Swearing « Thread Started on Apr 3, 2011, 8:33am »
How often do you in day to day life use swear words? How much does the company you are in affect that? Between males of the same peer group I would expect it to me more and also, but lesser, between females of the same group. But when you are in mixed company I suppose it is minimal? Or never?
We can have regional variations but I think we know what a generally accepted proper swear is. Do you find different strata/classes of your society swear more? My impression is in the UK the lower and upper classes swear more than the middle classes.
On my last visit to the UK I had to visit a car scrap yard to get something for my father's car. The grizzled and dirty scrap man chatted to me and every other word seemed to be a swear word. However, we went into his office to sort out payment, a dark and dismal shed type place whereupon I accidentally dropped the item I had come for on the floor. An expletive escaped from my lips beginning with 'F' and he said to me "D'ya mind. There's ladies present" nodding in the direction of his wife who I had failed to see in the gloom.
As we were sorting out the payment the telephone rang and was picked up by his wife (as was her job I suppose) who after a short conversation began to berate whoever was on the other end of the phone with a series of expletives. The scrap man turned to me with a smile on his face as he handed me my change. I could do nothing but smile back. Such is life we seemed to say.
Joined: Oct 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 1,659 Location: England
Re: Swearing « Reply #1 on Apr 3, 2011, 5:56pm »
I think it's odd that sometimes I find swearing funny, other times offensive and sometimes downright threatening! My sons wouldn't dream of swearing in front of me or their father but both say that when with their mates they swear all the time...it replaces, or is a form of, punctuation....
At work when stressed I mutter naughty words all the time...but wouldn't swear in front of strangers, children or the elderly. My Dad would be horrified and think that I'm 'letting myself down'...however in certain situations I find that only an expletive will do. There is only one word that I would NEVER utter...for some reason it reduces me to a snivelling heap....and it's a very old word....
My nieces were raised in NZ and live in Australia and pepper every sentence with expletives, after a while you don't notice it at all! Not threatening....but if I'm on the bus and there are 4-5 teenage lads effing and blinding and generally being rowdy I feel quite intimidated....even tho it's just high spirits.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,413 Location: Paris, France
Re: Swearing « Reply #2 on Apr 3, 2011, 6:05pm »
I usually find it funny, unless I must spend a prolonged amount of time with the sort of person where it is every other word. I rarely use swear words myself, except alone in the kitchen when things fall, spill, break or burn me.
Most of my "male peer groups" have always been relatively clean-mouthed. I actually think I have known more women with foul mouths.
in germany it is not uncommon to swear in english (though there's enough swearing in german too), and i think it often makes the word kind of lose meaning, being more something you say because you are angry... i am quite clumsy so i keep dropping or destroying things, so i swear all the time, really.
Joined: Mar 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 264 Location: Esperance, Western Australia
Re: Swearing « Reply #4 on Apr 4, 2011, 2:57am »
I used to work with a guy that used the 'f***' word as his main adjective in every sentence all the time. I am not a prude and swear myself sometimes but never in normal conversation, in fact after a while I was fed up with hearing it................
I've worked with a few who just can't stop inserting the f word in every sentence if not between syllables.
I remember seeing an interview on the TV whereby the person being interviewed, a musician, was warned beforehand not to swear. He said he'd try, but then failed to do so and "f'd and blinded" quite a few times, being told each time it wasn't the thing to do. Yet he just couldn't stop himself. You could tell it wasn't for effect, he just couldn't stop. It makes me wonder of people like him do it in front of kids all the time? Probably.
The Australians swear most, there's no doubt about that. Even my female Australian doctor does, though not in the clinic. .
I beg to differ it being the Aussies that swear most, unless you term the word bastard as swearing. I have lived over here for 40 years now and find its the 'pommy' immigrants that use the F word constantly, not the aussies. Although my OH is an aussie and she uses quite a few colourful words when she is mad at me, but never in normal speech....
Different words have a different force at different times and in different places, though perhaps I shouldn't go into too many details. My parents rarely swore, or at least not with the strongest words. My mother would occasionally say, more as an attempt at humour than swearing, "Well, b*gger me gently", though I think in Australia that might not even be borderline. There was a time when she would swear like a trooper at the way the ageing oven door would slope away from the horizontal just as she'd put the Sunday roast on it to baste it, only to end up on the kitchen floor; but when my French penpal was coming to stay, she trained herself to say "Oh ssshhhhhhh----ugar!" instead. Came the day of his arrival, and a full roast in honour of the occasion: there was the inevitable CRASH!! from the kitchen followed by "Oh sugaring sh*tbags!!".
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 4,271 Location: USA
Re: Swearing « Reply #10 on Apr 4, 2011, 4:06pm »
My small town crowd of high school friends freely indulged in profanity and vulgarity, though some of the older boys tried not to swear around girls. ( I found that sweet and courtly.)
