How Much Repenting Do I Need to Do? — Tabula Rasa

 

I need theological advice.

Today started calmly enough. I work at home and was quietly surfing Ricochet when Mrs. T informs me that the garbage disposal isn’t working. So I hit the reset button. No dice. I then tried to unfreeze it with the Allen wrench. Won’t move. I remove the old disposal and some pretty despicable water gets on me, to which I respond with some mild cursing.

Off to Home Depot I go, and after shelling out $100 (plus tax) I have a new garbage disposal. That’s when the problems started. 

First error: I believe instructions exist solely to correct installation errors after they have been made. I had some wiring issues that I didn’t anticipate. The issues were more complicated than I thought they’d be, so I uttered a few more unseemly words. To summarize the rest of the story, I hit a few more bumps in the road and said a few more words that I should have kept to myself.

Mrs. T usually leaves the premises when I engage in any kind of plumbing, but she was around to hear me cursing; so I was in trouble with her a while. That trouble  has dissipated somewhat now that I have successfully replaced the disposal and no leaking has been seen (yet).

So here are the questions? Is it really a sin to engage in a bit of mild profanity while engaging in a home plumbing job? I’ve always felt there should be a home repair exemption, especially for plumbing jobs (especially if it requires the complete removal of a toilet). Can you help me out? How much repenting do I need to do?

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  1. danys Thatcher
    danys
    @danys

    Agree w/ Psuedo, a venial sin.

    I tackled a slow bathtub drain using a snake attachment for a power drill. I removed the hair trap cover from the drain & saw a metal bar bisecting the drain opening. The opening wasn’t large enough for the snake’s coil. Curses. Used pliers to reshape the coil, got it down the drain & cleared the clog. Uh, oh. I couldn’t get the coil through the opening. Sludge flew around the bathroom after I yanked the coil free. More curses.  Very unladylike but the tub still drains beautifully.

    I’ve also cleared a slow shower drain with hair trap grouted in place. I muttered through that project.

    Just love my dad’s ancient professional quality toilet auger; an essential item during potty training.

    • #61
  2. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Umbra Fractus:

    Bulldawg: Much of our “curse” words reflect Victorian standards of prudery.

    Also it has to do with identity politics in post-Norman England. Because the French speaking Normans were the elite, it was considered crude to speak English in polite company. Hence why the Anglo-Saxon “sh-t” is considered a naughty word but the Latin “feces” is not.

    This is also why nearly every English town of significant size used to feature a street with this distinctive name.

    • #62
  3. tabula rasa Inactive
    tabula rasa
    @tabularasa

    Umbra Fractus:

    Bulldawg: Much of our “curse” words reflect Victorian standards of prudery.

    Also it has to do with identity politics in post-Norman England. Because the French speaking Normans were the elite, it was considered crude to speak English in polite company. Hence why the Anglo-Saxon “sh-t” is considered a naughty word but the Latin “feces” is not.

     This does raise a whole new issue.  I’m a farm boy.  The substance otherwise known as “feces” was not an abstract concept; it’s something I stepped in every day.  On our farm, we called it by its popular name, and it wasn’t considered cussing of any kind.  Say “feces” to a farmer, and his answer with be “Huh? What’s that?”

    • #63
  4. Son of Spengler Member
    Son of Spengler
    @SonofSpengler

    tabula rasa:

    Umbra Fractus:

    Bulldawg: Much of our “curse” words reflect Victorian standards of prudery.

    Also it has to do with identity politics in post-Norman England. Because the French speaking Normans were the elite, it was considered crude to speak English in polite company. Hence why the Anglo-Saxon “sh-t” is considered a naughty word but the Latin “feces” is not.

    This does raise a whole new issue. I’m a farm boy. The substance otherwise known as “feces” was not an abstract concept; it’s something I stepped in every day. On our farm, we called it by its popular name, and it wasn’t considered cussing of any kind. Say “feces” to a farmer, and his answer with be “Huh? What’s that?”

    Q: What is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Ricochet?

    A: Ricochet 2.0

    (Just kidding! Progress has been swift, and I am a believer in the ultimate advantages of R2.0.)

    • #64
  5. user_385039 Inactive
    user_385039
    @donaldtodd

    While I understand that there is a risk cursing God or neighbor, getting POed at an elevator or a toaster should not carry much of a penalty, unless the elevator decides to hold you hostage or the toaster decides to burn down your house.

    • #65
  6. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    tabula rasa: This does raise a whole new issue. I’m a farm boy. The substance otherwise known as “feces” was not an abstract concept; it’s something I stepped in every day. On our farm, we called it by its popular name, and it wasn’t considered cussing of any kind. Say “feces” to a farmer, and his answer with be “Huh? What’s that?”

     To this day the Anglo-Saxon word in question is the only “swear word” we’re allowed to say in front of my mother. She also grew up on a farm, but is now well acclimated to the city.

    • #66
  7. Fricosis Guy Listener
    Fricosis Guy
    @FricosisGuy

    Like Suntory is for relaxing times, profanity is for stressful times.

    I once had a senior executive of a customer call me and my company the plural of 10-letter and 12-letter words in rapid succession after I gave him some unpleasant news. 

