Remember the old chant many of us said as kids? The website “US Dictionary” indicates it was already considered to be an old adage in 1862 when it appeard in a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. US Dictionary describes this adage further:

The phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones” is a well-known children’s rhyme. It is often used as a retort to verbal insults or name-calling, suggesting that physical harm from sticks and stones might injure one, but words will not cause any physical harm.

I remember using this saying when I was a kid into adulthood.
How was this adage used over the years? US Dictionary:

The phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones” is a classic saying that serves as a defense against verbal bullying or insults. It’s often completed with the line, “But words will never hurt me.” The idea behind the phrase is that physical objects, like sticks and stones, can cause physical harm, but intangible words cannot cause physical pain. This phrase is frequently taught to children as a way of coping with name-calling or verbal bullying, encouraging them not to be hurt by hurtful words.

More about the phrase’s meaning:

It’s often used to encourage resilience against verbal abuse or insults.
The phrase emphasizes the distinction between physical and emotional harm.
It serves as a reminder that words, while potentially hurtful, cannot inflict physical pain.
It is often used in educational settings to teach children about coping mechanisms for bullying.
Similar phrases include “Words can never hurt me” and “I’m rubber, you’re glue.”

In other words, the Sticks and Stones saying is time tested wisdom, but then something happened. In a recent poll by FIRE, “SHOCKING: 4 in 5 Americans think ‘words can be violence’”

The poll results:

In a new FIRE poll, 4 in 5 Americans (80%) agree at least slightly with the idea that “words can be violence.”
Democrats and women were most likely to agree words are violence, and Republicans and men were least likely to agree.
Only slightly more than a third of Americans (37%) think citizens should have the right to use profanity when speaking to elected officials.

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 31, 2024 — In a disturbing new finding from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, 4 in 5 Americans agree to at least some degree with the idea that “words can be violence.”

In the latest edition of the quarterly National Speech Index, FIRE asked 1,000 Americans, “How much, if at all, does the following statement describe your thoughts: ‘Words can be violence.’”

Nearly half of Americans said that statement describes their thoughts either “mostly” (23%) or “completely” (22%).
Around a quarter responded that it describes their thoughts “somewhat” (22%).
Another 12% responded that it matches their thoughts “slightly.”
Only a fifth (20%) responded that the statement “does not describe my thoughts at all.”

FIRE’s poll results show that women who are democrats are the biggest advocates for this widespread idea that words can be violence.

Based on these results, one might conclude that words can actually be a form of violence. As FIRE explains, however, this is not true:

“Equating words with violence trivializes actual physical harm, shuts down conversations, and even encourages real violence by justifying the use of force against offensive speech,” said FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff. “Free speech isn’t violence, it’s the best alternative to violence ever invented.”

Similarly, consider this statement on the topic by Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt:

Lukianoff and Haidt argue that equating stress-causing speech with “violence,” as Feldman Barrett does, isn’t simply an overstatement. Instead, it’s students’ overblown perception of their own fragility — not exposure to the occasional offensive viewpoint — that’s causing widespread mental health problems among today’s college students.

Their prescription is sure to spark discussion in our nation’s college classrooms — and beyond.

“Free speech, properly understood, is not violence. It is a cure for violence.”

The above excerpt comes from an article in the Atlantic: “Why It’s a Bad Idea to Tell Students Words Are Violence: A claim increasingly heard on campus will make them more anxious and more willing to justify physical harm.” Here is the opening paragraph to that article:

Of all the ideas percolating on college campuses these days, the most dangerous one might be that speech is sometimes violence. We’re not talking about verbal threats of violence, which are used to coerce and intimidate, and which are illegal and not protected by the First Amendment. We’re talking about speech that is deemed by members of an identity group to be critical of the group, or speech that is otherwise upsetting to members of the group. This is the kind of speech that many students today refer to as a form of violence.