Is Swearing a Vice?

[Girl Friday]

I think, at times, it shows a lack of imagination, but I see nothing inherently wrong with it. It's certainly not the most sophisticated way of expressing oneself.

You took the words right outta my mouth.

 

[Jerekson]

I rarely swear. I do have some creative alternatives that I've been known to use....biscuits is one of them...and I have the tendency to say frack alot which to a couple of you who really know me, and know where it comes from....but overall I rarely swear and most people don't around me.

Nashoba...this "frack" of which you speak...it doesn't happen to originate in another galaxy by chance?

 

[ShortClara]

I rarely swear. I do have some creative alternatives that I've been known to use....biscuits is one of them...and I have the tendency to say frack alot which to a couple of you who really know me, and know where it comes from....but overall I rarely swear and most people don't around me.

Yes, frack has been known to escape my lips as well! If I heard you say that, I'd think you were tres cool.

 

[saturnoir]

Yes, frack has been known to escape my lips as well! If I heard you say that, I'd think you were tres cool.

I am so happy that "frack" caught on...I'd been getting weird looks for "frell" in text and in person. "frack" has saved me from many a moment in front of the kids.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Well...

...an entire life around the military hasn't done me much good. To paraphrase Ralphie in A Christmas Story, I can work in profanity they way artists work in oils.

However, I think Fleur De Guerre, Miss Brill, or LizzieMaine swearing would be kind of racy.

 

[ShooShooBaby]

i cuss like a sailor. i can turn it off like a switch though - which is lucky, being that i'm a nanny; training to be a teacher; and just spent a week with my SO's parents

 

[LizzieMaine]

I work outside of Philly. The f-bomb is used as part of normal conversation in the office and the shop. Both the men and women equally. Coming from a small Amish community it took some time to get used to . I counted 146 times my foreman used it in one 10 min. normal conversation. When you hear it so much it losses its shock value.

The F-bomb is the high-fructose corn syrup of swearing, and its overuse is what separates a true master from a cheap hack. My grandfather could blister paint at fifty paces with his language, but I never *ever* heard him use that word. *That* is a sophisticated use of vocabulary.

 

[Diamondback]

I personally prefer to be more creative when invective is warranted (any nitwit can be foul--it takes real wit to be funny), but there are times when a little old-fashioned turn-the-air-blue four-letter language is the only thing that gets the message across.

Would that it weren't so necessary so often, but ya gotta play the hand you're dealt...

@Miss Lizzie: Amen--I try to save that one for a stuation where I'm ready to introduce the target's skull to my reinforced forehead to physically drive the message into them.

 

[ShooShooBaby]

The F-bomb is the high-fructose corn syrup of swearing, and its overuse is what separates a true master from a cheap hack. My grandfather could blister paint at fifty paces with his language, but I never *ever* heard him use that word. *That* is a sophisticated use of vocabulary.

ok, i'm totally picturing ralphie in slow motion right now... F-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-DGE. lol

 

[carter]

Not much profanity going on here but plenty of expletives, especially in traffic.

Since my daughter is often with me, we've come up with some creative ways of showing pique. We just say the words backwards. Thus Idiot(my personal favorite) is now toidi, Jerk is now krej, and Dork is now krod.

Anger dissipates more quickly when the words used to express it are somewhat silly. At least that's my experience.

 

[Doh!]

I think cussing can be quite cathartic. It sure beats shooting somebody (while that would oftentimes be much more satisfying, cussing at least won't get you sent up the river).

However, it does have its place. It bugs me whenever I hear somebody drop the F-bomb in front of kids -- be it their own or somebody else's. And as far as cussing in front of women, I usually let them make the first move.

Usually.

 

[Lola Getz]

My cursing usually relates to acts of stupidity (my own) or clumsiness (I am forever stubbing my toe or whacking my pinky finger). It's usually a ridiculously long, drawn out syllable of intended foulness that sometimes gets a different ending if there's anyone nearby.

Other than that, I can turn it off and on. I can't watch movies with every other word being a curse though. It just seems like the writers took the day off and they reached into a hat filled with random swears and put those in the script.

Oh, and hearing the f-bomb in the presence of kids always shocks me.

 

[pigeon toe]

Oh goodness, I am a terrible swearer. Quite often I surprise people with my foul mouth -- people don't expect those words to come out of a tiny girl with a squeaky voice! But it's a habit that started when I was 8, and I don't really care too much to change.

I don't swear around anyone other than my peers though -- to me that's just rude. I had a friend in high school who would use the worst swear words in front of my parents and I though she was insane!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Probably a habit with me, I wouldn't say a vice. Nothing lets off some steam like cursing up a storm. Of course it depends on the company. I swear more around other swearers. My big problem is forgetting there are kids around and such.

 

[LadyStardust]

I never swear in public. It is quite a bit harder to restrain myself online in my personal journal, but I am working on curbing that too. I slip up in ridiculous traffic too, but there I'm in the privacy of my own car, so I don't care too badly about that.

 

[KittyT]

Swearing is only a vice if you do it too much, and in the wrong company.

 

[scotrace]

George Washington was known to make the air crackle with cursing.

I have a young friend who is an optometrist. She is a model person, charming, attractive, gentle, poised. It has been a privelege to watch her grow up from babyhood. Her strongest curse phrase is "oh, sad!" In her hands, it is an effective weapon.

Theodore Roosevelt didn't swear. But he invented his own language of curses that were remembered and admired.

 

[Fletch]

The F-bomb is the high-fructose corn syrup of swearing

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap Can I nominate this for Metaphor of the Month?

However, I think Fleur De Guerre, Miss Brill, or LizzieMaine swearing would be kind of racy.

Oh yeeees. I'm reminded of Alice Roosevelt Longworth's aphorism:
"If you haven't anything nice to say - come sit by me."
(Of course I mean that in a purely companionable way. Dishing is as unmasculine as you can get without wearing suede shoes that don't hold up in the rain. But I'll supply all the sardonic asides you can stand, and then some.)

 

[Girl Friday]

I gave up cussing for lent, a couple of year ago. I told my parents, that at the point where I heard them both use the f-word, I had obviously been a bad influence on them!

You really find out how much cussing is a part of your vocabulary when you've promised not to do it for 40 days!

 

[SamMarlowPI]

Joe Pesci's mumble-swearing from Home Alone works pretty good...especially when frustrated...