A professor of English at Indiana University Southeast once commented to his class that the use of profanity showed a lack of skill and acquaintance with the English language. I’m sure that I was not the only student who quietly snickered at that, though I was the oldest in that class, having gone “back to school” at 35 years of age. After stacking more years onto my life, I became a graphic designer who managed other artists for the advertising department of a St. Louis Missouri retailer. One of the artists, after hearing someone comment on my language usage, responded with “Yeah, and every other word is a swear word.”
I use profanities (“abusive, vulgar or irreverent language”) often, but I choose my audience with care. When I am facing a difficult shot on the pool table or have made an error in a contest against another player, I have been heard to utter some creative expletives. None of my profanities rise to the level of Shakespearean usage, but I can be colorful. A good friend recently surprised me when she ripped off a string of profanities, after having declared herself a demanding watcher of proper language usage, which told me that we all get into the dirt, occasionally. But I am amused by the increase in implied profanities that major advertisers are using.
One day while in the car of the Creative Director of this publication, I observed a billboard on an Indianapolis highway. The billboard read “Yippie Ki Yay, Mother Trucker.” I chortled, remembering, as many would, what Bruce Willis really said in the movie “Die Hard.” This billboard apparently caused a kerfuffle between the advertiser and the city. I wonder if the sign owners employed the law firm that advertises that when “IT happens,” they should be called upon. We all know that in life, “IT happens,” right? And when Judge Patricia Di Mango of the show “Hot Bench” tells a plaintiff or defendant that they are “full of it,” we know what two consonants precede the letters “it.” (I do not drop those two letters when I call my errant cue ball an “itBiscuit.”) And speaking of “IT,” I chuckle when I see the TV ad that declares that a clothes-drying accessory is “The SHEET!”
These implied profanities are everywhere in the advertising that we see on television; we can eat “ducking good rice,” and when accompanied with a battered cod fillet, cry out in delight, “Fish yeah!” And for those of us who prefer to complement our looks with cosmetics, we can apply to our faces a product that is whimsically called “What The Foundation.” The youngsters and texters among our readers will recognize that expansion of a common acronym.
I am not criticizing these advertisers for their creative usages. I have spent decades in the advertising industry and enjoy a good chuckle and wink at “standards,” and “requirements.” When I was newly conscripted into the delivery of 600 words to this publication, the editor rejected one of my early offerings because of my references to a squirrel’s amazing anatomy. (No: You will never know. Unless we are shooting pool at Si Greene’s. Then, maybe.)
Advertisers are testing the boundaries of the language, which is what William Shakespeare did many decades ago. Of course, Shakespeare did not have to contend with sponsors who would pull their support when he wrote “Zounds” (God’s wounds) or described a “knave,” or a “rascal” or a “villain.” But he also did not have access to a visual medium where a child can comment on excessive moisture by crying:
“Daamp!”
cjon3acd@att.net