The Perfect Inappropriate Word

My second grade grandson came home from school with a slip from his teacher informing us that he lost a conduct point today for using inappropriate language. Calm but somewhat concerned, I asked him to explain what he said, who he said it to, and why he said it. He replied, “I didn’t say it to anyone, I just said, ‘that sucks,’ and I said it because I had to do double digit subtraction against my friend, who is a girl.” “Why would you say that word?” I asked. “I couldn’t think of any other word to use,” he explained. Considering that he hates double digit subtraction and his friend was a girl he’s sweet on who happens to be fast at working math problems, I’m thinking the word probably expressed his feelings perfectly. But to tell him what I was thinking would also be inappropriate so I suggested that he doesn’t always need to voice his opinion about things, especially with language such as that. Of course, he had to justify it by saying that his older sister says it all the time. I told him I’d speak to her about it but that he is not to use that word. When I spoke to his sister later she explained to me that it wasn’t a bad word for fifth graders. “Everybody says it”. You will be glad to know that I didn’t reply with the “well, if everybody jumped off a cliff,” speech. Instead, I asked her to watch her language, especially around her younger siblings. She and her brother were both bewildered that this commonly used phrase was not permissible. I’m sure they were thinking, “That sucks!” Perhaps Hubby and I can resurrect an old phrase of ours, “Bummer!” Or what’s wrong with Swiper’s favorite phrase, “Ah, man!” For those of you who do not watch Dora the Explorer, Swiper is a crafty fox who is always trying to swipe things from Dora and her monkey friend, Boots (he wears red boots). He is always thwarted by Dora and her kid audience. Sorry, I digressed. See what hanging around with a toddler all day does to you?