First, the probable causes. Some see a connection in the shorter attention spans that are attracted more by moving images than the written word, others accuse the pathological dotcomming of recent years. However, few really know what makes syncopated sentences punctuated with blushing descriptions of the human anatomy de rigeuer. But young speakers of this sewer prose do seem to have an idea. "Like early English developed from Latin, our English is developing in a language of swear words," proffers a bright and articulate 16-year-old. But the change has not happened overnight. Take the case of young Jared Solomon. The last time the 15-year-old used the F-word, his father had warned him with a "I'll beat the hell out of you if I hear you speaking like that again" sort of chide that, by its own nature, defeats its purpose. However, that hasn't stopped Jared from using cuss words in the company of friends. Besides, dad doesn't really fit the bill of a moral guardian. "Sometimes, I tell my father to watch his mouth in front of the servants," says Jared.
Is Jared an exceptional youngster because he thinks he has to mind his father's language? No, says clinical psychologist Dr Neeru Kanwar. "Parents in the age group of 28 to 40 are not very likely to be careful about their language in front of the kids. In fact, kids till the age of 10 or 11 are careful not to use inappropriate language." One of the children she was treating said he was shocked because he heard his aunt say, "Let's bitch" to a friend. It can be more unsettling if the family has younger parents, because then the overall atmosphere is usually more permissive than in a family with relatives who are more aged. "In my family almost everyone uses abuse," says Jared. Such reverse policing, however, stops once the hormones begin their adolescent overdrive. "It's just the way we talk," says Girish, 19. "It is considered abnormal if someone does not use gaalis." His friend and classmate Rupak agrees with him, "I know I am close to a friend if I can abuse in his company." Those a wee bit 'smarter' justify it with weirder explanations. "We feel much freer when expressing ourselves in offensive language," says Vir Raina, 16.
When did this meltdown of norms happen and just who is to blame? "This problem is becoming bigger as schools are left with less and less powers and teachers can't carry out corporal punishment. Then, when the child is at home he or she can log on to the Net where the chat rooms are full of free-for-all verbal duels, TV and films are already replete with an overdose of offensive words, so how will the child get a fair idea of what good language is?" asks Dr Avdesh Sharma, a psychiatrist. Even if the teen set escapes the visual media offensive (through strict parental supervision), there still remains the influence of freely available music cassettes. "Cuss words (in lyrics) are always in context and go naturally with the socio-cultural value the musicians have grown up in," justifies Arnab Sarkar, who's hooked on the likes of dmx, Jay-Z, Snoop Doggy Dog and Notorious big - none known for celibate language. Lately, there's been a grudging acceptance of such lyrics in the pop-dominated international mainstream. Eminem's current US chart-topper, Slim Shady, has its lyrics written in graphic blue. Those into hip-hop, heavy and industrial metal anyway acquire a vocabulary quite early. This is facilitated if there is a sense of identification with the anger/ angst of the singer.
Experts agree on the equalising effect of the close identification. "The rags to riches maxim of Hindi films - where you find the tough guy with muscles speaks as tough as he looks - is decoded by young minds in a very realistic way," explains Akhila Sivadas of the Centre for Advocacy and Research. This idea is especially attractive to children coming from the lower and lower middle-classes as they are less capable of coping with the onslaught of influences, says Sivadas. Therefore, we have the growing incidence of heroes who not only come from the tapori school of human communication but go on to earn acceptance and respectability by quirk of Bollywood scriptwriting. "The slum kids have very little resources to fall back upon. So, they are highly emotive and yet very adult in their outlook, which makes them all the more susceptible to using foul language," observes Sivadas. However, this precociousness is not limited to slum kids alone. "In school, children, especially boys, often use language as a means of getting the attention that's otherwise denied to them. It's either a brighter sibling or a below average report card that usually starts off a chain reaction whereby they try and seek attention, parity and acceptance," says Etishree Bhati, psychologist and counsellor at Delhi Public School.
Entertainment fare, with the opening up of the skies and liberalisation, is getting increasingly slangy and bawdy and the signs are finally becoming bolder and more frequent. Where mtv could safely be switched off whenever they got too adventurous with language, now even their print ads are using smutty prose. Their latest print ads feature a visibly flatulent 'Gaseous Clay' releasing explosive speech bubbles of you know what. "Cut the crap! let's talk farts and figures," says the text underlining Clay's opening line. But there is evident logic involved, or so claims the youth channel. "The Cut the Crap ad was designed to speak to the advertisers who use mtv as a channel to reach out to their target audience. These are advertisers who have had a long-term relationship with mtv and expect irreverent and wacky language and attitude from mtv," says Vikram Raizada, director marketing of mtv India, in defence of his ad.
Thanks to this irreverence, human relationships too have gone through sweeping changes. "That's my bitch," is the cool equivalent of 'Meet my girlfriend...' and f*** can be used to express a range of emotions - from anger to ecstasy, defeat and victory, besides, of course, its more literal meaning. Swear words may not really mean what they say, but is there a way to blot out these words from children's speech? Maybe not, considering no one's really in a position to police anyone else, but then a little bit of moderation may set in on its own. And, after all, even the Elizabethans had their zounds! &127;
