It’s satisfying to see a U.S. President who publicly admits his mistakes, but it’s disappointing to see how he does it.  The word “screw” does not belong in any Presidential speak.  In referring to his two failed Cabinet appointments, President Obama went on several network television programs and said on each one “I screwed up”.   Mr. President, you are a brilliant and classy guy.  Please sound like it.

The dictionary offers several definitions of screw as a verb: to fasten or tighten, to undo by turning as with a bottle top, to contort by twisting, to extract or extort, to threaten, to have sexual intercourse with.  When people today say “I screwed up”, they are referencing the latter, though I’m convinced few people know it.

Because profanity has found it’s way into song lyrics, film and school buses, ordinary slang no longer sounds so bad.  All things being relative, words like screw, lousy, stupid and suck seem charming.  But they really make the user sound stupid, pardon my slang.

One of our local newscasters was accused in an online forum of saying the word “pissed” on the air.   Whether or not Dan Cummings really used the word was second to the controversy that followed over use of the word itself.  Half of the posters thought pissed is a fine word, the other half did not.

To me, it speaks to education in the home.   As a child if I used slang, I got punished.  I can’t imagine what would have happened if I was caught actually swearing.  “Lousy” was bad enough.   It’s why I’m so judgmental when I hear well-educated professionals inserting slang as if it’s acceptable.   I wonder, where was the good parenting?  And will these people drop the ball as parents themselves, perpetuating the problem until ugly words like these fail to raise the hair on the back of anyone?

Politicians and newscasters speak on camera to an audience of millions every day.  If anyone has the opportunity to set an example of proper English, it is they.  Let’s hope Michelle Obama takes her open-minded husband to task over the word “screw”, and viewers chide news anchors to do better when they slip.

I mentioned a few slang words that don’t belong in an intelligent conversation.  Let’s hear more.  If people don’t respond to this challenge of mine, I swear, I’ll be pissed.