While this could be done in Freedom of speech thread I'd like to take a more in depth look at Swearing.

{Note to Mods:While I have given this a once over to see if any swear words slipped through I apologise if I accidentally typed some out fully. I'm 99% sure there aren't any uncensored words though}

Is it ok these days to swear?
Are there still words you wouldn't say?
what is the worst?

Most words like: T*t, Ar*s, b*gger, cr*p, D*mn and H*ll don't hold any weight any more. No one I know would be shocked or care if a toddler came out with one of those words.

Sh*t, while still holding some weight, doesn't have much of an effect on anyone over 12.

F*ck, a word I am particularly fond of, doesn't even have the same meaning these days.
It was originally an Acronym used by English Soldiers fighting in France for permission to got out and mix with Prostitutes. It stood for "Fornication under consent of the King"
Later it became associated with the act rather than the permission to do it.
Now it's used like "Very":It's f*cking hot/cold,
or "Hell" : What the F*ck do you think your doing,
or as a new meaningless word: "F*ck you!"
I don't think this word should really be used in front of kids but that's just how I was raised. I don't think it is all that bad.

Now we have the "Big ones"
C*nt still hold allot of weight these days if not more so than before. If you don't know it refers to women's genitals.
The reason I can find that people don't like it is that it sounds "cruel"
"Oh, look at that C*nt" doesn't sound very nice does it? But what about Co*k? Isn't that just the male equivalent?
A famous Australian feminist, Germaine Greer, says C*nt is a good word. It makes women feel less formal when seeing the doctor and when ever women may need to talk abut such things.
Once again I don't have an issue with the word and think it would be good if it became more excepted.

N*gger, Gollyw*g, W*G, Ch*nk and other racial swear words are ones I don't like. While other wors are just informal these words are souly for insults. N*gga may be an exception as it's been toned down and used by the very people it was meant to put down. It's become the black version of White Trash IMO.

So what are your opinions?

why is it always the vowels that are asterisked out?

I dunno. I just felt it was an easy system rather than just choosing a random letter.

I agree with this, I'm 14, and I curse freely, when not at school or in front of my parents or friends parents, I WILL NOT use racial terms on anybody, no matter how pissed off I am. I only swear when I am very angry and cannot control myself, or I just want to be left alone.

I read somewhere in Reader's Digest (yes, Reader's Digest) that it helps avoid young children from actually trying to pronouce the word. So, they can say "feck", "fack", etc. (of course, "fock" still sounds like it, but anyways...)

Swearing is a part of my natural everyday vocabulary. I'll admit I am immature about it at times, but it's just natural growing up with it ever since I was five. Heck I even say the "N" word to my friends and I'm not even black, but I don't give a "care".

Among friends it is a diffrent situation. My friends used it alot just as a genral term for people, white black or purple. I just never felt to comftable with it but thats just me and how I was raised.

Honestly, excuse for sounding like a dipshit when I say this, but I don't really see the problem with using it. I know I know, slavery is bad and all, but why insist on using the word today as slang to insult others if it's so bad?

Cussing.
What's the big f&%king deal with it anyway?

Swearing seriously disturbs me. Especially when I hear it coming from a five-year-old's mouth. It's vulgar, unneeded, and creates a bad example for kids (of any age). I seriously don't get it. What is so appealing about swearing, anyway?

Yes, it's okay to swear. I find it amusing to define swears when my friends say them though, i.e., to the sentence, 'this pencil f*cks', a response would be 'exactly what is your pencil copulating with?' It both surprises people, gives the amusing and scary image of having sex with a pencil, and raises awareness of the actual meaning of swears.

Personally, I would still be surprised if a toddler began to swear, and the same with anyone under 10. After, it becomes more common, especially through junior high/middle school.

Speaking of which, my social studies teacher pretty much lets us swear all we want, except, of course, for f*ck and worse (he does too.) The other day, we had a conversation about the word 'shit' and he gave us thirty seconds to swear as much as we wanted. That was cacophonous.

I'm sorry to disillusion you about 'fornication under the consent of the king.' I love the meaning too, but the word actually comes from the german 'fuch' which means 'to breed animals.' It's a colloquialism that hasn't been widely used for some 200 years, but has evolved into the english 'f*ck.'

What you mean with the variety of usage of 'f*ck' is why, when I swear, I do it in french nine times out of ten. I tend not to online, but french swears are so much more fun, and they can't just be used for everything.

Yep.

I'm not sure about that... personally, I find c*nt as part of the category below.

