Adventures in Odyssey Home Page

War of the Words

Album: 20: A Journey of Choices

Episode: 265

Lesson/Theme: Swearing; using bad language.

Bible Verse: Proverbs 21:23

Characters: Connie, Eugene, Whit

Writer: Marshal Younger

Sound Designer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: April 23, 1994

Last Air Date: January 29, 2009

Description:
Charles and Henry are eavesdropping on one of Connie and Eugene's more lively "discussions." Their ears especially prick up when they hear Eugene tell Connie her "choices have left her somewhat . . . maladroit." Neither Connie, Henry, nor Charles knows what maladroit means. Henry and Charles (who think Eugene said "mallatroid") think Eugene used a dirty word. Whit breaks up the disagreement. Connie and Eugene go their separate ways, and Henry suddenly has a new "bad" word to use. He uses it with increasing regularity and mispronounces the word until it becomes "milajoit." Unfortunately, he refers to the local librarian in this manner. The librarian responds by calling his parents. Henry's dad demands to know where Henry heard such a word. When Henry finally reveals that he heard it at Whit's End, his father grounds him from the emporium. When Whit hears about this situation, he corners Charles and asks where he and Henry originally heard the word. Charles points the finger at Eugene. Eugene denies ever having said such a word as "milajoit." They all finally arrive at the truth, but by then, the damage is done. Henry's dad thinks Whit's End is a place where kids learn bad words. Whit is grieved. He pays a visit to Henry's dad to explain and apologize. Everyone learns an important lesson about the power of words.

Questions:
Should Henry and Charles have listened to Connie and Eugene's argument? Was it Eugene's fault that the boys overheard what they thought was a bad word? Why or why not? Why did the boys think "maladroit" was a bad word? If you heard a word you didn't know the meaning of, what would you do? Why is it wrong to say bad words? What does the Bible say about the words we use?