“He’s so GD funny.”

 

Earlier today, Friday, October 18, I overheard a radio talk show host describing an actor on a sitcom now airing its second season. Of the actor, the nationally syndicated host said, “He’s so GD funny.”

GD.

Did the popular, highly paid professional mean Groundhog’s Day, as in the actor back for the second season Groundhog’s Day funny? Or “Good deal” funny? “Great diplomacy” funny?

Oh, you’re right. It wasn’t any of the GDs mentioned. It was something else.

The freedom of speech. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the freedom of speech, even for ideas that may be considered offensive, immoral, or hateful.

This wasn’t my radio or my choice of a radio station. I was just a passin’ through. I heard just 30-some seconds of this top radio moneymaker.

And these two letters were just that—letters! They weren’t even words.

This is okay, right? I mean the radio host didn’t actually say what the G and D stood for, so, taking a crack at this again, maybe the GD stood for Grand Decorum. There is such a thing as Grand Decorum?

No, you’re right. There is no such phrase as Grand Decorum. Air out of the tire. No motion. Just this feeling of sorrow.

I’m sorry Americans, especially those who speak professionally, choose inappropriate words. I can’t answer this for certain and I do not listen to or follow this radio personality, but the host’s use of GD may be more common than the word ‘nice’ in his vocabulary.

Can’t we get a better vocabulary? When high is an option, do we have to go low?

Sometimes my word choices are awful. I mean, they are really, really bad. So, I’m not raising my self, but I am encouraging all of us to make better choices.

That one man spews vulgar language? Eh. Some (most?) dismiss this as an every day life thing. That the producers of this radio program allow this? That fans don’t say, “Cool it!” makes me even more sad.

One person can make a poor choice. Oh, yes. But a whole culture?

My eight-year-old raised a two-part question the other night. “Hey, dad, did even the baby animals die in the flood? Is it really true in the story of Noah and the Arc that God let baby animals die?”

Phew. Answer that one.

And maybe I am, at least in part, with this column.

God cannot be good with this language. Oh, God isn’t good with sin, either, but Jesus who was on earth and is now in heaven takes care of the sins of those who follow Jesus. Christians don’t WANT Jesus. Christians NEED Jesus. The Son of God saves us from our sins, including the sins out of our mouths.

How did I answer my child? I said I struggle because I do struggle with her questions. I said I can’t imagine God would let so many animals, babies and adults alike, just die. Maybe somehow God made their deaths painless and quick. At the first drops of rain, they just died. Boom. Gone.

Mercy.

We have to wrestle with a lot, don’t we? Did the radio host swear profoundly as a toddler, an eight-year-old? Or, as he came into adulthood, did he get wet too often and something like hope and faith died in him? Did he ever hear of God and His Son in a way that put him on a boat?

It isn’t raining as I write this. There is time.

The radio host, like all of us, still has a chance to change, to know of and live for the One who always loves us through all storms.

Starting with ourselves, let’s clean up our language. I know some of you do not swear, but all of us can say better, more kind and uplifting remarks not now and again but always.

1 Thessalonians 5:11a says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” We can encourage, uplift, promote, foster, support and love each other with affirming, appropriate words.

 

 

PHOTO CREDIT: Noel Biesecker