Profanity: A necessary evil?

[Halcyon]

Nothing wrong with swearing. Some of the best words in the language are swearwords, albeit not usually very effective ones. It's just better to save a few good ones for when you really need them, so they keep their impact. That's what they're for, after all. That and for humour, anyway.

 

[IglooDame]

As others have said, they only have impact when used sparingly. Unfortunately they get worn out over time and need to be replaced with freshly offensive ones.

 

[test_specimen]

There are wittier things to do when you want to insult someone, cursing is the dull weapon of the unimaginative.

But every once in a while it's OK.

 

[Jawz II]

ill tell you what george carlin said cause i agree with him

thers no such thing as bad words, words are jusr sounds, theyre in and by themselves neutral

there are bad intentions, and words!

for example when eddy murphy uses the N word, were ok with it, cause we know he is not racist

to me swearing can be really funny, but if you use it too much in anger it kinda loses its meaning

were 99% adult here, i dont have any problem with adult language, and i agree with selectus that all of this anti swearing snobby elitist pish posh

using big words dosent make you smarter, think again

it might make you sound smarter to some dumbass, thats it

impressive, BIG WORDS,oooooh

you coulve spent the time learning those words that no one ever uses on learning for example a new language!

plus im 100% sure if you get into real life and fall on your ass or get into a situation where you really have to express yourself, like some big dude beating you up, youre not gonna be saying oh gosh darn it, my face seem to be imploding....

youre gonna curse like the rest of us

i always though it would be funny to walk up to one of those people who never curses, like the queen of england, and stomp on her foot, hard and hear her go:
you #¤¤% &%¤#"¤#%¤#&!

 

[Pikachu]

Profanity is only wrong if people actually mean what they say when they are swearing. Many of the curse words are originally a request to certain supernatural beings to do something terrible to some people. Swearing would obviously be bad if the supernatural being in question actually fulfilled the request. But usually people don’t wish the literal meaning of the words they are saying to come true, and they don’t believe that saying those words would have any affect on how supernatural creatures behave. In this context swearing is just meaningless words that sometimes can make the language a little more diverse. But usually people are just endlessly repeating a few bad words over and over again which seems totally meaningless to me.

 

[ainwood]

Moderator Action: Whilst we are no longer giving instant bans for swearing, masked or otherwise, we will still give bans for continued use, or extemely obvious and unnecessary use. You can discuss this subject without resorting to examples.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Clito]

Understood....

 

[stormbind]

I consider swearing to be a sign of ignorance. I occationally swear, but ussually succeed in preventing myself, and hope to become less ignorant with time.

 

[Pointlessness]

I agree with Jaws II, there is absolutely nothing with swearing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with some vibrations in the air. A single word cannot offend me, it is usually the context which is offensive.

Why is there such a taboo with expletives? I would like to know, why can they not be accepted like any other words? After all, some are just 1 phonic away from being a perfectly acceptable word, such as duck. When you break down an expletive into its simplest components, you realize that they are composed of the same 26 letters as any other words. One expletive, if you rearrange the letter, you get such everyday words as "this" and "hits". And yet, if you arrange the letters in a different way, you can a completely unacceptable word. And it is not the meaning of the words that causes offense. There are synonyms that mean exactly the same thing, and yet are not considered profanity. Odd, is it not?

An odd reaction to the use of expletives is the "Think of the children!" response. What the duck is this (anagram of last word used before parentheses)? So not using profanity will suddenly make children safer from kidnappers and gangs? The reality is this: by age 10 or so, the average child will have learned all the expletives there are to know. There is no way to prevent the education of these words, short of trapping him in his room and denying him a social life. And yet, when a child uses profanity, the parents immediately slap him and ask him where he learned that word. This is beyond irrational:

Parent: Where did you learn this particular arrangement of letters?

Child: I learned it from my friends.

Parent: That is it! I will prevent you from having a social life. If this causes you to become a serial killer later in life, at least you will not be a serial killer who uses ****!

Parents are repelled by children who use profanity, and will do anything to prevent their children from using it. This is counterproductive. Children, especially after puberty, are innately rebellious. Having expletives being considered taboo words will only encourage children to use them.

My conclusion is that there is absolutely no need that several words, completely meaningless in a different language, should be considered profane.

300th f***ing post!

 

[rbis4rbb]

I swear somewhat kind of a lot but I used to swear a whole lot more. Somehow "You idiot" doesn't sound as good as "You (profanity) idiot!"

 

[Halcyon]

There are wittier things to do when you want to insult someone, cursing is the dull weapon of the unimaginative.

True enough, but technically speaking, aphorisms are the unimaginative weapon of the dull. When making standard superficial judgements of people, the fact that they're shouting at you at all probably takes priority over which words they employ when doing so. Well, you'd think so, anyway.

I've met a few people who use.. a certain word that sounds like the word for the act of taking feathers out of birds.. in the kind of way that some people use the word 'like'. It like gets to the like stage like where it's like just like annoying really. Fast-track desensitisation, though, so I'd recommend such a chat to anyone with too many vestigial childhood hangups about meaningless words. Or something.

 

[zeon252]

It's a part of speech that has always been around, reserved for those times when your superiors aren't around and you just seem to lose it. What I don't get is the middle finger, who was the first guy to go "$%&* #$%*!!!AUGGH!!!Just look at my finger, then you'll know how I feel!!!"

 

[Smidlee]

A more reasonable explanation; i swear a lots but not because of my hearth, but because i was born on a farm and here in quebec, the country cultur swear a lots, my father was swearing ( you know all those catholic thing, like osti de tarbarnac de st ciboire, which mean nothing to most of poeple).
.

Your mouth reveal what's in your heart a lot more than you realize. You'll be surprise of what you can learn from someone just by listening.
As far as you blaming your surrounding for your swearing I don't buy it. I'm sure everyone has a family members who cusses as well the culture. I know I do.
Profanity is just like being lazy or lying, these required no effort to get good at them yet you must have disciple to avoid them.

 

[classical_hero]

Moderator Action: Whilst we are no longer giving instant bans for swearing, masked or otherwise, we will still give bans for continued use, or extemely obvious and unnecessary use. You can discuss this subject without resorting to examples.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

Great point there Ainwood. Why do people use swear words so often? It does seem that for some people every second word is a swear word. It also seem that alot of film nowadays have so much swearing that the words have almost lost all meaning because they now almost part everyday language. Have we lost the means of communicating a message without the need to resort to swearing?

 

[Arminius]

While I use such words sparingly, I do find them useful at some points. When bullet fragments struck my left thigh, I spoke many a "curse" word. I agree with others who have posted before, if you can say it without them, please do. But, then again, if it just doesn't sound right otherwise, spit one or one hundred out.