Soap, Mr. Cheney?

The Associated Press reported today that V. P. Dick Cheney "used an obscenity beginning with 'F' in an exchange [with Sen. Leahy] on the Senate floor where members had gathered for a group photo." Yuck.

I don't think I'm the only forty-something person who grew up in a household where swearing was nonexistent. I don't think I ever heard my father swear. I'm sure he must have, but I never heard it. By the time I ever heard the word "damn" come out of my wonderful mother's mouth (I think she'd stubbed her toe or something), I was already an adult myself. Though completely human nature when a person is suddenly afflicted with pain, her utterance shocked me.

I remember the first time as a teenager that I said the word "shit." It didn't feel as cool as I thought it would and I hardly ever use it even now. Last year I was struggling with a box that had been taped together by someone who must have worked for the military. There was no getting into it, and I didn't have a boxcutter handy. Tired and frustrated, I said the "F" word. Under my breath, but all the same it was immediately heard by my hearing impaired son whose face registered the expected my-mother-the-pedestal-what-happened? look. Later, I apologized to him for what I felt was a lack of self-control on my part. I didn't offer excuses. I said it was wrong and I felt badly about it. He said, "I never heard you say that before."

I'm not really a goody-two-shoes ... I just have always believed that swearing was the inclination of folks too lazy or stupid to really come up with just the right zinger to get their point across. Let's hear it for the person who can cut to the quick and shock with their insight rather than using words that can be taught to a parakeet.

I'm not against all use of foul language; after all I did go to art school, am a Democrat, and read quite a lot. Today, for instance, on "This American Life" on wosu FM, a girl was reading from her diary, written when she was 13. The "F" word was frequently uttered (though beeped out) and it was entirely appropriate and hilarious in the context.

I may be one of the few middle-aged women who took their son to see the movie 8-Mile and thought it was worthwhile and well-done. I don't have a problem with saucy language, per se, and if I did, well who gives a...

The thing is, I don't want the Vice Pres., be he (or she) Democrat or Republican bandying about obscentities like playground bullies. This is someone one successful assassination attempt from becoming president, with access to "the big red button." Shouldn't he have a bit more self control in the anger area? Doesn't a Vice President have some other way of making life difficult for his enemies?

A long time ago I had to deal with an individual prone to angry outbursts. To defuse the situation I did two things: imagined him a tiny cartoon baby in underpants and realized that the louder he yelled, the closer I might have been getting to the truth.

Sen. Leahy might find that technique helpful in his next photo op.