As an adult in a more puritanical city I hear little swearing from the middle class. I have the impression that most of my friends would be shocked to hear me express my feelings in certain traffic situations, for instance.
In my profession I speak with all sorts of people on the phone. Those who seem to be really least educated use reproductive act words as common vocabulary. A step or two up to those whose mamas tried to teach them better will apologize after a verbal slip.
My stepfather had been trained so well not to say anything nasty in polite society that when we met him, his strongest expletive was "mercy durn!" My mother taught him pretty fast that it was all right to say "shit!" when appropriate.
All swearing is off the menu now at our house when grandson is here, he is nearly 3 and picks up everything, although I know he hears far worse from his father who is on the 'rough' side...........
I admire inventive swear words and insults, even if my refined manners allow little place for them in my vocabulary. One of my favorite phrases in French is "raclure de chiotte!" (shithouse scraping) -- my image is of the particles on a well worn and not very clean toilet brush, but the expression is often used to refer to one's superiors at work, or perhaps particularly unsavory politicians.
My husbands cousins in France call him a "futer de merde" (sp?) I am 100% sure that the spelling is incorrect. So I will write the translation, "shit disturber".
His cousins in Canada call him that as well, however I like it better is French, it does not sound like swearing, ha ha! Cheers, Mich
So, it seems I'm to accept that letters, strung together to form an often meaningless word or used in a a fashion which could not possibly reflect it's meaning, is "offensive". Come one people, we are all educated and should know better! I mean, sticks and stones AND "bad" words???
If you really, I mean REALLY think about it, the way we use some of these words is truly hilarious. Do we REALLY believe government workers are canine copulators? Surely there aren't enough canines to go around! Have you ever tried to picture a giant human penis walking into a court with his client to defend them in front of a jury??? I bet you haven't - just like you couldn't care less if I were to prick my finger - but if I were to finger my pr... (George Carlin) . Do you honestly believe the guy that sold you that lousy car is a serial felator??? And speaking of which, what the hell makes "penis" such a pleasant way to describe that thing??? OH!!! and how is it that if my cock is between my hens I can tell you all about it but if it;s between my legs it's "taboo"???
Could you have a proper argument with your mother in law if she in fact was just a walking female pudenda? Do you really believe the policewoman that gave you a ticket instead of a warning is a female dog? Could the guy who drove by and splashed your new shoes honestly have a pile of feces on top of his neck? Is that guy in the 80's suit and driving a Corvette actually sprouting a phallus from his shoulders??? And why would anyone really care that the taxman's parents weren't married? It's all quite ridiculous.
I swear freely in my house. The kids tend not to copy me (although my teen daughter is getting the hang of it) and they know as most people are idiots, they best not use those words in public lest the idiots take offense and cause a disturbance. I swear freely with many of my colleagues - but have to be very careful as the company has a "diversity program" which will ensure I'm disciplined (i.e. FIRED) should someone take "offense" at my letters formed into meaningless words.
What a complete load of crap. F' this! Grow up people!
![[Home]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920049/button23550481.png "[Home]")
![[New Topics]](http://images.proboards.com/menu/topics.png "[New Topics]")
![[Help]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920083/button28195714.png "[Help]")
![[Search]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920086/button25710789.png "[Search]")
![[Login]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920112/button20487816.png "[Login]")
![[Register]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920117/button97266159.png "[Register]")
![[Search This Thread]](http://images.proboards.com/search2.gif "[Search This Thread]")
![[Reply]](http://images.proboards.com/buttons/reply.gif "[Reply]")
![[Share Topic]](http://images.proboards.com/new/buttons/share.png "[Share Topic]")
![[Print]](http://images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif "[Print]")
Author
![[Quote]](http://images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif "[Quote]")
Logged![[avatar]](http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i179/Cheerypeabrain/me/dalek.gif "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/kerouac2/frog.jpg "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3649442119_9a72ec47da.jpg "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h401/slowhand68/moon2.jpg "[avatar]")
![[homepage]](http://images.proboards.com/buttons/www_sm.gif "[homepage]")
![[avatar]](http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7113/mondulkiri01zv5.jpg "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k-ykFjxOBLA/Smw7mM2e84I/AAAAAAAAAOU/3Z80LYm1_5A/S220/selfatbbqjul09-face.jpg "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://images.proboards.com/avatars/paintingbird.gif "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/23100_1089855555_2334_n.jpg "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-geCedqtD42k/T5nyULl9CqI/AAAAAAAAWGM/1EM9HKLEDUs/s512/IMG_2160.JPG "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://i.imgur.com/23lJo.jpg "[avatar]")
![[avatar]](http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/nowdocking/moonatnight.gif "[avatar]")
)
![[image]](http://mail.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/08.gif "[image]")
![[avatar]](http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv320/imec46/New%20Album/IMG01893av.jpg "[avatar]")