If one’s movie preferences are measured by the number of times we’ve viewed it, then My Cousin Vinny is in my top 10. When I first saw it, I remember commenting how the prolific foul language used just seemed to fit. My movie companion, someone who rarely swears, replied, “Was there a lot? I didn’t really notice.”
There was a lot.
Get Shorty is another movie that just doesn’t work the same when shown on Comedy Central. If you have not seen it, you need to check it out in its original form.
I was born in 1960. I say that to give you some perspective on this blog…
On a Zoom call recently, the question was posed: What was the biggest mistake you’ve ever made as a business person?
Only, that’s not how they put it. They used the phrase, “fudge up.”
Only, they didn’t say, “fudge.”
There were probably a dozen people on this call and it struck me how easily the fowl language flowed as people answered the question. It was as if they were showing how cool they were by swearing: Look at me! I just dropped an F-bomb!
A couple of days later, there was something of a repeat pattern when one member of a group call went out of his way to add colorful commentary. It seemed out of place.
Times have definitely changed. On television, it used to be you needed a subscription to HBO to hear anything stronger than, “Dammit, Jim…” Today, the language gets saltier as the evening rolls on, even on the major networks.
I have no real lesson here. I’m not going to try to connect this issue to sales. I will not be shaking a finger at you or suggesting swearing shows a lack of imagination. It’s more of an observation and I welcome your comments.
Keep it clean.
