Dangerous_cynic
I think a lot of young people swear because they hear it on TV/the net or whatever and pick it up as acceptable language without meaning. More and more nowadays I meet teens who swear without realising it, because they barely register its potential to be offensive. It's a shame because when they actually do want to offend, the level of obscenity has to step up a stage further and they go into overkill!

What really gets my goat though, is that they don't know *what* they are talking about. For instance I have heards teens call eack other "prick" or "douche" (which definately comes from US tv, in the UK I never heard it used outside of the medical profession until very recently) but when they are asked what the words actually mean, they don't know. So I ask them why they are using words they don't understand, do you really want to call someone something if you don't know what it is? Incidentally, when I asked one 14 year old to ask his mother what a douche was if he wasn't sure, he declined ;)

That’s actually pretty true, a few swear words I’ve heard I never really knew the meaning of. Like cunt and twat were vagina and I did know until I recently looked it up that bugger meant butt-sex.

Generally I try not to swear partly because it seems lazy, I don’t want to offend anyone and I don’t like using the same words over and over again - I think that might come from listening to Just a Minute. However just hearing it used so often they slip out.

I use swears as amplifiers for my otherwise boring sentences.

"The unpleasant woman refused to return money she owed me from a previous occasion."

Turns into...

"Bitch didn't give me my fucking money from whoring herself."

Fact is, swear words are usually adverbs, to enhance a verb. "He fucking ran" "This was so fucking dumb".

(Off topic but every button that changes text format will send my post instead. Bug???)

I swear for the following reasons:

1) It's my freedom to say whatever I want.

My town recently has put up a bylaw stating that if you swear to a bylaw or police officer, you can be charged up to 500 dollars. It's not a good idea to swear at anyone holding authority over you but fuck that. Since when has saying a word been punishable by law? Absolutely moronic.

2) I'm under the age of 45, an elitist atheist, and I like my metal BLACK.

I don't care who I offend, in most cases. Of course, if I'm around someone who I look up to, admire and aspire to be one day, I'll watch my mouth. But in most cases, I don't give a fuck.

3) I'm surrounded by sailors.

I live in Canada. In my group of friends, swearing is a sign of comfort. We swear casually, and use extremely profane racial slurs. Everyone swears. It's a sign you have a logical, and rational mind. It signifies that you respect your own right to swear, and you're not going to censor yourself for their sake. If you swear, you're comfortable with yourself.

4) It's just a word. And it can be funny.

Deal with it. It doesn't hurt anyone. Just as well, referring to my neighbor as, "Neighbor-Bitch-Lady" is humorous in most any case.

5) It's the way of the future. Embrace it.

Swearing casually and repeatedly is a symbol of our progressing culture. It's a movement away from conservatism, and control. Be free, you motherfuckers.

why Swear? why not. they are (after all) just words.

it's society that dubbed them bad. after all

the work f#&k is really just:

Fornication
Under
Consent of
King

so its not exactly something that should be bleeped or never used by children.

sometimes Humans can be to uptight.

Swearing can be detrimental for the average or below average intelligence person(s). If swear words are your only descriptive words, or if you never really say or do anything respectable or of value people generally consider you to be stupid and write you off. However, this is not always the case.

Swearing profusely in conjunction with similar low brow behavior can be a way to signal to others that you are like them, that maybe you guys should hang out sometime. Ever see that one really dirty guy who likes monster trucks and has a mouth like a sailor? Sometimes that guy can be a sex machine. All the girls love him for some reason that can't grasp (probably not the obvious one). He uses language that is abrasive, arrogant, and (this is the important part) brimming with the ballsiest confidence you have ever seen. That guy, in a lot of ways, accomplishes more with his life than most of us.


Most of the things people do are a way to fit into a group. Swearing is no different.


Swearing a little or an average amount is just fun and/or is an easy way for a person to convey strong feelings. It's also used a lot if you don't have a mind like a thesaurus and are generally lazy.



