I kept hearing the same tune over and over again. It wasn’t stuck in my head. No, it was stuck in my back yard.
My son Bryce was playing and reciting some juvenile schoolyard chant. I listened closely to catch what he was saying.
“Boys go to college to get more knowledge, girls go to Jupiter to get more dupider.”
Assuming I heard him wrong, I walked out the back door and asked him to recite the rhyme again.
With a mischievous smile on his face, he said, ““Boys go to college to get more knowledge, girls go to Jupiter to get more dupider.”
“Dupider? Did you say Dupider?”
“Yeah, dad,” Bryce said. “My teacher won’t let us say stupid, so I changed it to dupid. It’s nicer that way.”
I was impressed with my son’s creative editing skills. At the same time, I sensed he was missing the heart of the issue.
Using more acceptable words does not necessarily make communication nicer. Disguising jealousy, rudeness, anger or pride with the covering of socially domesticated language does not remove the intent or motive behind the words.
In Ephesians 4:29, the apostle Paul calls upon believers to, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
I’ve heard many sermons citing this passage as a prohibition on using profanity. Certainly, this is a part of Paul’s message –but only a part. The idea of “corrupting talk” is any form of communication that is meant to harm, put down, humiliate, or discredit another person. That’s why Paul says that we should only speak what is “good for building up… that it may give grace to those who hear.”
A person can employ corrupting talk without ever using a “bad word.” That includes:
- Putting a co-worker “in his place.”
- Unleashing work-related stress verbally on a child.
- Gossiping about a friend.
While we have to be mindful of our words, we must also be mindful of our intentions. Because ignoring the motives of our communication is just plain dupid.