Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for April 01, 2011

Val probably remembers the days she and Joan used to play Swearword Scrabble. There’s nothing new under the sun.

As the mother of seven (four are teenagers), I find this very funny, and a great example of not making a fuss over nothing. Not that that’s an easy thing for most parents…

Stone Soup is in my top two favorite comics, along with Calvin and Hobbs!

You just took all the fun out of Scrabble for them, mom. Tsk, tsk.

two t’s??? must be butt.

yay mom :D

but shouldn’t that have been #%★★?@ ???

great example of “pick your battles”

^hildigunnur- Yeah, good eye, a five letter swear word with two T’s?

Doesn’t work…

I’m leaning more towards “#%★??@.”

You follow?

Way to go for being a good sport, Val!

or maybe b!@tt@$#

My dad took the fun out of swearing when I was about 14. Sat me at the table and said he wanted to know the worse swear word I knew. I wouldn’t get in trouble he just wanted to know. I’ll never forget the reaction, he laughed so hard he started crying. Called mom into the kitchen and had me repeat it. Mom gasped and started laughing too (took all the fun out of it) Dad then went on to tell me how I demeaned myself by using those words ect. Today only when I’m beyond annoyed do I pull out the big words.

Years ago “Get Fuzzy” did a sequence about the Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say on TV. All seven were shown with one-for-one substitutions for the actual letters so an experienced cryptogram fan had no trouble solving them.

Such language in the comics! Shocking!

I was thinking “Titty”

Dry thanks I read your reply from yesterday. My parents never did this to me or my sister. And my sister tried to mimic others in a different way. I told her she is wasting her time.

Kab you are welcome. :-)

If they hadn’t acted so guilty, mom may have never looked at the board!

no, it’s not butt or titty— it is obviously bleeeeeep

GC would sensor the strip for bad words. Now that would be funny. The creator getting censored.

I remember the first time I heard a friend swear. I was both horrified and fascinated. When I think back on it, I wonder how I knew the word (sh**) as most of the adults around me did not swear and if they did, how would I know the word or know that it was “bad?”

I think this has been a great thread. Words only have as much power as we give to them. What is deemed a “naughty” word is only as naughty as others make it out to be.

Now I’m trying to guess what word #%*?@ is…

Nice play mom! Great reaction!

I have heard kids of all ages (including very young vocal 2-3yos) swear in front of their own parents - and have seen parents react in both extremes: laughing hysterically or yelling at the kid not to say “that” - then proceed to say the same words to someone else they are speaking with, within earshot of the kids. So where do these kids get it from?

I’ve told my own kids to be respectful of what they say around others - and to PLEASE not curse around me or someone who would tell me what they said! Realistically, I know they will curse when they’re with their friends, but as long as I don’t hear it.

Like Plods said - pick your battles. There’s just so much worse they could be doing…

My Dad likes to tell about the time (80 years ago) when his brother, about 5, was at the table with their parents, very strict, proper old-school Quakers. Suddenly he (brother) started chanting loudly, “F###! F###! F###!” over and over. His parents ignored him, he soon got bored, and didn’t say it any more. Sometimes the best reaction is no reaction!

My children learned words in Junior high that I’d never heard. I don’t remember what my reaction was, but I know I felt upset.

My daughter, age 26, still thinks I live … um … somewhere I don’t. Now, I don’t hardly swear, and when I do, it’s mild by today’s standards.

As I’ve said, my hubby and I live in the boonies; no cell phone service here. However, I thought it would be a good idea to have a cell phone because we do travel. When I told my daughter that I was thinking of getting a TracFone (sp), she said she could add us (more accurately, another cell phone) to her account. Alrighty then. Later she’s explaining things, and tells me that we should turn off the phone when we’re done because … um … ah … hm …. Lightbulb moment!!! I said, “Oh, so we don’t accidently butt dial?” Dead silence. She finally says, “Oh. Yeah, that’s it.” I’m trying not to laugh; there goes my reputation.

About some of yesterday’s posts. Many people pay little or no attention to rules of grammar, punctuation, spelling when on the internet. It doesn’t mean they’re uneducated. It may have more to do with typing ability and/or amount of time they have to proof read, etc. Usually you can tell what is meant and that’s the purpose of any communication. IMO, young people today need to improve their vocabularies: fillers like “like”, ” y’know”; overuse of “awesome”, “whatever” , omg, and the f word. They need to learn some other adjectives. Some use the f word for its shock value, for others it’s so common place to them they don’t realize that it offends others, or they don’t care. Both attitudes are adolescent and inconsiderate. Hopefully, (and I know that usage is frowned upon by language purists) they will learn as they grow up. Today’s strip: good for Val, picking her battles.

Charles It really does matter what those symbols means. Just use your imagination on curse words. If you see this.

The most offensive, disgusting swear words I find are Jes– Ch—, G– Da– and Mother F—–.

i usually don’t laugh out loud even when i read a funny comic but this made me laugh out loud!

The more I keep reading this one, the more I like it.

As for the word in question, I’m guessing it has six letters, starts with S, ends with Y, and has the two Ts for letters 4 & 5.