Polite speech and gentle manners are the mark of a good up-bringing. It was not common in Ethiopia to hear vulgar language as frequently as we do now days. It seems like it has been mainstreamed. This is a frightening thing to say the least and an issue to which society readers have responded with firm disapproval…

What do you think of people who talk dirty?

Its terrible the things I hear. Sometimes , I even have to cover my ears or walk away as fast as I can to avoid words that reveal the worst aspect of our society.
Fisseha, Broker

Parents should be stricter. They should not let a cursing child go unpunished in some way. Patient advice is the best way but if the child persists, other punishment such as depriving it TV or other favorites’ may be tried
Abel, K.G Teacher

What saddens me is that I hear dirty speech from not only the uneducated, street dwellers and prostitutes but from so called intellectuals and sophisticated people. Their vulgarity reflects an interior immaturity that has not improved with learning.

Meseret, Knitter

Teacher among with parents have an important role to play in reforming children who use profanity. It may be asking too much from hardworking, law paid teachers but they have a duty to advice children in order to prevent them from growing up to be crude adult.
Ben, Driver

Hip-hop rap and bad movies have worsened the problem, Kids think that everybody in the USA talks like their favorite hip hop artist. Even ETV screens such dirty ‘music’ and ‘films’.

Kidane, Contractor

Mouthwash!

Yeah we all know that the easiest words to learn in any language are the obscene one And yes, very young children are more likely to correctly pronounce four letter words- which don’t include Mama or Papa.
Vulgarity seems to have become a standard feature of everyday speech. Amharic is the lingua franca of Addis and the official language of the nation and will do nicely as a representative of increasingly sleazy speech found in all local vernaculars.
Time was when profanity was limited to the car free inhabitants of a certain eastern town … it was actually rather quaint. Today, the ‘F’ word –sorry –I meant the ‘T’ word in Amharic, is more common than greetings and uttered everywhere …..in taxis, streets, trendy sports, the corner bar, the school playground and in the home. Are we to mainstream dirty language? Make it normal to say a thing like…..
“Enat…T---,Lemen Arefedeh?”
(Why are you late, M ……r F…r)
If things are not remedied by massive, nationwide ‘Decency Campaigns’, we may someday wake up to profanity over the airwaves! No, wait a minute I forget have that already thanks to English- deaf, irresponsible D.J,’s on the FM stations who can’t tell the radio version of some hip-hop drivel the X-rated hard core, explicit copies that they air. They should be ashamed of themselves. We firmly advice them to stop this population at once or face the wrath of this page…
I believe there should be a system of fines for each profanity uttered. This system can be adopted in workplaces by financial punishment and in homes and schools by a system of demerits.
For those people who think that talking dirty is a right that they have under the freedom of expression, lets remind the that the words we utter are legal only up to a point. The second our feelings are hurt or we are a target of bad language, that rude person’s right to free speech becomes invalid.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to police dirty speech no matter what kind of system we adopt. However, the best and surest way of cleaning up our speech is by getting a healthy dose of morality. This is freely available to all. Except probably for a few die-hards who are addicted to profanity. Lets rebuke one another. Even a frown would send the message. And please, leave off from not only telling but even being an audience for jokes that include vulgarity. They and those who relish are not funny at all.

Capital Readership Questionnaire

We look forward to your answers to the following questions, to be published in the coming issues. You can email, fax or mail your answer. Please specify your name, age, occupation and gender. Feel free to suggest any question you would like to ask Capital’s readership society and we will make sure it is included in the future.

1. What is your opinion about inflation?
2. What is your opinion on the privatization of telecom services?
3. Most seem to have a plan for the millennium. What is yours?
4. What is your opinion about the alarming rise in gender based violence?
5. Global warming is becoming global warning, what is your opinion on preventing this danger?
6. What should be done about mini-bus taxi abuse?
7. What is your opinion about the ‘going abroad craze’ in Ethiopia?
What should be done about bullying in schools?
9. What do you think about the buildings in Addis?
10. Why do we take advantage of others?

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