How to keep your kids from swearing (not really) #shorts

Originally uploaded: 03/05/2021
Dumbest #parentinghack award, please. 😆

Transcription:

A 10-year-old walked into the kitchen, apropos of nothing, and proclaimed, "Bullshit." I said, "What? And he goes, "I didn't say bullshit. I said bullshi-." That's when I knew I had him. He was going to regret this. "You think you removed T from the word bullshit," I said to him. But you didn't actually just remove it. You replaced it with a glottal stop. Do you know what a glottal stop is? I could see his eyes glazing over as he cast a sidelong glance at the door.

A glottal stop is actually a consonant sound we have in our language that we don't have a letter for, but that we use all the time. The most common example is the middle of the word uh-oh. Uh. Uh.

What's happening is that you're shutting your glottis, which is the opening of your vocal tract and preventing airflow for a moment. And you did that when you changed the word bullshit to bullshi-. Interesting, huh?

He did not think it was interesting. At the same time, I wasn't done. Another example is the phrase right now. You think there's a T in it, but there's not. It's a glottal stop. Nobody says right now. You say right now. It's like the word right is being interrupted.

Okay, at this point he was like a caged animal listening to me. "All right, buddy. You can go." He scampers away. And that my friends is how I keep my kids from swearing very much around me.

[paranoiaprincess]

Hahaha I told my kid what the words mean and he now swears quite a lot at 12, but he barely swore at all until he was 11, and I think a lot of it is because a friend of his does. He thinks it's hilarious when his dad and I swear because we don't do it that often, and he also never swears at school nor in front of other adults, and especially not in front of other children. I've even seen him judge teenagers for swearing in front of him despite the fact that we've tought him it's just a word haha.

All that said, by teaching him what it means, and by explaining that there is a time and place, not only did we raise a kid who didn't really swear until he was a preteen, we raised a kid who is responsible about it.

[vickisanders]

My daughter will periodically tease me about the teaching moments I gave during her childhood. But hey, must have had an impact because she still remembers.

[Poverty-PonyTony]

I LOVE IT!!! PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GLOTTAL STOP!!!

[juniamcc]

You are too funny! I love your explanation because I find sound very interesting. I'm guessing most of this went in one ear and out the other with your 10-year old son, though. However, if he is anything like me when I was young (and he may or may not be), he will retain a lot more of what you said when he's older than he ever thought he would! 👍🥰 ❤️

[yogaflo.kes]

Reminds me of a lot of thick Aussie and British accents that use glottal stop! Haha

[nirvaya]

I imagine Abraham's kids realize that their dad is the OG and they need to be a lot sharper and convincing than the other kids to get past their dad.

[MrWyzdum]

These days you hear people just glottals everywhere, like in the word "button":

"Push the buhh-un!"

[AkaedatheLogtoad]

I love how you admit it just stops him around you. May I ask why you care? A friend of mine told me if I curse around my kid my kids will curse. I looked at him and said and? I curse freely why would I expect my kids to talk differently than me? or if I believe it’s wrong why do I do it? what I would like my kids to know is that there is a time and place and there’s a way to be respectful to others. Someone may ask you to not curse which I think it’s dumb, but hey why start a fight over nothing.

[Ghealai]

Coloradans are pros with the glottal stop.

[tatie]

If you curse, why would you care if your child curses?

[pokonono]

I would think it is still a swear word without the 't'. Everybody uses 'ffing' ... It's just a new swear word.

[alliegator]

I pronounce the t in right or right now.