Yelling bad words

Published in El Pais, 9 June 2018.

Some of my colleague writers have made it a habit to use bad words in their writing to catch attention and strengthen their points of view. It is however sad to see that if you leave out the bad words and yelling, in many cases, there is not much substance left in the point they are trying to make, and, sometimes, it doesn’t even convince me.

One can see certain attempt to convince crowds in many cases. Sometimes they are just funny rhymes that makes one laugh, in another situation is fully insulting. Once a while I need to cross the city and cross a manifestation. For those having had the same in Bolivia, you probably remember the colorful banners, creative phrases, occasionally using bad words.

Sometimes I wonder if I should add some bad words to my articles to get some more readers who are fascinated by the aggressive wording in the writing. It is beyond doubt that there are people who like reading and listening bad words. There are movies that use the F-word more than two times per minute. It is also used to intimidate people.

Some bosses use bad words to down talk their employees to make them work harder, more hours and obey. This is basically an abuse of power and has nothing to do with leadership, it is just harassment. Using bad wording face-to-face in management is an old fashion tool to promote fear. On one hand we get intrigued by bad words in a column or movie and on the other hand we get intimidated by the same words if they are used face-to-face.

So, what do we do with bad words?

I always arrive to same conclusion; I am not going to write using bad to attract audience. Convincing someone should be with content. And orally: only if I hit my toe, burn my hands, hit my head or any other sudden injury, yelling some bad words, really reduces the pain. And this has been proven scientifically!

About Arnold Hagens 296 Articles
Arnold Hagens is Economist with strong interest in technology, health and coaching

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