Best wishes XOXO,
Charlie

Dark Clown
why Swear? why not. they are (after all) just words.

it's society that dubbed them bad. after all

the work f#&k is really just:

Fornication
Under
Consent of
King

so its not exactly something that should be bleeped or never used by children.

sometimes Humans can be to uptight.

no it's not. it's slang loosely based off german. "fuck" isn't an anagram. well, it's not SUPPOSED to be, but you had to go and cram more words into the word.

i hate anagrams.

It IS indeed an anagram. ;)

Anything is an anagram if you make one...
Dark Clown meant "Acronyn" which is a word made out of the initial letters of others (either an existing one or a new one like Laser), rather than turning an existing ford like "Fuck" into a nonsense grouping of words with a pretended meaning, as in an Anagram.

Anagrams are just silly. Acronyms however give me the shits!
Initialisims like C.I.A. or U.S.A. are often thought of as acronyms, but thoat's only because people aren't too widely read and don't know the real name for them. As such the meaning of Acronym is being expanded to encompass that of the initialisim. Which is a shame because the meanings are quite distinct. :(

Yeah, wasn't the word "fuck" originated by the Puritans?

No, as Orin says, it's Germanic. Probably came over with the Saxons, which is why a lot of swear words in Britain are known as "Anglo Saxon" words, because that's where most of the English language came from (Saxon and Angle invasion and colonisation), but most especially the swear words, which haven't changed much since then.

I only say it is an anagram because all words are if you make them. It's nothing to do with the creation of the word though or its meaning.

Most of the people who swear excessively around here just genuinely don't know how to articulate their thoughts in other ways. I mean, when you grow up in a largely homophobic area and are told as a child that taking an interest in the language arts is gay, you tend to either stop trying to do well in that area or you start skipping entirely. As a result, the whole area's vocabulary starts shrinking.

I tend to swear more when I'm away from my parents (I still have an instinctive mental filter that processes everything I'm about to say around them because Dad was a drill sergeant and could easily out-swear me at a much higher volume than I could muster and in no less than two languages) and when I'm ticked off. And since I'm usually at least mildly angry (primarily over things like the fact that both a liberal and a minority in a redneck area, the fact that the world is, and always has been, in a shitty state, and other such things), my tongue has loosened a fair bit these past few years.

As for my characters, one in particular swears more often than I do, but that's really just his attitude. I tried writing some clean dialogue, and it just didn't sound at all natural coming from him, so the bad language is staying.

No further comment.

I think a lot of people (often people around my age, 17) thought that is was cool to swear when they were in their early teens, and now it has just become habit, which is sad really. I know some people who constantly swear, and I'm so close to just saying 'Do you really have to swear in every sentence? Is it really necessary?' I hardly ever swear, only if I am really angry, or if I really feel the need to insult someone.

It turns out that psychologists in England have found out that swearing does have some health benefits , especially in terms of pain relief. Seriously.

Those words popularly regarded as obscenities have naturally slipped into my language as a direct expression of intensity. I swear casually, I do it because I feel intensely (and usually not at all in the mood to mask it), and I'm not at all impressed with people who see them as "bad" words or confuse their meaning. See them for what they are, and what's in the mind of the person speaking them. The only place cursing is "bad" is in the mind of a particular group of receivers. And it wasn't until I read this thread that I was ever aware that people would swear primarily to affect their appearance.

Mind you, I'm also capable of and often tasked with conducting myself with a professional bearing. Am I irked by not being able to swear while in a uniform or on a duty? No, because I understand that curses symbolize a feeling structure that isn't professional. While I'm entirely comfortable with "tipping my spear with harsh emotions", so to speak, I also understand professionalism involves a calm, cool, and thought out state of mind that's different from what swears represent.

I don't freely swear on this site because I'm an admin and it would set a bad example. But I would if I wasn't an admin. :)

...so pretty much what you said Mwace. :)

I really know I shouldn't, but when somebody swears a lot in their everyday speech I get the impression that they're not very smart. I guess it's the idea that they might have a very small vocabulary. I need to work on not judging people like that.

That's actually a very good assumption into WHY other people might see those kinds of people as less smart. Interesting.

