Swearing - how do you feel about it

[Jessica Coconut]

"Where is this coming from?" Everyone asks. Well, it's because I'm a little torn up here. I don't swear (no certain 4 letter words the censor would squish, but the little ones that found their way into PG material sometimes). I'm 14. But yes, my friends do. My dad was working on getting MSN (actually Gaim, I'm stuck in linux thanks to the LSASS worm infecting windows) and he did. Only Gaim has this buddy ticker thing that scrolls across your buddys aliases. Well, like I said, my friends don't use the politest language. So my dad saw it and is pretty mad at me, and I also think he's getting the wrong idea about my friends. They're good people, but umm... cold and clear as crystal. We rant a lot.

So now, my dad wants me to either talk to my friends about their harsh language (but hey, we're 14-15 now!) or block them. This girl is like one of my best friends. Sure, she's not the most polite to people, but she wont swear directly to you. It's usually F--- society. Never F--- you. (That's another girl that get's more than a little cranky past midnight. Even then, the you isn't anyone in particular.)

So what should I do? I'm not blocking my best friends (I'm sure almost all of them have sworn once in their nicknames) and I can see our conversation.

"Hey, umm... I was wondering if you could tone down the swearing in your nick."
"What's up? You never used to care..."
"Uhh... see... about that. My dad was watching over my shoulder and saw it... yeah... hehehe..."
...

I don't know how she could take it.

So... swearing a big deal around here for anyone?

[Patjade]

When I was young, and when I joined the military, I used to swear a bit. I thought it was "cool" and "adult" to be able to do so. And it worked its way into conversations and the like.

But in reality, it just seems to show that one has a limited vocabulary.

Although an inappropriate word MAY escape from me now and then, I prefer to express myself in a much more eloquent manner, as I did when I was a teenager.

I also find myself not caring as much for those songs and movies that seem to consist of swear words as major parts of the dialogue. An occasional word in an extreme situation may be OK, but a movie or song whre every other word is F- this or D- that, or S-! why the fail, etc. is lame, and I won't bother much with it.

I think there are MUCH better ways of expressing oneself.

[enigmaticviolinist]

But in reality, it just seems to show that one has a limited vocabulary.

That's what I was taught. Swearing's a dirty habit. There's always an appropriate word to fit any situation.

[Kiddo]

I used to have a filthy mouth. I really did - I even cussed out my brother once. Didn't stop though, not even after my mom heard me cussing out said brother.

I didn't figure it was that big a deal until Rachel called me on it. She told me that I had the worst mouth she knew even though I said I was Christian. I was like, "uh oh. That ain't good." So I talked to my mentor, Leslie, and we decided that I was going to stop swearing. I prayed about it, memorized a nifty verse, and within a month I stopped swearing.

After nearly five years of having this horrible habit I was able to break it in a month. It was awesome. I don't swear at all now, if I need to use some exclamation I just make words up or use the lesser versions like dang or shoot.

It really makes you feel better about yourself to not swear. It'd always kinda bother me when I did but now that I don't it's something I'm proud of.

As for your friends, just ask 'em to tone it down a bit. Tell them it bothers you and they're fixing to get you into big trouble with your parents. Most things can be blamed on your parents and as long as it helps you do the right thing, they usually don't mind. Heck, mine told me to use them as a scapegoat at times.

[teghan62]

I personally don't care. Words are just words, that's how I feel. It's annoying when people say that "people who swear are just stupid" or have a "limited vocabulary." I mean, really... what does swearing have to do with intelligence, or even vocab? I just don't get it, and when people say those things I'm being indirectly told I'm an idiot. --; I do not swear because I think it is "cool" or "adult." I swear because things slipped, because I'm really ticked off, and things like that. I swear to myself when i do something dumb or accidentally hurt myself, you know, the f word. :P IRL, surprisingly enough I don't swear. Online, I swear a lot.

Esh, I'm just going to repeat what I said, I don't think swearing matters all that much. They're just words.

[Torey]

*sigh* I don't really like to admit it but I swear a lot. I say the common four letter word that begins with s every day. Also bloody and stuff like that. I say the f word a lot too but it's usually when I'm really angry, shocked as in "What the f was that?!" or if I've hurt myself and it just slips out. I don't really mind swearing to be truthful with you. Certain words I do mind, the really strong words that are even worse than the f word. I think the reason I don't mind though is because my mom swears a lot and she's never really told us off for swearing. And my dad...he pretends to hate swearing and then he swears when he thinks we can't hear him... Anyway, swearing is not that big a deal to me.

