What the #@$#

The author Anne Lamott once said something along the lines of "I like Christians who aren't afraid to cuss." In this 2 part article the Internet Monk takes on the issue of when or why a Christian should cuss.

So my question is: Why don’t we allow words that are traditionally regarded as cuss words the same flexibility? After all, people certainly do not always mean the same thing when they cuss. Take, for example, the word “sh*t.” In its base, literal context, that word means defecation, as in, “I stepped in dog sh*t.” Due to the vulgarity of this meaning, I suppose the argument could be made that a person should not say that word. But what if I wake up in the middle of the night, stub my toe on the door jamb, and yell, “Oh, sh*t!” What do I mean then? I mean, “Ow, that hurts!” I am neither talking about, referring to, nor thinking about defecation. “Sh*t!” literally means the exact same thing as “Ow!” Curiously enough, however, “Ow!” won’t land me in the doghouse with most of my Christian brothers and sisters nearly as fast as “Sh*t!” will. What a bunch of sh*t that is!

The whole thing was funny to me because it reminded me of our "cussing night" tradition at Wheaton College. Wheaton was a Christian environment where you just didn't hear cussing out in the open that much. So when John came in with a pitcher one night and in a totally deadpan voice asked, "Does anyone want some fucking tang?", it had us laughing all night. For a short time, before it got old, we all looked forward to cussing like sailors on Tuesday nights.