A while ago former First Lady Barbara Bush said at a conference, “I hate that people think compromise is a dirty word.”  And as we looked at recent politics and campaigns, she is on to something.  Nobody compromises anything.  There are times when you really don’t want to compromise, perhaps with your virtue, but most of what this country has and has become, has been through compromise.  Even the Declaration of Independence had words added, removed, and changed as a result of compromise.    

It got us to thinking, what are the other new dirty words out there?

Speed limit:  Everywhere we go people are speeding.  You can piggy back onto this word “conservation.”  It wasn’t long ago we talked about gas going to $4 a gallon but nobody really doing anything about it. (Paper or Plastic, Feb. 23, 2012, from Life’s Questions)  No need to.  We aren’t spending real money and our cars are very efficient.  Um, no, they aren’t.  Not at 70 miles per hour.  When we talked about how people were outraged about gas prices thirty years ago we didn’t mention that one of the strategies to conserve gas was the national 55mph speed limit.  It probably wouldn’t go over very big today.

Thank you:  We’ve posted quite a few times about how nobody says thank you.  (Most recently, Terms of Appreciation, Jan. 23, 2012 from Etiquette) They say just about everything else – there you go, have a good one, ya’ll come back now (we just made that one up).  Probably nobody says “thank you” because it’s a dirty word and they don’t want to get fired for swearing at the customers.

Conservative:  We were at an event recently and one of the local papers had a booth erected.  It was the more conservative of the two major papers.  While we, and others were there, a man walked by with his wife and child (probably his child but we didn’t confirm that with the wife; probably his wife but we didn’t confirm that either) and shouted “Too F——- Conservative” and kept on going.  But as we think of this, maybe “conservative” isn’t the bad word.  Perhaps it’s “liberal.” We’re pretty sure if something like that happened at the other major paper’s booth (had there been one), there would have been shouting and punching with those defending the honor of the paper like one would if a young lady were the object of obscenities. 

Parenting:  Go through your local paper’s archives for the past six months.  How many stories can you find about children still being left in cars while parents shop, eat, drink, or gamble?  How many stories can you find about a child hurt or killed when left alone with a fireplace, matches, large dog, big television perched precariously on small stand, or drug crazed boyfriend?  Read the story carefully.  Somebody will speculate that the time alone was brief, that the child was secure in a seat, or that the dog was trained or the boyfriend contrite.  Nobody will say the parents were selfish, clueless, reckless, bad decision makers, or all of the above.

Gluten:  We don’t know how many people even know what gluten is but we know everybody says it’s bad for you.  Gluten is the irritant in one of the most painful medical conditions people suffering from autoimmune diseases can face.  There are very few treatment options and less successful ones.  For a whole generation to decide they have a predisposition to this mocks the poor true victims and makes it even harder for them to be accepted with such a debilitating disease.  So if you think you have some horrible disease magically treated by not eating bread, don’t eat the bread.  And then keep your suffering to yourself.  That way we can hear and help those who truly suffer from Celiac Disease.

Date:  Sometimes it seems the only people we know who are dating are us.  Nobody goes on dates any more.  As the parents of 20-somethings we get to hear of going out but in packs.  Packs of young adults are going to bars and coffee shops, to bowling alleys and amusement parks.  Never a couple.  Always a group.  Safety in numbers?  Maybe.  Comfort in groups?  Perhaps.  Scared of dating?  Might be.

So those are our seven words you can’t say on TV.  Hmm, that makes us wonder.  What about those other more famous seven words?  They’re probably ok now.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?