I'm wondering. Swear words are often expletives or adjectives to add an emphatic intensity to what is said. And perhaps such emphasis is more likely to command respect and obedience amid crims. So I'm guessing "Please move your sanguine copulatory donkey" wouldn't quite work when asking a prisoner to hurry
You are exactly correct. Here’s a story about the warden discussed in a previous conversation.
I was running a cell cell house and some inmates were backing down a pregnant subordinate officer of mine. I yelled, “Back the **** up or you’ll be sorry.” I grabbed a mop handle for a self-defense weapon. The inmates filed a grievance. I was honest about my actions and what I said. He suspended me without pay for three days because of “unprofessional conduct”. I almost resigned over that.
To your point, saying something like, “Please back up and leave this woman alone“ wouldn’t have had the same effect.
This post was edited by Rizz at September 2, 2018 7:03 AM MDT
I can't imagine how difficult it would be to work in an environment like that, much less to be a pregnant officer there.
Sounds like the warden and staff have different ideas about how to run the prison; could lead to a lot of misunderstandings if the staff can't work together as a team supporting each other.
Guessing a lot of the prisoners would have oppositional defiance disorder and would have long-established habits of resentment towards any kind of authority.
I would have to say using God's Name in vain (GD). It just flies out on impulse like I have no control over it. Even though I go to Him in prayer for forgiveness, it eats at me every time and makes me feel fake for asking for forgiveness because I know not to say it.
That's good in theory, but like I said it's an impulsive (instantaneous) behavior/reaction. Often it's quickly followed by "sh*t" for saying it to begin with and then I'm double-damned, in my own mind. On rare occasion I'm able to keep my yap shut and emit a closed-mouth scream of frustration.
I can promise you from personal experience that is it possible to overcome "instantaneous" reactions. It takes time and practise but it's easy and takes only 3 to 6 weeks. The key is mindfulness - to observe one's internal reactions before speaking or acting. Anger is always a secondary reaction. Underneath it is hurt, fear, or shame.
Consider, no baby is born knowing how to swear. It's a learned behaviour. And anything learned can also be unlearned, but only by replacing it with a preferable alternative.
(Sigh.) This is about the tildes again, right? I get a little sick and tired of reminding everyone here that I'm perfectly fine, and that I am NOT going in for any psychiatry sessions, group counseling, interventions, or electric-shock therapy. Grrrrrrr.
That's okay, Randy. Quite sure the shrink would say that tildes cannot be a bad habit. In fact, he or she may reassure you that tildes are sublime proof of creativity and sense of humour.
That would be assuming that you think wearing unused plastic garbage, trash, bin bag/liner as clothing is in fact some kind of bad habit. If it is, what makes it "bad"?
Sorry, Alf. I get that it's funny in some obscure way, but I have no idea what milk-bone underwear is. A color? A brand? Some unusual designer label with quirky tailoring or materials?
Cigarettes and alcohol, wow. Them's heavy addictions, man. Do you ever feel like you want to give them up? A friend of my parents once said he'd rather die young than give up those pleasures, and he did. I felt sad when he died, even though it was what he wanted. He was such an intelligent, kind, and decent person - a mench.