The cursing Dutch: fighting swearing in the Netherlands

By Thomas Burmeister Oct 7, 2010, 12:21 GMT

Amsterdam - With the arrival of darker, autumnal days some people's moods tend to be more querulous. In Holland there is an organisation that is campaigning to prevent that from being expressed in profanities.

'Goddamn, must you race through that puddle like that?' Rants like that one inspired a group of people to set up what is perhaps a unique organisation: the Federation Against Cursing. Thousands of volunteers are members of the Christian organisation which is almost 100 years old. Its aim is to combat blasphemy and profanity in general.

Coinciding with the arrival of autumn, the organisation has launched a poster campaign at bus stops and in railway stations across the country. The poster depicts two beautiful swans showing fondness for each other. Below this is the sentence 'Talk to each other. Cursing is not necessary!'

The posters are collectors' items thanks to their originality. For the last soccer World Cup, the organisation chose an image of a striker with an angry face who had just missed a goal. 'A curse always shoots wide of the mark,' was the campaign's motto. Last autumn the poster showed a colourful parrot and the words 'Cursing must be learned. Don't repeat them in parrot-fashion!'

The organisation was founded in 1917 by Calvinists and was originally called the 'Federation Against the Defilement of God's Name Through Cursing.' It not only tries to spread its message with posters, it also tries to pursue prominent people who use the F-word or 'Goddamn!' on television.

In extreme cases it has been known to use the Netherlands' legal system to achieve its goal. Paragraph 147 of the country's penal code bans what it describes as 'taunting blasphemy.' It has been many years since anyone was convicted under the paragraph as judges give higher priority to free expression than the ban on profanity.

Three years ago the paragraph was used to prosecute Madonna. The youth organisation of a small Protestant party used it because the pop diva mimicked the crucifixion of Christ during her 'Life to Hell' tour. The judge in the case said Madonna had a right to 'express frustration over certain aspects of life.'

That same interpretation could be used to explain the use of other expressions such as those that involve religious issues -- even if only tangentially -- such as 'damn!' or obscenities involving genitalia. Every year the organisation publishes its 'Cursing Monitor' which shows that the use of profanity has risen considerably in radio and television. That rise has been most pronounced on private TV stations and on many social network websites.

Luckily the organisation has not only tasked itself with highlighting profanity, it also makes suggestions on how to lessen it. It has strung together a list of alternative words to use in moments of stress. Many of them are botanical in origin: instead of 'Shit!' why not try 'Moss!' and 'Goddamn!' could easily be replaced by 'Rhododendron!' according to the organisation.