I disagree with using any racial slurs. They're not useful for expression, but only as- a slur. C*nt falls under this category as the connotation is derogatory to the woman, and not simply slang for genitals as is 'cock' or 'pussy.'

Personally, I think that swears are becoming too accepted. There's a point to swearing, and it's to express passion and emotion. When they become meaningless, the only thing to do is use LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS and we all know how much fun that is.

I try not to swear particularly often, and things work better that way. It seems like they mean more.

Really? Interesting. The Accronym versoin was told to me by a subsitute teacher so it was always shaky. The Germans come up with best words ever.



C*ck is derogatory for men but it's excepted due to double standards in socetity when it comes to gender. I could rant about this but it emcompasses several subjects so I'll leave it for now.

Safe to say I think if that instead of having to refer to womens genitals as the Vagina/ feels very formal and makes it hard for women to talk easily about it when they see doctors. By giving it a simpler less formal slang name makes life easier for both doctors dealing with shy patients and the paitent themself.

Because vowels are fewer, less neccessary, and therefore, much easier to decipher and guess for the missing letter and translate the word better. In fact, vowels, are nearly obsolete in some languages, for example, in ancient egyptian, where in spite of what simple phonetic heiroglypics guides might lead you to believe, vowels were rarely used, often only implied by spelling.


Swearing? Yeah. I try not to. It's pretty much just in writing that I have a hard time dodging around it. Sometimes, 'darn it' only goes so far.

Bah! I could make a sailor blush but I know when to and when not to swear. These days I mainly swear when I'm mad about something and sometimes loudly depending on the situation.

However, like booze and cigerettes it's what I like to call a privilidge of adulthood. I hate to see kids swearing especially really young ones. Teens don't bother me all that much because just like kids in my day they're trying to act grow up.

At the end of the day they're just words. I don't really understand why someone would get especially offened by swearing if it's not directed at them.

I agree with this. A slur much different that plain ol' swearing.

The way one of my teachers explained it to us, after somebody blurted it out in class. That unholies of unholy words stands for Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

Also the name of a Van Halen album.

I hate large capitol letters as I'm sure you already know. I don't mind it when you use it like that, ONe sentence for a [fairly] good reaosn. WHat gets to me is when people feel it's nesacary for the entire post to be done like so. Then I bust out the classic YTMND.



I always found it ammusing when year 7's (about 12 years old, first year of British Highschool) frist start swearing. It's so over the top

It would bug me a bit to here under 8's swearing but I wouldn't be shocked. I like to think I'm beyond such tame things these days (blatant ego trip)
I'd tell 'em off if the mood took me but it's basicly censorship when you dwell on it so I just say "Unless you can define the word you can't use it."
That usually works untill I leave them alone for a minute.

As the grea philosipher Eric Cartmen once said: "Whats the big f*cking deal b*tch? It's just words. F*ck, f*ckity, f*ck, f*ck."

doesn't seem to shock anyone i think... most of us do it anyway... i guess the situation matters, u will not curse someone loudly in the middle of a crowded shopping centre right? itx immoral and insane...
but most of us would just ignore though... heck care lah!

Anyone who's talked to me off the board knows I curse like a sailor.

As for racial slurs... people know I only use them in an ironic manner.

If you had asian immigrant parents, you would dare not curse in front of them.

A friend of mine only curses in extreme cases. His reasoning is that cursing shows that you have a poor vocabulary. w/e....though as you get older you realize that there's no real need or desire to curse in normal conversation.

i swear when i feel strongly about something. where i live swearing helps in stopping people from interrupting you every other sentance

Stupid maybe but Immoral? How's it Immoral?

Its not immoral...and you never said the F-bomb really loud in the middle of the mall before. You get a lot of evil eyes in your direction I swear, its no big deal. There is nothing wrong, its society that has the problem with it. And as for racial slurs it really depends on who i am with. There are many groups that I 'talk to', from the slayer kids to the rednecks in my school, it all depends. We have only one 'african american' in my school and the kid is 'whiter' than me .I say go ahead swear it up...

back in high school, i had an very diverse group of friends. (varying ethnicities and religions)

so we'd taunt each other with racial slurs and religious insults all the time...it was our own way of getting over the divisive taunts and slurs.

i never used to cuss until i moved around to various... awful schools then i just made it a habit. still the words arn't "bad" necessarly(sp?) like b*tch d*mn sh*t h*ll etc... well really thats about all i say

i don't like racial words however. i lived in the south for a long time and it was just best not to say the "N" or anything. i also think children under 11-12 or so shouldn't be using cusswords. it scares me when i hear elementry students saying b*tch, f*ck and telling "Yo Mama" jokes

I swear...a lot, my friends included. In french, I mean, but since I kinda live...outside of France (because Corsica is really special, in a good...or bad way), I know much less 'bad' words than actual french people do...*shudders* However, there's a limit, and some words that I don't like to pronounce at all, like the one that can be taken as an insult to gays : 'Enc*lé' (there are french people on the board, so you never know)...I hate that word, really.