I'd like to try my own version of the first post, though:

1) Rather then "vent" I think we, as humans, just want our peers to understand us (one of the main things humans want, alongside acceptance, sex, and progress, etc.)

2) Yup. To anger other people, because they have done so to us, humans just want to level the playing field, balance the scales.

3) Swearing is also commonly used in shock-factor humour, and a lot of the time what we get annoyed at is just the comedian in question doesn't know how to do it too well, or we, ourselves, have just heard too many shock-factor swear-gags, so it's just sort of lame and annoying. It can happen to any gag, really.

4) Swearing for attention. Remember those kids in highschool who used the "f-bomb" every other word? It's just like bullying, they NEED help, but they don't know how to get it, and they don't want to show any sign or weakness, so they try the opposite of being weak, which is being aggressive. We're aggravated by the agressiveness of their use of swearing, and we sort of fear them, which is sad, because once again, they don't need our fear, they need our help. Poor parenting and falling in with other children who have also had poor parenting causing them to learn how to be more aggressive in different ways.

humorman
The main reason why we use swear words usually falls into two categories:

1. You're genuinely angry and feel the need to vent by saying a profanity.

2. You want to insult someone for some reason.


However, it seems that people today (mostly younger people), swear in everyday conversation. I can remember back in the day when Beavis and Butthead was considered vulgar because they used the word "sucks". Now, it seems like every middle school kid can spout F-bombs, and all the kids around treat it as normal. Is this the new slang, or are kids just getting less clever nowadays?



By the way, whenever I see anyone post swear words in forums just to look cool on the Internet, it makes me want to punch them in the back of the neck.

I have to be truthful: I'm a foul-mouthed beast. I curse a lot. It's part of my regular speech with friends and family. It's not so I can feel cool or tough or anything like that. Curse words just tend to get my feelings across lol. I know, I know; that's not a very healthy thing. But it is what it is. I curse to vent, I curse to insult, I curse when the word fits...I just curse. It's a bad habit. It is a habit I know how to control, though. When conducting business or visiting my in-laws the curse words hit the back burner until I get back home.

I'm an intelligent person. I am pursing my Bachelor's in Business Administration with a major in Advertising. I originally went to college to be an English teacher but decided I'd rather start my own comic book company. I'm up on all of the current world events. I consider myself a fairly upstanding citizen. But I do curse. Often. It's part of who I am, I suppose. I make no apologies about it. Some of us just grew up around foul language and have learned to absorb it, accept it, and use it in the right company.

I guess, in the end, it comes back to upbringing sometimes. Somehow it always drifts back to this realm for a lot of things. Que sera...

Well you are all wrong... even though I didn't read all of the posts... but wrong! Don't you see? This people want to be hip! All the cool kids at schools swear because it makes them look cool. It's all the youngsters fault. Its a conspiracy I say!

People swear because it's fun.*

*Warning like most fun things it can be habit forming and once something is a habit it's not fun anymore.

I agree wit Mr. Vortex. It's... fun. =)

In the 19th century, "humbug", "breast", and "thigh" were all considered lewd and offensive. These days, we would not think twice to say these words. I'll bet in a few decades, the words we consider offensive will be nothing more than everyday language. I'll also bet we as a species will come up with some new words meant to shock and offend. This is the way language is.

elektro
In the 19th century, "humbug", "breast", and "thigh" were all considered lewd and offensive. These days, we would not think twice to say these words. I'll bet in a few decades, the words we consider offensive will be nothing more than everyday language. I'll also bet we as a species will come up with some new words meant to shock and offend. This is the way language is.

yeah, but "retard" and "negro" were perfectly fine back then and saying them now....

well, it's not so much that we invent new words to be offensive as it is we reallocate where we are offended. carpetbagger.

There's simply 'curse world inflation', they lose their effect if applied long enough. People don't curse more often or more intense, but words which used to be quite dramatic earlier have lost that nuance so new words are stepping in to fill that void. If a thing is repeated often enough it loses its strength and people'll get used to it. 'darn' used to be unacceptable and quite heavy to say.

