Do You Curse?

[hobbsyoyo]

Do you use profanity on a daily basis? Do you tend to curse more in spoken or written form? Do you feel that your society's approach to profanity has changed over the course of your life?

I curse a lot in person but readily code-switch to much more formal (yes ma'am, no sir) language without cursing in work situations. I don't curse much in writing because I'm either writing for work or am blocked from doing so by autocensors.

I feel profanity has gotten more acceptable in day to day speech in the last couple of decades and has lost some of its venom and vulgarity. It's interesting that dress codes have become more relaxed while facial hair, tattoos and piercings have become more acceptable all in lock step. Obviously people still do get negatively judged for their appearance but I feel those personal choices are going to have a lot less of an impact on career choice and social circles than they did even 20 or 30 years ago.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Don't swear much. Usually only when quite angry. Don't ever swear when writing, although I might if I was writing fiction and it was appropriate.
Acceptability of swearing has changed massively over the years. I only heard my father swear once (when a Liverpool goal was disallowed in a FA Cup final) and I have never heard my mother swear.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I curse mostly for emphasis without any intention of being vulgar.

Is it factually true that sailor curse like....sailors?

 

[Estebonrober]

I never fudging curse about any fudging thing. Its so fudging crass and vulgar. Only real *******s and diphorsehockys fudging curse in public. A true gentleman never fudging curses.

 

[red_elk]

Much less comparing to my teenager years and early 20-s. It depends a lot on people I interact with, colleagues or relatives wouldn't appreciate it but with close friends I may say a word or two.
Didn't notice society's approach changed at all last few decades, to be honest.

 

[Birdjaguar]

From time to time; I try not to in public; I do enjoy it though; I did not while raising kids (mostly); I think it has a place, but all the time gets old.

 

[The_J]

All the time. Especially while coding, my office mates make fun about me for it ^^.
Most of the time I'm not really angry though.

 

[Synobun]

Usually only when the curse is the meaning. Rarely as emphasis. My internal dialogue has a lot of negativity and such so I try to avoid spreading it to others.

 

[Snerk]

Most definitely.


****.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I created this smiley for my Doctor Who forum (as the owner is a kind and gentle lady who is sometimes angry but not enough to say anything really mean):

I've long felt that we NEED this smiley on CFC (it would have saved me a lot of annoyance when having to issue "inappropriate language" infractions in my moderator days, and the people who received said infractions would have been much less annoyed in turn):

 

[xwyhzol]

Yes, I am a mad joker sometimes.

I breach the contract with words like 'kill', too.

 

[Arwon]

No, I don't "curse". I do swear a lot though.

 

[Snerk]

Why is it called cursing and swearing in english? It's clearly neither a curse nor an oath.

 

[zxcvbob]

Very, very little. But there is so much gratuitous bad language on cable TV and streaming channels (even tho' I don't watch all that much) that it takes conscious effort to keep it out of my everyday vocabulary. I do say "Dang it" to myself sometimes Preacher overheard it once and thought it was funny.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Yes, often.

 

[Arwon]

Why is it called cursing and swearing in english? It's clearly neither a curse nor an oath.

Both terms are old enough that they relate to sacred and religious invocations.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Is it factually true that sailor curse like....sailors?

Yes. On the boat basically every sentence included some form of the standard word for fornication, most commonly the adjective form ending in -ing. When irritated, the sailor will start including it multiple times in the same sentence. ("The * squadron commander is on his * way down to the * boat.") For particular emphasis it would get thrown in to a word rather than just a sentence. (un*believable)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I swear fairly often at my computer, and sometimes at the cat when she tips the garbage can over.

I informed the manager here and the neighbors that if they hear me swearing (the volume gets raised occasionally if I'm really angry), I'm likely mad at the computer.

I don't swear much in writing. I'm trying to decide how much profanity I'm going to allow the characters in my stories. It's not realistic for them not to swear at all, but I don't want to have to put language warnings on the stories when they're eventually posted for the public to read.

 

[GenMarshall]

When I’m pissed off I do.

 

[red_elk]

By the way, how bad the f-word is considered in English? There is a bit of disagreement among movie translators how this word should be translated into Russian.
Most translators use fairly mild words to interpret it, but others use extreme profanities, which often put a movie into 18+ category.