To Swear Or Not To Swear

[Darcy88]

I can also use a few of my professors as an example, as their vocabularies are through the roof, but that doesn't keep them from using curse words every now and then (usually just in private conversation, because we know each other well enough to know that we can be ourselves).

Same here. Any shame I had at swearing in the right context went out the door when I started attending college and noticed how most of my professors, all highly intelligent and articulate people, would swear in our private one on one conversations.

I worked construction in the summers growing up and then for a full year coming out of high school. There every second or third word was a cuss word. In the right context there's nothing wrong with it. You watch a Tarantino or Scorcese flick and you see how swearing can be done intelligently, not around your grand-mother or some goody-two-shoes gal you're trying to bed, but around your friends for sure. ****.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Same here. Any shame I had at swearing in the right context went out the door when I started attending college and noticed how most of my professors, all highly intelligent and articulate people, would swear in our private one on one conversations.

Yeah. Plus, high school (and surely grade and middle school) would be blown away by the vulgar conversations that take place in the teacher's lounge.

[BienvenuJDC]

At the end of the day though, they are just words, however they are used. They are always on standby in moments of extreme emotion in case you temporarily lose your ability to be articulate.

If words are just words, then there is no difference between "good" literature and "bad" literature. We all know that isn't true. So being those who appreciate literature with a well chosen vocabulary, I think that it's up for discussion.

Are they "just words" or is there something behind each word that we use?

[stlukesguild]

Yeah. Plus, high school (and surely grade and middle school) would be blown away by the vulgar conversations that take place in the teacher's lounge.

It depends upon the teachers. I used to hang out with the Gym/PE teacher and the two of us could swear like drunken sailors. We'd have lunch with the Kindergarten and First Grade teachers (his wife taught First Grade) and we would laugh at how different their speech and their approach to discipline was from ours. Of course we were regularly dealing with crazy, inner-city, urban middle-school students. One of the kindergarten teachers... the nicest woman and the most motherly type of teacher whose kids love her and would almost cry for shame if they thought they had upset her... told us how she scared herself as a result of yelling at some middle-school students in the hall that were swearing in front of her little one's. I, on the other hand, face the fact that if I attempted to write up every student who swore in my class I'd never get anything done. Usually just the threat is enough:

Deontay: Fcuk!
Me: What!? What'd you say?
Deontay: I said "duck" Mr. K. I was telling Shakira to "duck".
Me: Oh... well that's OK... 'cos I thought you had something else. One of the words that could get you a day at home, and then I'd have to call your Momma and all that.
Deontay: Oh no, Mr. K. It was "duck".

I'm honest with my kids. They know I swear. But I have made it clear that such a vocabulary is not acceptable in many contexts... and certainly not ideal to gaining entrance into the more professional world. They refer to it as "talking white"... but we'll point out that even Obama... and most African American celebrities who attain a level of respect and status beyond the 'hood master a vocabulary that goes beyond the hood.

I think we should recognize that just as various professions employ a specialized vocabulary that must be mastered to an extent if one is to be taken seriously within that field, so it is that there are social contexts in which the vocabulary changes. As Mutatis pointed out, the artful use of language is not likely to be appreciated by the man whose most clever insult is, "Go eat ****, mother****er." Some teachers have pointed out that without profanity many of our students wouldn't have any adjectives or adverbs. Unfortunately, this is not far from the truth. To engage in a dialog with such an individual employing your graceful and well honed lexicon built upon years of having read Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Wilde, Baudelaire, etc... is not likely to endear you with or impress that audience.

[stlukesguild]

If words are just words, then there is no difference between "good" literature and "bad" literature.

But then again... didn't Wilde recognize that: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." Are we suggesting some words are inherently "immoral"? Surely this leads us into the long history of the use of profanity and censorship. What, then, do we make of Chaucer's Miller's Tale, various tales by Boccaccio or from the Arabian Nights? What of Rabelais, Sterne, Francois Villon, Aristophanes, Ulysses, etc...?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I think it just comes down to context. A smart human being knows when it's appropriate to curse and when it isn't.

If words are just words, then there is no difference between "good" literature and "bad" literature. We all know that isn't true. So being those who appreciate literature with a well chosen vocabulary, I think that it's up for discussion.

Are they "just words" or is there something behind each word that we use?

I think the problem with this comparison is that literature is never judged on the single words themselves. There are countless examples of what is widely considered good literature that is laced with profanity and vulgarity. If each word has a set "value," the use of words with a lower value would lessen the work of literature, and I don't think the majority of people don't think that way.

[BienvenuJDC]

I guess what I am saying is that the statement "words are just words" isn't true. Words have meanings, and if the meaning is profane or vulgar, then they can be quite inappropriate. Especially when they are used just for the sake of using them.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I guess what I am saying is that the statement "words are just words" isn't true. Words have meanings, and if the meaning is profane or vulgar, then they can be quite inappropriate. Especially when they are used just for the sake of using them.

Agreed. I guess it's just a matter of how much value we put into them. I think some people find curse words much more offensive than is logical.

[JuniperWoolf]

I rarely use swear words when I'm trying to make a point or when a conversation gets heated, because I find that this can be accomplished more effectively without calling pointless names (eg. "you son of a b*tch" -that's not even personal, there's no edge to that whatsoever). I'll throw an f*cking in there between the occasional word though, it seems to have a powerful effect. I more commonly use swear words during regular conversation with my peers, I like their flavor and style, they match how I choose to present myself in a social context.

As for the taboo nature of it all, I must admit I have no difficulty saying f*** when the need arises, and it certainly causes no blushes. About the only word I actually have difficulty expressing due to the offensive nature of it is c**t.

I don't know why c**t is considered such a strong word. Many people who have no reservations about other swear words still have an aversion to that one. Is there some history to that word which I'm not aware of?

[MystyrMystyry]

I think it's because it's a body part part that belongs to our lovely mothers, sisters and daughters, and various female fiends. It can be a real guilt one to use in mixed company.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Yeah, but no one seems guilty when they say pussy, snatch, muff, beaver, or any other hilarious modicum of vagina.

Personally,, **** (the c-word) is something I rarely use, only for the most extreme of cases, like when a video game makes me mad. I just remember when I first learned about the word, my dad warned me that it is not a word to be used lightly, that it would be quicker to offend than any other word out there, the n-word notwithstanding. Why that's the case, I have no idea.

[KCurtis]

I don't know why c**t is considered such a strong word. Many people who have no reservations about other swear words still have an aversion to that one. Is there some history to that word which I'm not aware of?

I really don't know, but my husband finds it extremely demeaning towards women, and never says it. That is one of many reasons I married him. There is a certain type of person who thinks it's okay to say that word, and I just think it's vulgar. Vulgarity is different than just a swear word here and there.

[KCurtis]

Yeah, but no one seems guilty when they say pussy, snatch, muff, beaver, or any other hilarious modicum of vagina.

I've never hung out with people who say those words. Not in front of women anyways. And I have ridden with several Hells Angels, so I'm not a "goody two shoes".

[Buh4Bee]

Sorry MM, but I'll sound self-righteous here for a moment. I think words like b8tch or cv*t are degrading to the female sex in general and, as I usually say, perpetuate a discriminatory nature. I think in general, such terms are highly vulgar and offensive to many/most people.

[Sancho Panza]

Some words that have since become swear words used to be perfectly ordinary words like b*tch and b*stard. It makes me wonder which of todays' words might find themselves being relegated to swear words.