And your second example is the same as the former, you vent stress, people use words that have an inappropriate appeal because 'evil' things vent stress. People break things because they vent stress, people beat people up because it vents stress, things that are 'bad' just vent stress. Years ago 'sucks' was considered bad, not any more, so it doesn't vent stress and frustration. Better let people curse before they beat a kid up.

And as shown before me, some words once technical can gain a præjoritive meaning, after all 'stupid' used to mean 'unable to talk' and 'sinister' was just Latin for 'left ', sinistro scribere, 'to write with the left hand'... and I remember that the word 'sinister' was once not allowed on American television marketed at children, hence 'The Insidious Six' and not 'The Sinister Six', in fact, those popular phrases like 'I'll destroy you' came because words like 'death' and 'murder' were not allowed to be mentioned...

Personally I'm for freedom of speech, there is no sound scientific evidence to support the moral panic-justification that it's bad for children or some thing. Let nature go its way and let a man use the words of his pleasing. It's pretty absurd to call yourself a 'free country' with such ridiculously tight regulation about what you can and can't say in media.

Arico
It's a sign you have a logical, and rational mind.

Not to start an Asperger's Syndrome debate, but...

All people with Asperger's Syndrome think more logically than normal people. It's what makes us so unable to sociallise normally. All the people I've met and have known with the disorder, including myself, do not swear. Swearing is unneeded to convey your thoughts to someone else unless speaking of a swear word specifically. I can understand that it is used to place emphasis on a situation. But why? Could you not say, "I really hate that" instead of "I fucking hate that"? Socially, most of these words are offensive. While still just a word, it's still offensive which, logically, would supercede it just being a word. Would you not find it easier to please instead of cause friction between the both parties participating in the conversation? Or maybe instead of using words that offend, voice your dislike towards the person? One sentence isn't that hard to say.

Could you explain your logic to that statement?

Feel free to ignore this post if you're one of the people who don't believe in this disorder.

Puff_Of_Smoke
Not to start an Asperger's Syndrome debate, but...

This is why I doubt the "intelligence" part of the Asperger's thing. Not to insult you or anyone else, but social interaction is logical, it's just a lot more complex than the logic you illustrate. Indeed, it's too complicated to be analysed simultaneously, you can only analyse it after the fact. Which means that if you think in simple logic while you're talking to someone, you'll always miss the cues.

qqq
...there is no sound scientific evidence...

I don't think you can really apply this to language and conversation. It's far too fluid, there are too many different languages, contexts, and times involved. How could there ever be "sound scientific evidence" that would fit all instances? And in what terms are you thinking? In a developmental sense? I don't think that's the real issue with children swearing anyway, the real issue is how those children fit in with the social structure of their community and what is the most appropriate way for them to communicate within it. That could vary highly depending on the circumstances, but generally communicating in overly adult modes of speech that have very strong connotations (of violence, fury, etc) to an adult is frowned upon in most societies and can lead to negative consequences for the child.

Remember that this is language used because usually (but not always certainly) those words have a weight of meaning and implication behind them that you can only gain an insight into after a few years of life experience.

ozoneocean

qqq
...there is no sound scientific evidence...

I don't think you can really apply this to language and conversation. It's far too fluid, there are too many different languages, contexts, and times involved. How could there ever be "sound scientific evidence" that would fit all instances? And in what terms are you thinking? In a developmental sense? I don't think that's the real issue with children swearing anyway, the real issue is how those children fit in with the social structure of their community and what is the most appropriate way for them to communicate within it. That could vary highly depending on the circumstances, but generally communicating in overly adult modes of speech that have very strong connotations (of violence, fury, etc) to an adult is frowned upon in most societies and can lead to negative consequences for the child.

Remember that this is language used because usually (but not always certainly) those words have a weight of meaning and implication behind them that you can only gain an insight into after a few years of life experience.

Yap, that's my argument, it's a form of moral control. Same with a lot of these similar things with kids. Porn isn't 'bad' for children, adults just don't like children to watch it because of whatever reasons or it makes them appear less innocent. Reading about the existence of homosexuality in marvel comics isn't 'bad' for children but it was banned for a long time any way.

