Editor,
Have we heard enough of the F-word used in daily communications? Still occasionally included in my repertoire of verbal sophistication, I’ve denounced myself by contributing to the trash lingo of others. But now, the F-word is no longer the F-word.
Growing up, if the F-word was used, results were detrimental to our health: spanking, bar of soap in the mouth, hands swatted by our teacher, ear grabbing and shame, shame, shame. Now, the F-word has become glamorized, polished, accepted and almost admired.
It’s all over the media: in print, headlines, Twitter and is used to express a myriad of emotions. As a society, we’ve considerably lowered the decency bar to a level where the F-word is accepted. To improve our trash-talking thrill, I suggest a new word: “Zat.” Zat is innocuous and has no real meaning; therefore, Zat should have minimal offensive impacts. “Zat you!” “Zat this!” Repeat it aloud; it works and feels great.
Coincidentally, we can now use “WTZ” instead of “WTF” to abbreviate our trash talking!
Derek Gryna, Carmel
