How To Properly Talk To Children

News pertaining directly to Trona, Death Valley, the northern Mojave Desert, Inyo County, and adjacent areas.

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby hand » Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:14 pm

wildrose wrote:A friend and I had a funny conversation relating to the word pussy. As most people on this message board know I retired from teaching several years ago and this particular incident happened quite a few years ago. As is often the case it takes a while to calm elementary students down after lunch break. Sometimes it's worse than others. On one occasion there were several upset students and when I asked what the problem was a boy spoke up and said that another student had called him the p-word. In my mind I was trying to figure out if the word was penis or pervert or poop or piss or prick. Since so many students were upset, I decided to have a class discussion on how to deal with disputes on the playground. As a first step I had the boy whisper his p-word in my ear and when he whispered "pussy" I laughed and shared the word with the class. Half the class gasped because they thought pussy was a bad word and half the class giggled since the realized that pussy had more than one meaning. One little girl spoke up and stated that her parents considered pussy to be a bad word. A boy replied that pussy could mean cat or wimp to which the girl replied that the other meaning was nasty. So, I explained the importance of context. Eventually the class agreed after hearing all the situational details that the relevant meaning of pussy in this case was wimp and that although it was not nice to call someone a wimp, that it was not a violation of the rule against not using swear words at school. I finished up the discussion by reminding students that they should not insult other students, but that they should also keep in mind that there is a difference between mean words and words which can be considered to be indecent or obscene.

I would have told the little girl that her parents are retards! :laugh:
Have A Nice Day
User avatar
hand
Fleabitten Varmint
 
Posts: 98
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:15 am
Location: Within Striking Distance

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby cloud » Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:24 am

I had a teacher who taught us three categories of words: red light, green light, and yellow light. Words with multiple meanings or which were mildly rude were on the yellow light list. Some of the yellow light words included bitch, poop, crap, pissed off, pussy, retard, and damn. We were never punished for saying yellow light words unless we used them to say something hurtful about another person. For instance, "I have to take a poop" was not punished, whereas calling someone a retard was something which might result in some kind of punishment (or at least some kind of lecture, discussion, or talking to) under some circumstances.
User avatar
cloud
Fleabitten Varmint
 
Posts: 162
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:01 pm
Location: The Stratosphere

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby dilbert » Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:18 am

cloud: Community standards regarding acceptable use of language are incredibly inconsistent. Words like bitch, damn, pussy, pissed off, and retard are perfectly okay for some people, but then other people consider them to be inappropriate. For that matter, I've heard parents tell their own kids to "shut the fuck up" or to "stop fucking around." I recall a Little League coach who liked to use various forms of fuck and shit while talking to the kids on his team. Is this harmful? Not really, but it does offend the sensibilities of certain sensitive snowflakes and sometimes people who aren't offended will pretend to be offended in order to persecute someone they don't like. The idea of yellow light words is a lot like what some people call the gray zone (that place between black and white). Some people have a very wide gray zone and some people have a very narrow gray zone with everything clearly being acceptable or unacceptable. The biggest issue is inconsistency. Even the same person will alter his or her standards to suit the immediate situation and this makes it almost impossible to figure out what is acceptable and what is inappropriate at any given time and in any given situation.
User avatar
dilbert
Lonesome Miner
 
Posts: 446
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:16 pm
Location: hopelessly lost in a sea of red tape

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby dzrtdwg » Tue Jan 25, 2022 6:36 am

hand wrote:
wildrose wrote:A friend and I had a funny conversation relating to the word pussy. As most people on this message board know I retired from teaching several years ago and this particular incident happened quite a few years ago. As is often the case it takes a while to calm elementary students down after lunch break. Sometimes it's worse than others. On one occasion there were several upset students and when I asked what the problem was a boy spoke up and said that another student had called him the p-word. In my mind I was trying to figure out if the word was penis or pervert or poop or piss or prick. Since so many students were upset, I decided to have a class discussion on how to deal with disputes on the playground. As a first step I had the boy whisper his p-word in my ear and when he whispered "pussy" I laughed and shared the word with the class. Half the class gasped because they thought pussy was a bad word and half the class giggled since the realized that pussy had more than one meaning. One little girl spoke up and stated that her parents considered pussy to be a bad word. A boy replied that pussy could mean cat or wimp to which the girl replied that the other meaning was nasty. So, I explained the importance of context. Eventually the class agreed after hearing all the situational details that the relevant meaning of pussy in this case was wimp and that although it was not nice to call someone a wimp, that it was not a violation of the rule against not using swear words at school. I finished up the discussion by reminding students that they should not insult other students, but that they should also keep in mind that there is a difference between mean words and words which can be considered to be indecent or obscene.

