I never understood people that freak out at swearing. I can understand it's not the most polite, but some people really freak out if you swear.
this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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As someone who curses quite a bit, going to America was an eye opener. People who weren't even in the conversation were taking offense. I didn't realise it was so taboo there. Cunt is never said and it's like a 20 a day word for me.
Imo here in the US, cunt has something of a sexist connotation, so respectable blasphemers tend to avoid it unless it's really called for.
In my personal swearing, I try to limit it to things that apply to everyone. Fornication, defecation, and damnation are things everyone can do (but might choose not to). Gendered or targeted swears have the possibility of perpetuating toxic traits, so I personally stay away from them. Fuck, shit, damn, all good. Other things get slippery so I try to avoid them myself. Granted, even that is a blurry line as I’ve highlighted I’m fine denigrating walnuts and trumpets elsewhere in this thread. I also don’t force that somewhat provincial view on others because it’s a personal standard. I might talk about why I try to avoid gendered swears, but that’s on me not on you.
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Cunt is always going to rile women and some men more. It's a completely different context here. Most women really really don't like it.
A fuck or shit as long as it's not in a children's park or anything in most places isn't going to be that big a deal.
I've always perceived Americans as very curse word friendly people. Not like Australians of course, but still very accepting of it.
Most are IMO. Cunt is a special case. Fuck and shit in most contexts are going to be fine.
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I’ve found that many people can’t differentiate “swearing around” vs “swearing at.” If I am swearing, it is to add filler words to my sentences that serve many purposes. I am not (rather, very rarely) attempting to insult or denigrate someone else. I do not understand why someone takes offense at “I really struggled to hit my fucking steps today” or “Shit I dropped the fucking ball.” I do understand why someone takes offense at “you ignorant fucking walnut” or “fuck you you fuck trumpet.” Conflating the two situations is so fucking dumb.
Also, even when hurling invectives someone can be just as abusive without swearing.
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Fuck, I sure as shit hope so.
I still fucking hate that some places require you to censor swear words in comments.
This creates a shitty situation where you have to play a fucking guessing game, where you try to guess if your comment gets removed by mods
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I would have gone with "shit, I sure as fuck hope so", but you do you.
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I still think swearing should be used sparingly! Otherwise its effect gets diluted! It!d be like replacing every bit of punctuation with an exclamation point! Eventually it just loses its original meaning! and people stop even registering it! Treat swearing as sacred! use it to accentuate a point! and people will appreciate its importance when you do use it!
Fuck that!
It should be diluted. Language should not have that power over our emotions. Swearing becoming an extension of a purely descriptive lexicon is a good thing IMO.
Poetic language and rich prose should be the standard for emotional conveyance. That makes it special and rare. Allowing simple crass or boorish language to hold emotional power is what cheapens the concept of language having power.
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It comes up a lot more in professional settings than it used to. I would actually give this one to GenX and appreciate it when used correctly.
Gen X broke down the gate, millennials buried the gate, and Gen Z built a monument to swearing on top of where the gate once stood
That's fucking glorious!
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I love the image they attached to the article. Is that woman the chancellor of swearing or something?
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That's fucking right
Fuck yeah it is. Swearing is the shit.
Isn't it more that the words that are acceptable are changing?
In the ancient past, it was "taking the lord's name in vain" that was so extreme. Now, most people don't care about that. You can still see that difference in the "curse words" used in Quebec vs. France. In Quebec the naughty words are all Catholicism-related: esti, calise, tabarnak, etc. In France they're more similar to the common English ones: merde (shit), putain (whore), etc.
The religious swear words had lost their bite in most English cultures ages ago, people still say things like "christ" or "oh my god", but those mild expressions would have been jaw-droppingly awful a century earlier. For a while damn was one of the most awful words, which is why you had things like "gosh darn".
Now, it's words that were truly offensive maybe 40 years ago that are becoming common: fuck, shit, cunt, etc.
But, at the same time, words that were common in the past are becoming truly offensive now, for example "the n word", faggot, retard, tranny, etc.
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This is fucking great news
My youngest daughter used to never cuss. Just a total sweetheart like that. The worst thing I think I heard her say was "she act's like such a B-word!" Then she started scoring races at a local dirt track, and after putting up with all the BS from the drivers (and especially their wives) she's now out there tossing around fucks and shits and bitches and assholes and various physical threats like they're confetti...
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It was honestly a small culture shock for me when I moved from the US to Canada. Everyone I knew in the States swore rampantly amongst themselves, but in public people were often reserved and proper, and swearing in the presence of a stranger or elderly person would result in some pearl clutching - especially on a retail level.
Up here nobody gives a fuck. It's just in the vocabulary. I've gotten so used to it that I dropped a bunch of things at work recently and muttered "FFFUUCK ME!" in front of an elderly woman who I didn't realize was standing there. I apologized for my language and she was completely unfazed. Thought it was funny. Just went about helping me gather my things. Probably went up to buy her stuff afterward and said something along the lines of "Hope we get a fuckin' chinook.".
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Thank fuck
Does this maybe have to do with changing moral foundations? Like society becoming less religious and moving away from religion-based aversion to mention of sex and bodily functions to the point where they basically don't count as swears anymore, while doubling down on disliking swears denigrating a protected group of people.
this is why I stopped swearing
About fucking time!
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