Be generous, gentle readers – Cursing, Habits and It’s OK OH MY

Everyone knows I’m from NYC. I can curse to make Popeye blush or James Tiberius Kirk wince (read the older “Best of” fan fiction, you’ll understand) when I’m really frustrated, in pain or really frightened. Today, what ought to have been an easy Tuesday 5/15/2018, in fact a GREAT Tuesday 5/15/2018 because I sat for a professional society exam and enjoyed it, instead sneered at me, when in rapid succession I: (1) couldn’t find the cable for my GPS; (2) couldn’t find my bus pass and (3) my BLIPPITY BLIP GROWL GNASH TEETH WEBSITE CRASHED AS I WAS TRYING TO ACCESS IT TO WRITE THIS POST. Irony of ironies. Sadly, my cursing is usually sedate now, two or three world-weary, jaded and trite words in a common pattern. I can at least take pride in the fact that I am LOUD. But, um, today I rediscovered my talent.

Turns out, despite the insistence of the genteel, cursing is a good thing, according to Dr. Emma Byrne, The Sweary Scientist. She swears the science is with her, and she has presented at Google, The Royal Institution and other less exalted venues and written Swearing is Good for You: the Amazing Science of Bad Language to prove it. She believes there is strong evidence that cursing can increase a person’s resilience for pain, promote teamwork, and yield a host of other positive effects. I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t speak to it. I also hesitate to immediately condone any and all cursing – I will never agree that “To H*** with this!” or stronger language on a t-shirt, for example, is OK. I believe that gratuity is meant to abuse, and in a carefully-worded YouTube video, Dr. Bryne agrees about abuse.

But that’s not the only “why” I’m writing this blog. Why couldn’t I find my GPS cable? I disregarded my habit. Didn’t put it back in its usual place after using it in an unusual place. Why couldn’t I find my bus pass? I got hurried and didn’t put it in its proper place. Why couldn’t I log into my website? Who knows, that’s why I’ve got a webmaster.

WHO IS A GENIUS, because he fixed the problem in less than a day.

Marilyn Paul, a brilliant and Bodhisattva-level-compassionate Organizer, points out that it takes as much time to put things away as it does to drop them in the wrong place. However, we’re all human and we are going to make mistakes. And maybe mutter something creative under your breath.