I would have told the little girl that her parents are retards! :laugh:

hand: #metoo :thumb:
User avatar
dzrtdwg
Lonesome Miner
 
Posts: 464
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:30 am
Location: Forbidden Places

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby tronagirl » Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:19 am

Don't forget the word SUCKS! Lots of people believe that SUCKS is an improper word and people, especially kids, use it all the time. The reason it can't really be considered to be a bad word is that the word itself is not the problem. It's what's being sucked which is the problem. Often it is used in a phrase such as "This sucks dick" or "Suck balls asshole!" The thing is that it can also be used in a phrase such as "Suck a toe" or "Suck rocks jerk!" Most often it is used in an abbreviated form as in "This sucks!" or "Suck it!" in which case what is being sucked is left off and in this case some people see this as implying that certain objects are being the case, but without those objects being clearly specified the abbreviated phrase cannot reasonably be considered improper.
tronagirl
Ancient Bristlecone
 
Posts: 853
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:55 am

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby pdm » Wed Jan 26, 2022 10:26 am

Is Sucks A Bad Word?
tronagirl: Everybody has an opinion and this guy shares his opinion about the word SUCK. Actually he does a really good job at discussing the possibilities.
User avatar
pdm
Cantankerous Mule
 
Posts: 202
Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:35 am
Location: Panamint Dunes Monster

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby sandman » Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:18 am

Words like retard, damn, hell, pussy, sucks, crap, bitch, and a few others are maybe slightly rude, but not really a big deal. I had teachers back when I was in school who used most of them at some point at school in front of kids. It might be slightly unprofessional, but not that big of a deal. It's kind of like saying ain't or y'all. It's not proper English, but it's kind of fun some of the time.
User avatar
sandman
Backcountry Hiker
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:31 pm
Location: NEVER NEVER LAND

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby ergot » Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:31 pm

sandman: If the president of the USA can call a reporter a STUPID SON OF A BITCH, then it would seem like nit-picking to criticize a teacher for saying crap or damn or hell or pussy or sucks or one of those words in front of kids at school.
User avatar
ergot
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1001
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 6:58 am
Location: Le monde aliéné

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby drdesert » Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:08 am

Ben Shapiro Teaches Politics to Kids!
Ben Shapiro does a pretty good job of explaining some complicated terms to kids in this video. It's more funny than informative, but Ben Shapiro fans will get a few laughs out of it for sure! The kids bring up the topic of eating people twice and Shapiro uses the term cannibalism each time in response. Some people might think that Shapiro should have ignored the comments about eating people instead of using the potentially offensive term cannibalism.
User avatar
drdesert
Lonesome Miner
 
Posts: 574
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 1:48 pm
Location: inhospitable desert playground

Re: How To Properly Talk To Children

Postby CactusHugger » Mon Jan 31, 2022 7:03 am

What about "Let's Go Brandon" or LGB for short? Is that an inappropriate phrase? Some people say it is equivalent to "Fuck Joe Biden" or FJB for short, but I beg to differ. While FJB uses the F-word LGB most definitely does not. Furthermore, the meaning of LGB is open to interpretation. Although it's origin has to do with the FJB chant, it's actual meaning seems to have more to do with the way the news media has attempted to do damage control for President Biden. It simultaneously is an expression of disapproval for Joe Biden and the news media which seeks to prop him up and push his policies. A side question of interest is what effect the LGB slogan has on children named Brandon and if parents have a more difficult time expressing encouragement for their children named Brandon.
User avatar
CactusHugger
Backcountry Hiker
 
Posts: 759
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:29 am
Location: The Cactus Patch

PreviousNext

Return to Local News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 111 guests

cron