Althouse: "People are swearing more and more in public life with no negative consequences. Are there social benefits to swearing?"

September 6, 2017

"People are swearing more and more in public life with no negative consequences. Are there social benefits to swearing?"

"And what's the psychology behind people actually enjoying it when others curse?"

107 comments:

Michael K said...: No, it is a coarsening of the culture and just part of the decline.

I swear a lot but in private.

US Grant never swore but his aide, Rawlins, while a teetotaler and a prig, was famous for his swearing. Grant said ,"I keep him around to do my swearing for me."; 9/6/17, 1:55 PM
J. Farmer said...: Maybe it's just virtue signaling that one is not part of that godawful 1950s bourgeois culture?

"Avoid coarse language in public."

Paying the price for breakdown of the country's bourgeois culture; 9/6/17, 1:58 PM
rcocean said...: People turn on cable Tv and see swearing. They read the internet and see swearing. Popular music -especially Rap - swearing.

Not only that, but everyone doesn't want to be seen as a "prude" for some reason.

And of course, Christian pastors and the Catholic Church are nowhere to be seen.

Contrast that with the hysteria over anything that might be considered an ethnic or racial/sexual slur.; 9/6/17, 2:01 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: I never swear in conversation.

I swear only because of accident -- for example, after I have dropped something.

One time our family had company at our home, and my daughter was remarking to some guests that I never swear.

At that moment, I was in the kitchen cooking. I dropped something or burned my hand, and I swore so loudly that my daughter and guests heard me loud and clear.; 9/6/17, 2:07 PM
Jay Vogt said...: Unless you can swear like Richard Pryor, don't bother.; 9/6/17, 2:09 PM
BGrear said...: Go to the bookstore at look at the new books, especially self-help type books, and many of them have swear words (sh*t, f*ck, etc.) in the titles now. I guess it's trendy and good marketing? Weird. Is it a hipster thing?; 9/6/17, 2:12 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I swear a lot in private but never ever in public. I realize that this is becoming passe but I still think it's horrible behavior to do so. I will also ask people, politely, to watch their language if my kids and I are at a neighboring restaurant table. Generally they are apologetic.; 9/6/17, 2:12 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Our culture needs a lot more "fuck off" in it.

I've tried to come up with an alternative phrase because I don't mind making a no swearing allowance to avoid needlessly offending people, but there isn't a phrase that even approaches its perfection in this time and place.

If someone thinks of an alternate phrase with the same punch and meaning, please share.; 9/6/17, 2:12 PM
Todd said...: Does Swearing Make You Likable?

What kind of stupid *** **** is that? Who the **** came up with this ****? Bunch of ***hat mother******* ****stain *******dumb *** *****!

Am I not likable?!?!?; 9/6/17, 2:16 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: But then, not that most of us would have much occasion to use "fuck off," it would just be nice to see it more in the news.

"Smith was asked for comment about his social media post that offended the world, and he responded, 'Fuck off.'"

"The three time gold medalist was asked how his difficult childhood made him feel and he said simply, 'Fuck off.'"

"We asked a local woman for her thoughts on this press release we are reporting as if it were news, and she offered, 'Fuck off.'"; 9/6/17, 2:18 PM
tcrosse said...: "Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
- Mark Twain, a Biography; 9/6/17, 2:18 PM
rhhardin said...: The words are honed and can be used well for a precise collection of implications.

In addition, they're offensive through a convention of being words that can't be used without social permission, as among friends. To discard that formality is then an addition to the implication cluster. I am stripping away formalities to speak frankly.

This too is a formality so the wrong formality can always have been stripped away. That's when the words are used badly.; 9/6/17, 2:21 PM
rehajm said...: I like to import British curses: Twat. Wanker. Bint. Bloody Buckets of Shite. It's more sophisticated.; 9/6/17, 2:22 PM
California Snow said...: I have noticed this myself over the past few years. I'm amazed, even where I work now, our boss regularly drops the F-bomb in meetings.; 9/6/17, 2:23 PM
rhhardin said...: Cunt should be used more, but not like the British do meaning an unreliable and unpleasant person.

