Or, you know, when your 9-year-old asks you "Papa(Mama), what is 'bullshit'?" You could explain that it does not literally means cattle manure, is a strong and rude expression sometimes used by people, and it's best to avoid that kind of expression in conversation.
Either you kid will learn the word from you (instead of their peers) and gain more knowledge, or they'll just mentally shrug and think "What the _, I'm nine and my dad thinks I don't know bullshit!"
Just don't act horrified when you're asked. That will fascinate your kids to no end.
Source(?): I have a 8-year-old daughter. (Hopefully she doesn't know what is 'bullshit' yet... but what's the big deal?)
I'm surprised at all the somewhat naive and pseudo-street-wise responses to what I consider a common sense stance.
Of course, I know that my child is being exposed to this kind of language in the schoolyard and in the media. She's heard me accidentally say it in earshot a few times, for Pete's sake.
I just consider it a coarse and low class way of expressing oneself. I know she'll eventually be teaching me swear words I've never even heard. I know she'll privately be speaking that way amongst her friends and peers. I know it's in literature and essays that she'll be reading.
I just find it distasteful to hear a young child speak that way, and I find it offensive to hear an adult talk that way in front of a young child. It's how I was raised, how nearly everyone in my generation was raised.
Look, if one of these kids, who thinks it's cool to put words like "Fuck" and "Bullshit" in the title of a blog or e-book, were to walk into a five star restaurant that requires fancy attire and start dropping the F-bomb, they'd be asked to leave or at a minimum generate some annoyance and disruption.
But they wouldn't speak that way in a five star restaurant, nor would they walk into a day care center and speak that way, nor would they curse in front of a neighbor's young children. Why? Because they know better. They know that society, even today, does not condone that kind of language around young children.
Many, if not most, parents would disapprove to the point of threatening with violence someone who was clueless enough to curse in front of their children. At a minimum, parents would whisk their children away and shun such a person as a clueless jerk or someone with mental problems.
If the authors of the book think they're being cute by using bullshit in the title, they're wrong. They're just resorting to a cheap trick that may trigger the "so what, that's how everyone talks" type of reaction in some, but will trigger the equally legitimate "Get that off my screen!" reaction in others.
A simple solution is to not leave this book out for your 9-year-old (or realize your 9-year-old really isn't interested). You can't seriously expect them to release a PG alternative.
9 year olds are typically in what, 3rd or 4th grade? Unless you are homeschooling him, he may not be swearing at home but that ship has long since sailed. I'm sure he and his recess buddies could teach you a few new words.
Could you explain a bit about this? Is this an American thing? Two different online advertisement platforms refused to place ads for my book because of the "swear word" in the title. I didn't get it...
To me bullshit isn't a swear word at all... except for the unpleasant graphical nature of reference, I would classify it totally in a different category from other swear words. It like a strong version of "crap" ... as in what kind of crap is this?
"Crap" is a weaker word for "shit" because sometimes the word "shit" is too strong. There's a language phenomenon called "code switching" - in different contexts, people will use different words or even switch languages. Remember in Firefly, when people got emotional and started swearing in Chinese? It's like that. http://english.stackexchange.com/a/29271
I don't want my 9-year-old to be exposed to this kind of language either on the coffee table or on the tablet, so I won't be buying the book.
Could you put out a PG-rated version for those of us prudish and old-fashioned types?