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Curling a Nun’s Toes
As a Catholic nun, I was not aware that it was possible for anything, let alone a foul word, to curl a nun’s toes. This curling business kind of freaks me out. Not the least reason of which is because I dare not imagine how many toes I unknowingly curled in my earlier days.
Now either I live in a bubble of rainbows and puppy dogs with nary a word of foul language spoken OR there is something very wrong with this cliche. I’m going to go with the latter.
“Go into any English soccer stadium on any given Saturday afternoon and you are assured of hearing language that would curl a nun’s toes,” writes Grahame L. Jones of the Los Angeles Times. “Wayne Rooney’s expletive-laced rant in front of a TV camera during a recent match is just one example of the abusive behavior that is on display at every English soccer stadium.” Rooney, it seems, is no resident of rainbow and puppy land. What I’d like to know is WTH does this have to do with curling a nun’s toes? ( WTH = What the Heck! and is used for purposes of ironic emphasis. )
Mr. Jones, what is your image of nuns? Is it of gentle, innocent little creatures that can’t take the reality that sometimes language is rude and harsh? Is it of childish women who don’t know the ways of big, bad men? Is it of paragons of holiness and righteousness that look down the length of a rule and condemn? Please help me to understand why a nun (and also why a Neanderthal? they’re always getting a bad rap) is your chosen image. If the language is so bad, indeed, “a shocking foulmouthed rant,” shouldn’t everyone be aghast and appalled? Is it just to “titillate” and “sell” as you noted in your article about media who “fuss” with Rooney’s bad behavior?
Just something to think about, Mr. Jones. And, to set the record straight, the only curling that I hope ever happens to me is this kind of curling.
For more conversation about why people are so gosh darn interested in the image of nuns, hang out with Sister Maxine and myself for tomorrow’s live webcast of In Good Faith with special guest Dr. Bren Ortega Murphy at 7 p.m. CST. We’ll talk with Dr. Murphy about her new documentary “A Question of Habit: The Image of Women Religious in U.S. Popular Culture,” a documentary exploring “popular culture’s fascination with all things ‘nun’.
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I don’t get it why people have to use expletives like puntucation marks. And you are so right, Sr. Julie, when you said that everyone should be offended by this kind of language.
I’m returning to rainbow and puppy dog land now…
See S.I. Hayakawa’s classic essay: “On the Uses of Profanity.” Very enlightening. Hayakawa was a semanticist, a prof. at San Jose (I think) State University, and later a U.S. Senator. Bottom line: People who cuss a lot often don’t really hear what they’re saying and don’t realize how it impedes communication. For them, it simply blows off steam. Some people use cuss words to show off or to show that they belong to a particular group. People who hate cussing have a right to be offended, if they so choose, but it helps to realize that it’s usually not personal, and they do have control of their own responses and actions, if not of their own REactions. OTOH, perhaps the cusser is being, well, just plain “cussed.”
i’m not generally offended by profanity, unless it is excessive or meant to offend or hurt. i do dislike when profanity is used because of a general lack of vocabulary. my mother swore like a sailor all my life. then, she got some form of dementia a few months ago–very sudden onset–and stopped using profanity entirely. i heard her use words i never knew she knew. i was astounded and only realized then that she was pretty darned smart, but her constant use of profanity made her sound less intelligent than she was. profanity such as that used by mr. jones is just ill-advised and done for sport, i think. the man also has zero to little knowledge of nuns in the real world.
as far as curling nun’s toes, i can think of several better ways to do that, assuming one really needs to, that do not require profanity. i could tell them all about my grandmother’s funeral…i assure you, toes would curl! i think even my grandmother’s toes did on that occasion……