What the Ham????

I'm reading 'Hungry Monkey' about a dad who experiences all kinds of food with his young daughter, and I'm shocked by the author's language in a few places. In general, his writing style is wonderful. He's funny, his daughter is funny, the stories are very cute and remind me of my children's younger days and my own childhood when I sat in Dad's lap at the dinner table and tried new foods. So why, why, WHY does he have to use the 'f' word and '_ss' and 's_ck'(which I consider a swear word in certain instances, yes, you know what I'm talking about)? He even describes the book as a 'family book'. Is this how other families talk, now? I know I'm old, but I'm not a dinosaur, for Pete's sake!

One of my daughter's friends is dating a redneck and he says "What the ham?" instead of,,,,well you know. We say it occasionally (the ham phrase) because it's so funny to us. It get's the point across without actually having to swear. Even my 70+ year old mom, in the final months of bone cancer, which is very painful, swore like a sailor, but a very civil sailor. Maybe a 1950's sailor. When trying to stand up from a chair, the worst she said was "Oh, damn!" or "Shit". If she, in unimaginable pain, could keep it 'PG', writers can keep it clean.

While watching the movie 'Julie & Julia', I caught the line where Julie's husband, says something about Julia Child not liking Julie, possibly because of her use of the 'f' word in her blog. I did some quick research (only one day's blog posting!)(1.2.2003- http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2003/01/02.html) and found she had used the 'f' word twice. Ridiculous! This is writing that is out there forever, people.

I do hope that writers start to clean up their language. If they try, they can get their message across without having to resort to cussing, at least for 'family' audiences.