures to deal effectively with the wilful offenders. A good deal may also be done by employers of labor instituting a system of fines for swearers, such fines to be devoted to the benefit of work-people in general, and there are many other ways in which this useless, disgusting, and degrading vice might be effectually-checked.' Certainly it is incumbent on those in authority to take some steps to limit a national vice which of late years seems rather to grow than diminish, and which is decidedly worse in its incidence than formerly. We trust these few "-cursory remarks on swearing"—to quote the punning inscription at Chatsworth—may be of service in directing public attention in tills county to a subject which must be admitted to be of social importance.