Saying It Softly
Have you ever said something that you wish you would have said it differently? Maybe it came out too harshly and left the person you were talking to offended. Have you ever used language that was too blunt, crude or slang and others were embarrassed by it? When we recognized what we said, we want to find a place to hide. We can apologize, but we can’t take the words back.
We excuse children for their blunt, “telling it like it is,” nature, but as one grows up, he is expected to learn how to soften his words and speak in a more socially accepted way. If a child is not raised with discipline in this area, he will take into his adult years a coarse and rude way of speaking. Paul told Timothy to be well trained in the words of the faith and to watch how he spoke and behaved. He was exhorted to be respectful to the elderly and to treat the women in all purity, (I Timothy 4:6-16).
Euphemism is a word or phrase used instead of one that is offensive or may sound harsh. It is a way to soften words that are taboo in a social context. Every culture has this way of speaking in its etiquette. For example, instead of saying someone has died, we say he has passed away. We use backside or buttocks, restroom for toilet and when we must kill an animal, we say we need to “put him down” or “end his suffering.” Each language has a number of euphemisms to choose from when conversing over any sensitive subject.
We have learned this way of “salting” our conversation from the Bible. When the Bible talks of death it uses expressions like: “falling asleep”,
(I Thess. 4:13-14), “going to their fathers”, (Gen. 15:15), or “departing”, (Phil. 1:23). Even in referring to sensitive body parts, words are substituted to be less offensive. Genitals are: “thigh”, (Gen. 24:2) and pubic hairs are: “hair of the feet,” (Is. 7:20). Sexual intercourse is referred to as: “knowing”, “lie with” and “go into”, (I Kings 1:4; Lev. 18:6; I Samuel 16:21). To urinate is: “to cover one’s feet,” (Judges 3:24).
To speak this way is not to be “politically correct” in that the truth is stretched or altered, so that it would be accepted by the hearers, but rather it is to have good manners. It is a cultured way of talking in that one must learn what is offensive and what is not. Fishermen and Galileans were noted for their uncultured and brute way of speaking. What surprised the religious leaders of Jesus’ day is that His disciples, being Galileans, were different in their speech.
One’s tone of voice and body language are also means of communicating and should be watched so as to give a message that is Christ-like and without offense. Paul told the Colossian church that their speech should be gracious, seasoned with salt and wise. Let the words of your mouth be acceptable in the Lord’s sight.
Scriptures to meditate on:
I Tim. 4:6-16; Col. 4:6; Prov. 18:21; Psalms 19:14; Acts 4:13; Titus 2:8