What do you think of swearing in public?

[nonobjective]

maybe?

in practice, language can only approximate the narrowest of medians of human thought and emotion. the extremities are indeed relative to the individual, culture and language in question.

i recall an instance where my grandmother, while cutting a potato, also managed to slice in to her finger. she dropped the knife, grit her teeth and groaned in a sharp and guttural manner, "FUDGE!" As a child, I didn't so much hear a word, in this case 'fudge' but an expression of sincere, albeit short-lived, panic. It was frightening, and just about the most severe usage of the word Fudge, or any other F word for that matter, I’d ever experienced.

From a philosophical stand point, I would say that a word is a word is a word. we attach meaning based on context and previous experience... no word exists that has any innate meaning (except possibly a small subset of words including 'mama' and it's variants as chomsky and ree contend).

From a linguistics perspective, I think it's helpful and healthy that we do have "taboo" or extreme words, words that we use with some measure of economy, especially in mixed company. If we were to completely liberalize our vocabulary in every setting and every context, we would loose a great deal of articulacy of expression.

Banning a word or words would only add to their potency and power, probably the inverse of puritans intentions.

 

[nonobjective]

Terms used by my family are as follows:

Gosh Darn it
Oh my
gorsh
shoot
some worse ones? Arse,crap and fudge
Sorry if they seem lame to anyone but that's how we preder to show our dismay.
Anger is walked off or worked out. A stubbed toe doesn't have to be followed by a cuss word...a loud yeeeowww will surfice.

I would (partially) contend that those words did begin to hold a similar weight that the F or S word would have. Admittedly, they are more acceptable in a social setting, though after a certain frequency of usage they also became part of your family’s "curse word dialect"

I admit that I watch my tongue, especially around children and in professional situations... I also have trouble with curse words involving "God" or "Jesus," though I realize this is just a product of my personal beliefs and biases. =)

 

[Fluffy]

Warning, the following post, whilst it complies with forum rules, contains words which some people may find offensive. If you think you may be one of these people then continue reading at your risk!

I would just like to demonstrate the further innanity of the idea that swearing is offensive. To do this I will take 2 societies in which the majority speaks English (England and America) and highlight certain words which are considered offensive in one but not or less so in the other.

I'm uncertain which words are considered offensive by this board because I do not know what area they are going by in terms of what is considered offensive. Therefore I will put a single star in all words that may be considered offensive so that this makes sense. If you feel you might be offended by this or if the mods feel that this is going against the censorship rules on this forum then please delete this post (or perhaps edit it as they see fit).

In an episode of the Simpsons (an American children's TV program), Principal Skinner makes the following comment:
Skinner: If by 'w*ank' you mean 'educational fun,' then stand back, it's w*anking time!

Such a word was considered fine to use during the normal children's slot on American TV but was considered to offensive to show in Britain where the word is significantly more offensive.

Similarly, a*rse, b*ugger and b*loody are all considered offensive in England whereas in America they are either considered non-offensive or less offensive.

Here are a sample of English words which neither culture finds offensive yet have incredibly vulgar meanings: Scat, rimming, snowballing, felching. There are many others as well.

 

[MagickIsFun]

yeah. they even showed the movie Speed on the family channel once. swear words and all. it was kinda funny.

 

[ayani]

i used to have nothing wrong with swearing, until i listened to others who swore often. objectively, it sounded unfriendly, aggressive, and not very intelligent, so i'm cutting down on the number of bad words i use casually. i'm ok with others swearing, but use of other terms would be nice!

 

[Bastet]

I try to avoid swearing in public, but I also try not to be offended by others who do. I don't always succeed on both counts. I am particularly careful not to swear when I'm at work, especially if I'm standing in front counter (I am a little more lax in the kitchen). Quite often the customers have heard me say "sugar!" or "Son-of-a-motherless-goat!" (which is often met with giggles by anyone within earshot). There is a girl I work with though, who is often using the F-word (among others), loudly and repeatedly while standing on front counter, regaling us with some story or other. While I have no problem with the actual words she is using, I do wish she would keep her voice down, or move to another area of the store so that the customers can't hear her. I'm baffled that none of the managers call her on it though - it is a family restaurant, after all.

Thinking about it, most of the time I use 'swear' words, it's in everyday conversation - generally to emphasise something, more than to actually 'curse'. I said to someone just yesterday that I was "really f***ing angry" - my use of the word wasn't intended to shock; merely an attempt to display the depth of the emotion. Could I have come up with a less 'offensive' word? Probably - I don't have a small vocabulary, and contrary to the repeated claims of some here, I am not uneducated.

Bottom line: I think there's a time and a place for it.

i recall an instance where my grandmother, while cutting a potato, also managed to slice in to her finger. she dropped the knife, grit her teeth and groaned in a sharp and guttural manner, "FUDGE!" As a child, I didn't so much hear a word, in this case 'fudge' but an expression of sincere, albeit short-lived, panic. It was frightening, and just about the most severe usage of the word Fudge, or any other F word for that matter, I’d ever experienced.

There was a family that grew up in the same area I did (in the country). They were some odd religion (I don't remember what exactly off the top of my head, but I'd never heard of it before), and one of their 'rules' was that they couldn't swear. Well, the patriarch of this family was doing some work on the farm one day, and ended up falling off the back of a fast-moving ute. He did himself some damage upon landing, and came out with a rather loud "JINGOES!". Everyone around him knew that his brain was really screaming "F**K!!" though. The intent was perfectly clear.

 

[Ardent Listener]

So what do you all think about swearing in public? Do you think this is bad?

It is highly over rated and has lost much of its punch in our language.Knockout

My grandmother on my father's side, could speak little English. Yet she could swear in English. One day when she was displeased with my mother and swore at her. My mother replied to her, "Shame on you.":tsk: She was very hurt by my mother's words. To her, it would have been much better if my mother would have sworn back at her.:biglaugh:

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Just as an aside, those of you who are offended by swearing, if you ever get the chance to watch an episode of a lovely little Western series I've just discovered by the name of Deadwood, I would strongly advise against it.
As to the use of swear words indicating a lack of education and a limited vocabulary, that's a stereotype perpetuated by people who are trying to encourage their children not to swear on the grounds it will make them appear a moronic oaf. The only reason anyone thinks that the use of swear words indicates anything other than a persons ability to call a spade a spade instead of couching their displeasure in more 'socially acceptable' terminology is because that's what they've been taught to believe.