    To defuse things, I agreed that he was right to be ticked at us. However, I made it clear that the [unnamed consulting firm] partner was the 10-letter word and I was the 12-letter word.

    Mollie Hemingway:
    My parents never permitted taking the Lord’s name in vain. Period. But we could cuss a bit if 1) we were funny 2) we used a foreign language or 3) the situation really called for it. I’d say this is a good guideline.

     

    • #67
  8. dash Inactive
    dash
    @dash

    I have long since ceased from calling down Divine damnation on recalcitrant hardware, stubborn fittings, buggy software, etc, because it’s frankly counterproductive.

    I try to refrain from verbally dispatching jerks and fools to the dark underworld, although I’ll admit it’s hard to toe that particular line sometimes.

    As for the scatological and reproductive words, I find that those typically chosen (and it’s the same in all languages with which I have some familiarity) are especially useful in relieving stress, due to the explosive coupling of a longish hissing expiration followed by a hard consonant. Very gratifying in moments of acute frustration.

    However, I only call upon the Name of the Lord in prayer and supplication. I would never use my a friend’s name so lightly, how much more so that of my Redeemer. And I’m quite uncomfortable around people who do so with abandon.

    Them’s my rules.

    • #68
  9. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Someone on facebook posted that a friend was asking if it was a sin to cuss while fixing a garbage disposal.  Then I come on here and see this post and I’m thinking “What the?  Does the person on Facebook come to Ricochet and I don’t know it?”  Then I realized the Facebook friend was someone I “met” on Ricochet.  Oh, this digital world…

    • #69
  10. Pseudodionysius Inactive
    Pseudodionysius
    @Pseudodionysius

    87. Knowledge in Risen Man
     
    1. When a man rises from the dead and comes to the general judgment, he will know all the sins he has committed in his lifetime. St. Augustine says this complete remembrance of all one’s sins will be conferred on each person by God’s power;it will be a special gift for the occasion. The judgment will be most perfect, and therefore the accuser, the witness, the defendant must know all that is to be judged. Each man’s conscience is like a book that contains an accurate and detailed record of his life. And at judgment, the books will be opened(Apoc. 20:12).
     
    2. At the last judgment, each person will know, not only his own sins, but the sins of every other person. For in this judgment, God’s justice is to be manifested to all.
     
    3. This special knowledge of one’s sins and the sins of all mankind will not be acquired by some time-consuming process,but will be as knowledge that is acquired at a glance.

    • #70
  11. profdlp Inactive
    profdlp
    @profdlp

    Shane McGuire:
    Heres the breakdown:
    rahab can lie to the canaanites;
    abraham can conceal from his wife;
    elijah can mock;
    and husbands can say the d-word and the h word while doing home repairs, and can say jack ass while watching sports

     You must root for the same teams I do.

    • #71
  12. user_136364 Inactive
    user_136364
    @Damocles

    I just wish there was a site for conservatives that can handle handyman tasks !

    • #72
  13. user_385039 Inactive
    user_385039
    @donaldtodd

    Damocles:
    I just wish there was a site for conservatives that can handle handyman tasks !

    Craig’s list?

     

    • #73
  14. Mike H Inactive
    Mike H
    @MikeH

    Mike H:
    Oh no, my garbage disposal broke this week too…

     Here’s an update. I fixed my garbage disposal by following the advice here. #5 was probably the easiest most effective repair I’ve ever utilized. Tabula, did you attempt these fixes?

    • #74
  15. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards.

    Job 5:7

    • #75
  16. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Genesis 3:

    17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
    18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
    19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

    • #76
  17. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    When inanimate objects frustrate us, we are to learn humility, for this is part of the consequence of the corruption of sin that we have allowed to bring God’s perfect creation into ruin.

    • #77
  18. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Damocles:
    I just wish there was a site for conservatives that can handle handyman tasks !

     Mike Rowe’s web site?

    • #78
  19. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    By the way, garbage disposals really sound like a decadent technocratic luxury for progressive pansies to me.

    Real men deal with garbage with their bare hands!

    • #79
  20. user_216080 Thatcher
    user_216080
    @DougKimball

    There is a home maintenance exemption.  Your wife can choose to help or leave, but she can’t criticize without exempting herself from the “being the recipient of profane directives” clause.  When my disposer went I bought am industrial replacement.  It was so big I had to cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet to fit it in.  I set new profanity records with that installation.  The unit failed with a month left in its five year warranty, so now we have a second unit. I can grind up beef bones if I want to.  It was worth all the aggravation and every penny.

    • #80
  21. Mole-eye Inactive
    Mole-eye
    @Moleeye

    And to think your grandfathers or great-grandfathers probably worked as plumbers, electricians, handy-men and building supers.

    A dear friend used to say he was the last Jewish plumber in America.  Too much book-learnin’, ‘bochers.

    • #81
  22. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    Geez!

    • #82
  23. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    profdlp:

    Shane McGuire: Heres the breakdown: rahab can lie to the canaanites; abraham can conceal from his wife; elijah can mock; and husbands can say the d-word and the h word while doing home repairs, and can say jack ass while watching sports

    You must root for the same teams I do.

     I’m a big Visitors fan.

    • #83
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