It's moral control, censorship, protecting a decent society, call it how you like, it's all the same in the end. It's to safeguard the status quo by those that like it like that.

qqq
It's moral control

Not really, you have to understand that human beings function inside a society with complex rules, modes and hierarchies. There are modes of accepted behaviour and types of communication within it, if you contravene those in various ways you can come off very badly- You could just be ostracised or sidelined, or at the extremes you could be injured imprisoned or killed, depending on the circumstances of the offence.

There're no rights and wrong here, it's just that societies do have various rules and accepted forms of behaviour, you cannot try and impose external principals on them, that just doesn't work. It's fantasy.

ozoneocean

qqq
It's moral control

Not really, you have to understand that human beings function inside a society with complex rules, modes and hierarchies. There are modes of accepted behaviour and types of communication within it, if you contravene those in various ways you can come off very badly- You could just be ostracised or sidelined, or at the extremes you could be injured imprisoned or killed, depending on the circumstances of the offence.

And those're all called means to moral control. I'm not saying it's a conscious thing of some evil group, moral control is a human instinct.

ozoneocean
There're no rights and wrong here, it's just that societies do have various rules and accepted forms of behaviour, you cannot try and impose external principals on them, that just doesn't work. It's fantasy.

I never said it could.

Arico
I swear for the following reasons:
1) It's my freedom to say whatever I want.

My town recently has put up a bylaw stating that if you swear to a bylaw or police officer, you can be charged up to 500 dollars. It's not a good idea to swear at anyone holding authority over you but fuck that. Since when has saying a word been punishable by law? Absolutely moronic.

You have the freedom to say whatever you want, but you don't have the freedom to piss other people off. That's akin to throwing a piece of trash in a no littering area and justifying it by saying, "Why should I be fined? It's only a little piece of paper. It'll biodegrade. What's the big deal?" It's not about removing your right to curse; it's about keeping your right to not be disrespected by a punk.

Someone
2)I'm under the age of 45, an elitist atheist, and I like my metal BLACK.

I don't care who I offend, in most cases. Of course, if I'm around someone who I look up to, admire and aspire to be one day, I'll watch my mouth. But in most cases, I don't give a fuck.

Just because you're young and punk-rock doesn't mean you get a free pass at swearing at anyone you want. It's good to restrain yourself in front of people you respect, but you shouldn't fly your mouth off to any other person you see.

Someone
3)I'm surrounded by sailors.

I live in Canada. In my group of friends, swearing is a sign of comfort. We swear casually, and use extremely profane racial slurs. Everyone swears. It's a sign you have a logical, and rational mind. It signifies that you respect your own right to swear, and you're not going to censor yourself for their sake. If you swear, you're comfortable with yourself.

Once again, it's about respect. You can't just go around saying the N-word and when someone gets offended say, "Fuck you! I'm sick and tired of people like you trying to prevent my freedom of speech! Deal with it, you stupid n****r!"

Someone
4)It's just a word. And it can be funny.

Deal with it. It doesn't hurt anyone. Just as well, referring to my neighbor as, "Neighbor-Bitch-Lady" is humorous in most any case.

The problem is that people, especially kids, use swear words so much, it's not even shock humor anymore. There's thousands of pictures on the Internet that can amount to a person/cat making a stupid face with the caption "O FUCK!!1". It's not funny. It simply relies on the fact that little kids will see it and think, "Wow, that's a swear word and it's bad! If I say it, I'll be funny, too!" ...and then they make a stupid sprite comic chock full off swear words.

Someone
5)It's the way of the future. Embrace it.

Swearing casually and repeatedly is a symbol of our progressing culture. It's a movement away from conservatism, and control. Be free, you motherfuckers.

How is disrespecting other people progressive? I don't care what you say in private or with your friends, but you can't just go around cussing your head off to random strangers because you think all people should swear and the people who don't should.

Sea_Cow
No further comment.

hahahahahaa, that's hilarious. And the main kid was all waving his hands around trying to be cool. What a stupid video.