Using Profanity?

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are constantly selling something.  Even if we never sell a product or service as a career, we are constantly selling ourselves.  The best way that we sell our ideas and thoughts are through words, so the words that we choose are extremely important.  After a while, part of our personal brand is tied up in the words that we use. The bigger the following and influence we gain, the more powerful our words become and the more meaning we bring to specific words.  

With that said, I believe that using words that some would deem “foul” should be used sparingly.  I feel as though if someone is masterful at connecting with another human-being or even a large audience, they will be able to do so using typical language and won’t need to rely on taboo words as a crutch.  I remember listening to an interview with Jerry Seinfeld a couple years ago that gave me an interesting perspective on offensive language. Seinfeld, who is arguably one of the greatest stand-up comedians of our time, talked about why he doesn’t use profanity and his reasoning was that he wanted to fight to be at the top of his game.  He said that by using foul language during his stand-up gigs, it was like cutting corners and he needed to bring more creativity to his shows to get laughs. I’ve adopted a similar mindset. If we have a great vocabulary and understand how to speak with power, conviction and passion, we won’t need to overuse foul language. With that said, I do find it acceptable in certain cases to use offensive language for shock value and to keep people on their toes.  Although, if these words are overused, the listener will become numb to them and it won't have much of an impact.