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MANAGE YOUR IMAGE

Profanity Purge

Don't ruin your professional image with a few choice words.

By James V. O'Connor

A woman came to my office to sell me her graphic arts service. In the course of our conversation, she used a few common curse words several times. I've often used them myself, but not in front of someone I was courting to be a customer. We were strangers discussing business, not friends having a casual conversation. I thanked her for coming, but I never used her service.

Apparently the genders are approaching equality in vulgarity, which seems to make it less vulgar. We are more relaxed, less repressed and more informal than we used to be, and that's a good thing. Yet something isn't right. Profanity has become so common that some people don't even realize they're using it. Swearing is sometimes funny and harmless; more often it's used to complain, criticize or insult. Who needs to hear that?

Here are three ways to break the habit:

• Eliminate casual swearing by pretending your grandmother or young child is always next to you.
  
  
• Think positively, which will reduce swearing and brighten your personality.
  
  
• After you utter an expletive, simply say the tamer word you wished you had said.

James V. O'Connor is author of Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing (iUniverse, 2006). cusscontrol.com