In english, I don't like the word 'c*nt', but I'm not fond of the word 'p*ssy' either. Now, I don't mind using the words 'sh*t', 'f*ck', 'h*ll', etc...Nothin' bad with them, IMO.

I also hate to see children swear, but teenagers don't bother me at all, though like I already said, there's a limit (like racial insults and such).

I thought you actually lived in France, Lux.

I've worked around cars and mechanics so long as to not be surprised by anything said anymore. I know guys who can't utter a single coherent sentence without a swear word in it. As far as kids go, to me it depends on what they say and at what age. If my 8-yr-old son asks me "What the hell is YOUR problem?", I'm gonna be considerably ticked off more for his attitude than for what he said. Now if he stands there and calls me an a**hole, then I'm gonna knock his block off, again, more for the lack of disrespect than for what he said. But kids are going to learn swear words, it can't be helped. Watch just about any prime-time TV program and I bet you'll come across a few 'swear' words in it (Hence why my 10-yr-old daughter asks things like 'What the hell is that?!' re: something that freaks her out.) I AM, however, amazed as all get out when my kids swear in Spanish simply because I didn't teach it to 'em!

...in Spanish, every word sounds like a curse.

I find German sounds more sweary. Even the words for "I love you" sound threatening.

German people sound like they have taffy stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Aaah, German. The language of anger.

ICH LIEBE DICH. JA.

Ja! I bet you say that to all the folk you meet on the interweb

Hey at least he didn't ask for fma pr0n....or remove his pants.

One time! One time I did that!

Every day! Every day I do that!

*Cough*

I never used to swear untill I started high school and went through this South Park faze.
When I do, only in extrem cercomestances, I only say sh*t, d*mn, H*ll, and I have to be pretty POed
I hate the F word (both of them)
Racial slurs suck *ss
And I, as a rule never use gay like "that's so g__!"

i dont really swear a whole lot. if i get mad at someone i just call them a jerk. i have to be really mad to swear at people. and then i only say b**turd , and d***itt , i used to cuss all the time arond my friends but i dont swear all that much anymore.

I'd just point out that you can't even spell the swear words you mentioned.
it's B*stard and D*pshit where the * are "a" and "i" respectivly.

popo chiding others on spelling o_x

The irony is exquisite.

This may be shocking but I swear a tin y bit... ;; only when I'm ticked off and go into ...the other mode...

I didn' cuss till middle school. I try not to, but when I get pissed, I lose my head.
I also don't consider h*ll and d*mn cuss words.

Considering in this day and age people throw around the F word like it's nothing hell and damn aren't really cuss words anymore.

"Curse" words Damnit! Non of this pansy "Cussin'" business.

You got a problem with curssin'?

What's the difference it's the same thing.

I'm still even sensitive to Hell and Damn, and I hear the F-word all the time.

Granted, I'm often tempted to use them, but I find most swearing to be pretty tasteless, and I especially don't like for little kids to happen to hear it. That makes me sad.

The one word I love is b*stard. It's so fun to say!
But I still rarely use it. And I use other curse words even more rarely.

I feel like such a goody-two-shoes.

Nothing wrong with "Curssin'" but it's "Cussin'" or "Cuss" that gets me.
We gave you the English language (which we kinda stole from Turkey) and darnit we'll take it back if you don't stop messing it up!
Taking the "U" out of Honour and Colour, mispronouncing Tomato and Potato and I'm not even go inot George W. Bush's crimes agaisnt the Language. Just stop screwing with it please [/mock rant]



W*nker is also fun to say. All swear words are infact.

Thats fairly odd

As being an apprentance in my field of work, I work on job site(new builds and ect.). So its all fu*k this , shit that , screw you! Its all jokeing around anyway. I also work with one with my friends so thats no help. But swearing isn't bad, Society makes it bad

That's true. It is a fun word.

I often say 'whore', though not for the conventional reasons. It is also a fun multipurpose word.

And sometimes, there are situations in which I feel the only proper way to punctuate things is with a ", dammit!", but I usually default to just leaving that out.

We need to bring back the word 'whoreson'. Best term in all of Shakespeare!