I’ll be going into my B.Ed practicum this fall, and I want to make sure I don’t let a colorful word slip out in the presence of my students. I’m really not that bad. I use “fuck” waaay too much at work, even for the sake of some story telling variety. I’m not meant to cuss around my mother, but every couple months I’ll let one slip.
Any ideas? Wear a rubber band on my wrist? Echo a funny replacement when I hear someone else cuss? I know the first step is to stop cussing in all company.
I cuss like a sailor in real life too, but I have a stratagem!
You see I know British bad words! They sound all whimsical here an America. Like for example having computer trouble the other day I was like “well bugger me running”. That translates to “fuck me in the ass running”, but it sounds all nice and whimsical.
Edit: I dunno if that stratagem would be so advisable in Canada. Maybe you could learn some Japanese swears?
I like this.
British cusses are fairly well understood here, unfortunately.
Or Chinese. Nobody’s going to object if they catch you quoting Firefly, right?
After avidly watching Battlestar Galactica, I swithed over to *frack *and *fracking *on account of the 8yr old. Gets the point accross, but it’s PG ( unless you’re teaching AP math & physics 
)
*Bloody *and bloomin’ get a lot of service from me as they’re not considered that bad by most Albertans, afaik, even if they’re British. I wouldn’t use bollocks, though.
I had to put quarters and loonies into a vacation fund when the little one started to talk and understand us and I slipped.
Gorram IPPs are due tomorrow!
I don’t even try.
It just happens. I stop saying the S and F words, and others.
You know what’s a million times harder? Saying horrible things using words that are completely acceptable at the dining table with your mother. There are many things I wish I could take back.
Still, though, an apology to a student is not only appropriate, it can make the situation end up better than if you hadn’t said the stupid thing at all.
Like the above, I substitute Britishisms or SciFi swear words. Even my seniors can’t follow the "Oh bloody hell"s if I’m on a roll, and a few “fraks” never hurt anybody. I can also swear in Yiddish, which is handy in a pinch.
I have this same problem. We swear so much at work it just becomes ingrained and hard to turn off. I’ve had to abandon an F-word mid-syllable on many occasions.
All the “fracking” bugged the shit out of me on that show. It was like a bad “edited for TV” movie.
Why fight it? Teach classes on sailing.
I curse a lot in real life, and on these boards, and i don’t think i’ve ever let out an unintentional curse word in front of my (college-level) students. I think that, unless your self-control is really poor, it won’t be as much of a problem as you fear.
It’s psychological. Just think to yourself you don’t want to say it, and you can. I know a lot of people who swear a lot but held jobs where they could be fired for swearing in front of the customers (Fun Factory.)
It’s something of a concern because I can remember telling a story to a devout old family friend who took us in whilst we were traveling, something along the lines of “Yeah, most the sheep took off up the creek but this one cunt - errrrr” I could nearly see her brains - her eyes were so wide.
Maybe tell no stories about my youth in class?
Agreed. I swear a lot, and I don’t think I ever swore in front of my students when I was a teacher. And my kids didn’t even speak English, so it wouldn’t have been a huge deal. It’s a good thing too, because eventually it did become clear how very, very much they picked up from me, when they started saying “oh my god!” and “okeydokey”. (I didn’t even realize how much I said “okeydokey” until my third graders started saying it back to me. Now I know how lame I am though, so, thanks, kids.)
I actually was a sailor in my prior career, and I still swear like one. I struggle with this, as I work in a very professional environment. Some of the terms I can mostly get away with now that I live in Canada - ‘hijo de la gran puta’* doesn’t get understood if it slips out, but the f-word certainly does. If you find a way to cure yourself, please share.
*son of a great whore.
Funny you mention this.
I teach a speech class at a college, and tell my students they cannot talk about Sex, Politics and Religion (as this is not a debate class), plus - dropping the “F” bomb is an automatic “F” on their speech.
This has become a problem for some of them - and it is not that I am some “prude”, but feel they have to “reign it it” for public speaking and be aware of their audience.
I have to admit, it is kind of funny sometimes. Someone will be giving a good speech and get really comfortable and suddenly say, “…so this fuckin’ idiot says…” and realize what they just said, and simply say “sorry” to me and sit down, knowing they just failed that speech.
It works though - by the end of the quarter, I have them broken of the habit!
I’m not as bad as y’all–I only have to worry about cussing when I’m mad. Thing is, I picked it up from here. I think it’s because typing them didn’t turn my face beat red, and then once I started typing them, I started thinking them, and then they’s slip out of my mouth.
My friends at school would (playfully) tease me about not being able to say cuss words, without my face turning red. I guess that’s progress, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. I’m much more likely now to run into situations where such language is not appropriate.
Don’t feel too bad according to FM Montgomery : “If the word fuck and gasoline would disappear, the Canadian Army would be speechless and immobile”. So, you see, it is part of your Canadian Heritage.
This Canadian Minute has been brought to you by… 
When my daughter was born, I consciously modified my speech habits. I’ve never really gotten out of the habit, even though she’s 23 now.
My favorite obscure swear word is “shendi-fleckin’”, from Jacqueline Lichtenberg’s Sime/Gen series. “Get that shendi-fleckin’ thing out of my face!”
I’ve corrupted a couple of my friends into saying it too, including one who hasn’t even read the books. 