Foul Language

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I swear a lot. I allways have. I have never seen swear words as something bad. Infact I find that swear words gets the discussion more heated and faster (more Italien). I don't think I could stop. For me it is realy hard to not swear on the forums.

 

[greekguy]

i curse a lot. i don't really consider most "swear" words any different then normal words, they're just words used to express intense emotion (such as anger, fear, stress, etc.) IMO, they're shouldn't be any censorship of curse words in TV, music, or movies. if a show is written with curse words, they shouldn't be bleeped.

 

[MobBoss]

My experience is that little kids swear more than adults, because they think its both "cool" and makes them appear more adult to their peers.

Also, words can be offending since we associate words with things. Usually a foul mouthed person is not someone nice.

Do I curse? As a career NCO its almost genetic. I have to make a conscious effort to contain it in front of the wife and kids. And every so often one slips out and I get stuff thrown at me.

 

[JonnyB]

Words and symbols only have the power that we give them. For example the Swastika (though technically not a curse word) was a benign and acceptable symbol before the 1930's. IIRC there was a womens hockey team in canada called the swastikas at one time.
The more you try to ban offensive words then the more offensive they become. And I feel banning them is somewhat silly anyway. The F word is the top of the list of evil swears but we have the store FCUK (French Connection U.K.) putting their initials everywhere.

 

[BCLG100]

They aren't intrinsically offensive; nothing is. They're offensive because everyone agrees that they are. If everyone agreed that the F-word was actually a nice word that could be used in polite society to refer to frog legs, (To use a totally absurd example) then it would no longer be considered vulgar.

No word is actually intrinsically good or bad. The "goodness" is just a common delusion that we agree upon to make our language more versatile and understandable. (Although it's rarely a conscious thing.)

'What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other word would smell as sweet'

Same with a swearword, if you were brought up saying your arm was called the F word then it wouldnt be intrinsically offensive.

 

[CaptainF]

I swear a good deal around my friends, but its 99% in a joking manner, to puncuate a joke, for example. The other 1% is me expressing frustration.

I almost never swear in a malicious manner. This is due to my easygoing nature.

If I absolutely have to, I have no problem curbing my language.

 

[Scuffer]

Foul words are not very pheasant, but I try not to grouse about them.

 

[JonnyB]

They don't seem to be as big of an issue up here in Canada either.

For example in Canada we watched The Osbornes and The Sopranos unedited on network (free) television, and in primetime.

 

[greekguy]

They don't seem to be as big of an issue up here in Canada either.

For example in Canada we watched The Osbornes and The Sopranos unedited on network (free) television, and in primetime.

that's because you guys don't have a Bible Belt loaded with people intent on removing sins and vice from network TV.

 

[Scuffer]

I visited the Guardian website, which is a left-sided paper, and did a couple of searches. A rude word beginning with F match 3995 articles, a variant matched a further 3500. Worked out about 1000 articles a year in a single newspaper. So not exactly taboo in the Uk.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ if you want to try, search is in top right corner.

 

[Solver]

I wonder if I could be described as having a double standard on this. I think that the censorship of swear words on the TV is often silly. For example, in various TV series, it merely makes the show seem less real. When there's a situation where people would swear but the worst they ever say is "oh crap", it does deduct a bit from the quality. Of course, a show where 40% of the dialogue is made of swear words would also be no good.

But on the other hand, I almost never swear myself, and think it's a good thing. I do occasionally type swearwords in private conversations over the Internet, but it takes something very, very big to get a swear word out of me verbally - I have to be seriously angry or upset for it to happen.

 

[Tenochtitlan]

I'm a big fan of excess profanity. I am good at curbing it in formal situations. But I use profanity when I feel like it *gasp*. It's a good stress relief measure at times.

 

[salty mud]

Why is a U and a C and an F and a K in a particular order so evil?

 

[Perfection]

Why is a U and a C and an F and a K in a particular order so evil?

Why that specific set of letters in that specific order? That would take a whole lot of linguistic explination. Why there are such sets? Simple, because swear words are linguistcally useful and so we invent them.