“F*** off.”

“I didn’t call you a w****; I called you a s***.”

“Last g**-a** f****** snapchat I’m recording.”

All of these (now censored) comments and more, including many sexual innuendos and explicit jokes, have been heard this week at Lincoln.

Swearing, a phenomenon common in teenage conversations, is evidently very prevalent in the hallways, walkways, and even classrooms of our school campus. In almost every high school in America, one just has to take a couple of steps in any direction before his or her ears are accosted with a slew of casual profanities. “I hear it all the time,” said Danielle Do, Class of ’14.

Most students have learned to numb their ears to profane language since they’ve been in middle and high school, choosing to ignore the derogatory ideas it implies. A lot of it has become almost meaningless to accustomed young minds.

Ysabelle Morales, Class of ’14, said, “It’s society that decides it’s bad, not the language itself. So it doesn’t really bother me because it doesn’t have too much meaning.”

Others have long since began to employ such language themselves in their casual conversations, and now consider “swear words” just another addition to their vocabulary.

“I say just as much profanity as I hear,” Marin Matsune, Class of ’16, commented honestly.

School policy as stated in the Student Handbook does not specifically mention much on the topic of profanity. The handbook does state that items of clothing spouting “obscene words/pictures, ethnic/religious slurs, sexually suggestive content” are prohibited. A rule for students riding the school bus says, “Be courteous and only talk quietly (no profanity or bullying allowed).” And school policy cracks down on language considered “sexual harassment,” such as, “unwelcome sexual slurs, epithets, threats, verbal abuse, derogatory comments or sexually degrading descriptions” and “sexual jokes, stories, drawings, pictures, or gestures.” For language to be considered “bullying,” it usually must include “deliberately hurtful teasing, taunting, name calling, ridicule, intimidation, belittling, degradation, threats and demands.”

Is casual profanity a problem that needs to be addressed, or is it just teenagers being teenagers? The issue of profanity certainly treads a fine line between the two. On one hand, it is often not directed towards others in a serious manner; students are just joking around, and everyone knows they’re joking around. It cannot really be considered “bullying” under many circumstances, unless of course the vulgarities are about another student and said with malicious intentions.

On the other hand, using profane language can be considered highly disrespectful, to other students, to teachers, and to the school as a whole, an idea the Student Handbook hints at. As an anonymous student put it, “Freedom of speech shouldn’t allow you to spew vulgarities everywhere.” Like in a workplace or out in public, a degree of common courtesy is helpful when it comes to creating a safe, supportive school environment.

Young students’ right to freedom of speech and, likewise, their “freedom to swear” in a public school is an issue that often causes disagreement. Many claim a right to say whatever they choose, but should their freedom of speech come with a limit?