Catholic Vulgarians.

In a recent article for  The National Catholic Register, Mark Shea attempts to take a middle of the road approach to swearing and vulgarity.

On the one hand he admits,

"That’s not say vulgarity is no big deal. We live in a culture awash in vulgarity and adding to the river of sewage in the world is not a big help. Christian homeschoolers do well, as a general rule, not to instruct their kids in what the 60’s tediously called “keepin’ it real”. 
Keeping it clean is much more to the point in a culture that has a mouth like a toilet. We have a surfeit of raunchy comedians and superfluous sleaze. We do not have a glut of people who can carry on an articulate, thoughtful and funny conversation without recourse to the F word as a sort of placeholder for actual thought".

He then goes on to let us know, however, that using "four-letter Anglo-Saxon words having to do with reproduction and excretion" isn't the same as blasphemy; whereas there is not excuse for blasphemy, the occasional use of vulgar Anglo-Saxon words isn't nearly as bad.

I thought, at first, he may have been preparing a defense for his friend Simcha Fischer, and her use of "the F word" in all it's glory, in a column of hers which he encouraged us to read.

Now, another "Catholic" writer at patheos.com wants to join in. In her latest post. The Crescat feels the need to express herself with a few three, four and seven letter Anglo-Saxon words which were once considered too vulgar to use in a family publication.

I confess; I'm guilty of using vulgar words from time to time. But, when writing, like Jonah Goldberg I prefer creative euphemisms (such as "bovine-scatological colloquialism").