It should be used for news babes, for example.; 9/6/17, 2:23 PM
J. Farmer said...: tcrosse:

"Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
- Mark Twain, a Biography

Indeed; 9/6/17, 2:23 PM
Humperdink said...: Swearing in public? Democrat leadership, that would be Tom Perez, dropping F bombs in public? Progressives would call that progress.; 9/6/17, 2:24 PM
bleh said...: The woman in the video is signalling to viewers with her annoying vocal fry. I'm not sure what vocal fry signals, but it signals something. "I'm a woman and I think these low register sounds make me sound more masculine?"; 9/6/17, 2:27 PM
rcocean said...: I found it interesting that Scott Adams cant' keep "Fuck" out of his Podcasts, because - he says - it was the way he was raised.

Interesting, because I and everyone other kid I knew would get their face slapped if they said "fuck" or [insert other profanity] in front of their mother.

My Dad of course, didn't care. Have Dad's ever cared?

I guess if your mother ran around saying "Fuck" "Goddamn" "Shit" "Prick" etc. when you're young - its hard to get upset at profanity when you grow up.; 9/6/17, 2:29 PM
rhhardin said...: Goffman (_Forms of Talk_ "Response Cries" p.115 notices

Admittedly, even in these productive cases, taboo words are not entirely vulnerable to syntactical analysis. Saying that "the fuck" in a sentence like "What the fuck are you doing?" is adjectival in function, or that "bloody" in "What are you bloody well doing?" is an adverb, misses something of the point. In such cases specific syntactic location seems to be made a convenience of, for somehow the intensifying word is meant to color uniformly the whole of the utterance some place or other in which it occurs. Here see Quang Phuc Dong (1971)

link to latter, which argues that fuck is not a verb.; 9/6/17, 2:29 PM
rhhardin said...: Feminism would die if they were referred to as cunts.; 9/6/17, 2:30 PM
rcocean said...: My Dad lived by the "code". You swore in front of other men, but never in front of women and children.

Today, the women and children are swearing so who cares?; 9/6/17, 2:31 PM
rcocean said...: "Feminism would die if they were referred to as cunts."

In the UK, "Cunt" if their favorite swear word - even more than "fuck".; 9/6/17, 2:32 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: I can't fucking stand it when people curse in public. It shows a complete lack of class. Just as bad are movies where every other word is fuck. It tells me that the writers have no imagination. I'm looking at you, Seth Rogen.; 9/6/17, 2:32 PM
Bilwick said...: I realize I'm sort of a dinosaur, but it always bothers me when educated people decide to talk like housing-project trash.; 9/6/17, 2:33 PM
rcocean said...: BTW, I've been around people who pepper every sentence with "Fuck" Goddamn" "shit" etc.

Its very, very, boring after a while.; 9/6/17, 2:34 PM
Matt Sablan said...: I rarely swear, which means when I need it, I can deploy it effectively. I stopped a fight as an RA by shouting at people with swear words, and they sat down because I didn't swear, so it was serious, so they listened.

I find swearing not, bad, but... cheap. Like showing a sad puppy to make me sad.; 9/6/17, 2:34 PM
Rabel said...: Frankly, Althouse, I don't give a damn.; 9/6/17, 2:37 PM
SeanF said...: The thing is, there is a cathartic benefit to swearing when under stress, which is lost (or at least mitigated) if the swearing is not taboo in general.; 9/6/17, 2:40 PM
tcrosse said...: I was fortunate enough to grow up in North Jersey, where we had available not only Anglo-Saxon profanity, but also vibrant Street Italian, with its attendant gestures. Diversity is our Strength, right in the stucazz'.; 9/6/17, 2:40 PM
Todd said...: rcocean said...

Have Dad's ever cared?

9/6/17, 2:29 PM

The dad in A Christmas Story sure cared! Poor Ralphie BUT he did get his BB gun in the end...

Actually my dad did care until we were of a certain age (mid-late teens if I recall). It was also a social thing. While in elementary school, you would/could get ostracized on the playground by the other kids for swearing.; 9/6/17, 2:41 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: 'Fuck' is worth 13 points in Scrabble.

The word has leverage.

I am Laslo.; 9/6/17, 2:43 PM
Bilwick said...: In her new book, Hillary Clinton addresses the problem of public swearing. "And you know who's responsible?" she asks. "Those @#$%ing Jew !@##%^&s!" The gal's still got it!; 9/6/17, 2:48 PM
PoNyman said...: I don't swear, but it was because I grew up in a home that considered it bad form. We were never punished if we used a swear word, but we did have to look it up if we didn't know what it meant.