[Jessica Coconut]

Thanks ninja. I think I'll try it. It doesn't sound as bad the way you put it. *is paranoid* Yeah, I really am. I've had this problem with how I appear to people a lot lately, for about 5 years. We moved that time, and it's terrible trying to make friends for me. Really hard, cause I'm the nerd in class that seems to have an answer for everything. I expect it must get annoying to everyone I see. But it's in my nature. So I really don't want to upset anyone, or look like some sort of... "goody-two-shoes" even moreso. So I try to... you know. Blend. But like I said, it's not in my nature. I'm really not a "punk teenager" or "girly girl", I really don't have much fashion sense, I'm just different. I'm not a geeky looking nerd, I just act a little like it. I'm not the crazy loud one in class, except when my teacher and I are having our debates with eachother (not the bad student ones, the rants on society kind... hard to explain...). I guess I'm the one who just wont ever settle. It's a neverending debate/rant with me. I'll seriously argue for or against anything (almost, but I try to always see the otehr side of arguements and give people credit for their strong points)

[Deleted]

I can't stand swearing on a constant basis.

I can understand if someone is angry or upset, but not when someone is casually talking.

For instance, these kids were in my history and math classes, and I could always hear them saying, "This class is so f---ing dumb. Why the f--- are we in here? The teacher is a f---ing moron!" I mean, really, what is the point to swearing like that?! And they did it every other day!

[♥ Jey ♥]

I don't mind it.. My classmate swears a lot, and I use the word 'hell' a lot myself.

[mushroom]

Swear words can be descriptive, and I don't see a problem with most of them. They're useful for conveying emotion quickly and concisely. They don't have much purpose without the emotion, though.

Rude words for homosexuality bother me, though, or not-rude words for homosexuality that are used as swear words. It's like using a rude word referring to race, which would be correctly considered extremely ignorant and bigoted.

[Deleted]

KKM said:

Rude words for homosexuality bother me, though, or not-rude words for homosexuality that are used as swear words. It's like using a rude word referring to race, which would be correctly considered extremely ignorant and bigoted.

I totally agree! I hate it when somebody says "That's so gay" when really they mean it is uncool.

I swear occasionally, like when I'm in shock or something. Very rarely though. I don't like the types of people who swear every second word or so.

[Deleted]

My old town was a dirt town. You'd hear all the kids saying nasty words like "sh-t", "f-ck" "b-tch" and
"d-mn" in school, in front of teachers. Kids here don't swear much though. I, myself, have developed a bit of a "potty mouth" from my mom(smooth move, Jo Jo, smooth move...) and the kids back in my old town. It's bad, I know, but I don't see much harm. Although words hurt you, that dosen't mean you can't say those words at all. I mean, if they weren't invented in the first place, we'd never say them, and the female dog would probably be called a "luu."(Where'd that come from!? ;;;;;...) But they're here, and you might as well say them, it's not like people will stop "becuase it's bad."

[Deleted]

Down here in Puerto Rico, swearing is like breathing air
-you just can't help it-. Even in somewhat civilized conversations their will be the occasional F--- you S--- my c--- , but its nothing we take personaly, it's just how we communicate. Of course I don't swear infront of my parents, though they may swear infront of me if I utter anything disgraceful, i'll be whacked in the mouth.

[Crystal]

Well, I try my level best not to swear. I was taught that it was a bad thing to swear and that I really shouldn't, that people who do so, like Pat said, have a limited vocab.

Everyone in my school swears. With the exclusion of me. So it's hard sometimes not to, although my class only usually goes as far as s---, although everyday. But the scary thing is that the YOUNG kids swear worse than the older ones. When you hear a nine or eight-year-old fall down and go: "F***!"... THAT scares me.

I've pretty much adjusted to swearing in books, although I admit that it severely turns me off a certain book if the characters in it swear too much, and my opinion of you goes down if you swear. Especially. If you use the words "Jesus Christ", or "Christ" as a swear word. I HATE people who do that, it's terribly offensive. Really I do. (I had to restrain myself once from tearing out the page of a book that had an extremely offensive poem regarding that in the authors note.... and I mean it was REALLY offensive. It was a good book in terms of storyline and writing actually, but it didn't belong to me, so I didn't do anything to it.)

I also edited every single swear word out of Kiddo's Eil'gidian the first time I got it in a Word document. And I still do that for every word I catch in Fae Wars. *guilty look*

Bleh.

After 14 years of resisting, though, I let words like "shoot" or "darn" slip by. And I do swear in other languages - the ones I don't understand. (Kiddo, never post the translation of "veros nu kull". I don't want to know...) But that's as far as I'll ever go.

[sharakh]

I have a mouth like a sailor, I'm afraid, but generally only when angry. I can control it, and do around those with which I am professionally involved as well as children.

Going to a college with a bunch of 'net geeks did not do much for my swearing tendencies, sadly.