Drumm’s choice words highlight need to call time on foul language
The language deployed by the former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive, as so “colourfully” audible on the so-called Anglo tapes has got me thinking about my own proclivity in regard to use of the word ‘f***’ and other swear terms. Drumm is not alone in peppering his conversation with the Anglo-Saxon vernacular and for dropping in other offensive words effortlessly and almost as if without thought. Drumm may be a particularly bad example of this increasingly common tendency; in the tapes he can hardly form a sentence without throwing the f-word as a noun, verb or adjective. But so do many others and to my shame, so occasionally do I. It’s got to stop.
This thinking has been prompted by a surprising reaction I received from many listeners on the recent broadcast of extracts from the Anglo tapes on The Last Word. Anticipating adverse reaction to the broadcasting of the f-word in full — without the often used bleeps or bells to cover the word — I apologised in advance for their use. Nobody complained about their inclusion. The language was secondary to the substance of misleading and disrespecting the State. Instead, however, a number of listeners castigated me for apologising for it. I was told this is the way people talk in their day-to-day lives, it should not be hidden from us and apologies did not need to be made because it is no big deal.
I can swear with the best of them when it suits me. Indeed I once was caught doing so on-air, many years ago, when the studio lights went out but, somehow, my microphone remained open and I continued live on air, unwittingly, to deliver a foul mouthed tirade about someone. That didn’t make it all right then or now.
The liberal use of the f-word illustrates two things to me: laziness and, on occasion, bullying. The former is fairly obvious. There are plenty of other words people can use to make the same points, with the same emphasis, if required. Reaching for the f-word is intellectual laziness, made worse when it becomes habit. Maybe it has some power, as I’ll get to that in a moment, but to me it signifies a failure to possess or exercise an adequate range of vocabulary.
But the other purpose is often intimidation. The f-word has violent connotations so its inclusion in a sentence or a speech is often designed to put the recipient into a somewhat cowered position.
There was an interesting example recently from the world of sport. An English rugby coach, former international player Richard Cockerill, has received a nine game suspension from his duties as “director of rugby” at the Leicester club because of his behaviour during the league final at Twickenham in May.
Cockerill was involved in an incident somewhat overshadowed by the decision of referee Wayne Barnes to send off the England hooker Dylan Hartley for calling him a cheat. Cockerill was going demented on the sideline because of a tackle on one of his players that he believed (wrongly as video evidence proved) to be foul play. He approached the fourth official twice to berate him for the “failure” of the referee to take action against a Northampton player, and threatened that unless action was taken he would tell his players at half-time to “smash the c***s” in the second-half.
Cockerill fought the misconduct charges brought against him and said that whatever comments were made were only for emphasis and that he would not have issued his players with such an instruction. He also regretted in hindsight “the extent of language used” but argued his behaviour was appropriate and that the rest of his language was justified in the circumstances and did not make his actions aggressive.
The three-man disciplinary panel instead found his behaviour to be “an insidious and petulant act intended to threaten match officials into altering the way they officiated”.
The panel concluded: “Giving evidence, Mr Cockerill maintained the use of the words ‘fuck’ and ‘fucking’ were justified in the circumstances.” He also maintained that players who swear at referees need not be sent off or disciplined. His use of swear words, which he did not deny, did not, he maintained, make his actions aggressive, obscene, inappropriate or unprofessional.
“Certain of the game’s core values, namely respect, discipline and sportsmanship, seem to us to have passed Mr Cockerill by. He does not seem to appreciate the corrosive effect of his behaviour upon players, medical staff and other coaches with its attendant loss of moral authority, nor the effect of his behaviour upon the viewing public and the press.”
It is hard to disagree with the RFU’s finding that Cockerill’s behaviour was “obscene, inappropriate and unprofessional”. It would be great to see other sports taking and maintaining such a hard line, particularly in football, where foul mouthed abuse of referees by players is common. And it would be good if people were more careful too when watching matches: it can be embarrassing to bring children to sports grounds in this country for the exposure it provides to loud-mouthed buffoons whose ill-spoken aggression does them no credit.
SOMETIMES basic good manners and proper use of language are not given enough credit. Instead, they are demeaned as being somehow snobby or old-fashioned, as not being worldly enough. I can imagine quite a few people sneering at this piece for exactly those reasons. But the use of the f-word demeans the user. For years Drumm was known to staff at Anglo as “David F***ing Drumm”, his considerable overuse of the term leading to a very disparaging nickname for him, one that undermined his authority rather than increasing it as he thought.
In the last Dáil, Green Party TD Paul Gogarty made a fool of himself when he launched an attack on the Labour party TD Emmet Stagg along the lines of “with all due respect, f*** you”. I admit to playing the audio on radio and to laughing heartily at it, but what we laughed at was Gogarty’s foolishness and unnecessary coarseness, not with him. He might have thought that his deliberate use of what is called “unparliamentary language” was somehow daring and in touch with what people want but all he did was hasten his own political demise.
In recent months I’ve been bringing my daughters through the box sets of the US tv political drama The West Wing, using drama to get them interested in politics and how it matters to people’s lives. It has also the merit of teaching them well plotted, interesting and brilliantly scripted drama. The eloquence of many of the speeches and much of the dialogue may be somewhat exaggerated but better they watch that, and learn from it, than come across much of the coarseness and lack of effort they might otherwise encounter. And at least when I’m with them I’m careful enough not to channel David Drumm during my conversation.
* The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.
