Teacher Hilariously Shares The 'Cringiest' Thing Her Students Say She Does
It's actually to ensure her behavior remains appropriate.
Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock As a teacher, there are a lot of standards you have to live up to. Your behavior is on display for students and other faculty, and there’s always a concern that parents will complain if something you do seems inappropriate.
A high school teacher shared one thing she does to make sure she keeps things appropriate in her classroom and explained that her students make fun of her for it.
One teacher uses 'substitutes for swear words' to ensure she doesn’t say anything inappropriate at school — and her students find it cringey.
“My students have notified me that one of the cringiest things I do as a teacher is my corny phrases that I use as substitutes for swearwords," the high school teacher named Amber revealed in a TikTok.
“For example, yesterday I gave my students out a paper and I told them, explicitly, ‘You will need this paper tomorrow, so please bring it to class. Do not lose it. Put it in a folder,’” she said. “Today, class starts, I’m like, ‘Okay, take out the paper from yesterday.’ I have like five students who don’t have the paper. I’m like, ‘Jeez Louise!’”
Apparently, this annoyed Amber’s class. “They’re like, ‘Bro, could you not say that? Like, just say something else,’" she said, imitating her students. "I’m like, ‘No, I like saying stuff like that.’”
Amber’s use of substitute swear words goes beyond just her. She also tries to get her students to use them. “You know, they’re high schoolers, and sometimes they let bad words slip,” she said, adding that she encourages the use of words and phrases like “shoot” and “darn it” instead.
Unfortunately for Amber, her students aren’t having any of it. "They’re like, ‘I would rather say nothing at all than ever use a phrase like that. Like, that’s just horrible and so cringey,’” she said.
However, Amber says she has “learned to love” her substitute swears and with good reason. “If I didn’t use them, I might have some slip-ups too, and I can’t afford to have any slip-ups,” she said.
“In student teaching, I accidentally said a bad word out loud, pretty loudly, in front of the whole class,” she said. “Um, horrible experience. Zero out of 10. So I’m not going to let it happen again.”
There are no hard and fast rules concerning teachers and swearing — It's up to the school and district as to what action should be taken.
According to Trekker Entrepreneur School, “Teachers can get fired for cursing in front of their students if the language could be considered verbal harassment. A teacher will not be automatically fired for cursing since it is possible for them to curse in front of students in a way that would not be considered verbal harassment.”
The Internet is full of stories of teachers who were fired for swearing in class, both in the United States and in other countries. However, there are no official laws governing the issue. It really depends on how the language is used, and how students, parents, and administrators react to it.
Regardless of what any official rules may say (or not say), no one can deny that Amber’s swear word substitutes are indeed hilarious. And, while her students may complain about them, they no doubt find them equally endearing and entertaining.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.