Oh! All this conversation reminded me of a story..
Last year, in one of my classes, I wrote a paper on the superstition of profanity and why it's not as bad as people make it out to be. Stuff like we're discussing right now, though slightly different...And I had a few examples in certain places, nothing too extreme, but, anyways...I turn it in, and the teacher calls me up, and I think this is the funniest, yet dumbest thing I've ever heard...He says:
"Dustin, I agree with you 100% on your points about censorship...but I'm going to have to ask you to take these swear words out."
I did it anyways, though, and it gives me a good laugh. Anyways, just sharing that.
heh, that's funny
Says who? Judging a person by their vocab/accent/whatever is very poor form...
Damn right it is! It's also pretty unclassy--you'll always find some to argue that swearing makes you look common as muck, but in my experience,
real classy folks don't really get hung up on people thinking they're not classy enough or whatever; they swear when they want, don't when they don't and generally go about life in a much more uninhibited way than the stereotypes would have you believe
(as is often the case with stereotypes lol) The classiest attitude, bar none, is simply not giving a flying f***, and also not judging people upon surface characteristics--but on whether their personality suits you, and you want to hang out with them. Other than that it's pretty much live and let live.
Actually, sometimes it is. Any form of language can be appropriate given the situation you're in. Who is anyone here to tell others how to express themselves?
I would argue that those who can't trust themselves to swear in the right circumstances are emotionally constipated.
You would argue, and I would agree
I mean, why would anyone want to place some words in any language out of bounds? That would be like crippling the language, which quite apart from being really rather disrespectful of those who wrote and used the language before us (sorry history geek coming out here), there's the issue that it kinda kills the fun of playing with words! When you want to use a language, you should draw from all its registers--the poetic, the profane, and the precise.
Actually when I put it this way, not swearing
ever sounds a bit sad
Alright, here are my thoughts:
>Words have meanings, and each one has a slightly different connotation or denotation. There's no denying that.
>There are many ways of expressing yourself.
>Using vulgar language as a substitute for a more appropriate word choice is not a good way of speaking.
>While some people will not be offended or shocked by profanity, many are.
>Using it in an informal and light situation, such as dropping something and saying "I f*cked up there" is not eloquent. There are plenty of better ways of expressing yourself there.
>In more antagonizing situations, if you're finding that you're saying "You're a f*cking idiot" to people, as provided in one of your examples, perhaps you have anger problems.
>If you disagree and choose not to expand your vocabulary to find more precise words to express yourself and the other party will accept it, then go right ahead and say whatever you want.
see, that's where I think you've got it the wrong way about mate (well to be fair, you and a lot of others in the anti-swearing camp, as it were
): swearing, cursing, and cussing (which are three distinct kinds of profanity, by the way) are mostly NOT a sign of poorer vocabulary, but just the opposite-a sign of a secure command of the language, right down to its murky depths
Whenever there is a discussion about languages and learning them, someone will invariably come up with that old chestnut, 'if you can swear in X Language, it means know it well' ;-)
And they're right, take it from one who speaks--and happily swears in--five of them