I don't think swear words should be a thing. I think they just come about because that happens to be a manner in which the lower class speaks, but the middle and upper classes decide that they don't want their children (or themselves) to sound like that. Could it be that more swearing in public outside of the lower class neighborhoods might be a sign of the melding of the classes, a sign of equality even?

I teach my kids that context is what matters and to not toss around words loosely. They should speak with an expanded vocabulary. Lazy speaking leads to a lot of clumsy word choices. (I try to speak well, but I'm not perfect and fall into word repetition all the time.); 9/6/17, 2:53 PM
Humperdink said...: Apparently, some people find it amusing to drop F_bombs on a blog about profanity. Not classy in my view. Reminds of comedians who can only find humor in sex jokes. It takes work and a quick wit to find humor elsewhere. America is making a corkscrew landing.; 9/6/17, 2:53 PM
MaxedOutMama said...: Well, if you can't use a blue word or two when you are on the phone with 911 trying to get them to respond to a Bengal tiger attacking your dachshund. ...

Sometimes they are needed. Anyway, after Trump's election the vocabularies of many were exhausted, and could only be fortified to gird the innocent against Trumpocalypse with the inclusion of obscenities and crudities.; 9/6/17, 2:56 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I hate that I swear too much. It's a weakness.; 9/6/17, 2:58 PM
TWW said...: Reminds me of the scrabble game in the movie 'Foul Play'.

https://youtu.be/sAHiAuiT_zM; 9/6/17, 3:00 PM
SeanF said...: PoNyman: We were never punished if we used a swear word, but we did have to look it up if we didn't know what it meant.

I remember that happening to my little brother. The word in question was "dildo".; 9/6/17, 3:03 PM
PoNyman said...: SeanF:I remember that happening to my little brother. The word in question was "dildo".

With my little brother it was "bastard".; 9/6/17, 3:07 PM
traditionalguy said...: WTF is a swear word? That means taking an oath to do horrible things to others.

Curse words are curses to inflict harm on others by spiritual authority empowered by family spirits. These work best with sacrifice of blood/ life offered to pay the spirit realm for it.

Plain old vulgar language is what the church ladies pretend to faint from hearing, but are every day bodily functions.

Now what was the question again.; 9/6/17, 3:10 PM
Michael K said...: " its hard to get upset at profanity when you grow up."

We had a family across the street whose kids we played with.

They used "fart" all the time and I was shocked.

I wonder how much rap "music" has contributed to this ? The kids my youngest daughter is part of all like rap.

She shocked me one time when she was 16 and called a sleeveless Tee shirt a "wife beater." That was ten years ago.; 9/6/17, 3:11 PM
rcocean said...: 'Fuck' is worth 13 points in Scrabble.

GoddamnMotherfuckerCunt must be worth a lot more.; 9/6/17, 3:12 PM
bgates said...: When I was younger, you could get in real trouble for saying "you guys are f'n great" in front of important people at work.

And you still could, bc "guys".

Taboos haven't vanished, they've shifted.; 9/6/17, 3:13 PM
traditionalguy said...: And what is Fricking anyway. The old Norman Mailer books used Fricking to evade the censors who never figured out what it meant.; 9/6/17, 3:14 PM
rcocean said...: "Plain old vulgar language is what the church ladies pretend to faint from hearing, but are every day bodily functions."

Yes, so if I asked if your 6 y/o daughter or 60 y/o Grandma if she'd like to take a "Fucking shit" instead of "going to the Ladies Room" you'd be OK with it?

Cool.; 9/6/17, 3:14 PM
Rusty said...: Michael K said...
"No, it is a coarsening of the culture and just part of the decline."

Who gives a shit?
I swear in public mostly just to emphasize my point and because young people don't expect a silver haired, kindly old man to say, "fuckinA"'; 9/6/17, 3:16 PM
rcocean said...: "The old Norman Mailer books used Fricking to evade the censors who never figured out what it meant."

Yeah, those "old censors" they sure were stupid weren't they?

You could put Fuck in "The Naked and the Dead" and it would still be a pile of steaming shit.; 9/6/17, 3:18 PM
traditionalguy said...: Blasphemy was a serious capital offense in the theocracy days. They did require 2 or 3 witnesses to execute you, but how hard are they to bribe...ask the FBI Mueller Gang . Today the PC reaction to any forbidden opinion is Blasphemy requiring career. Death.; 9/6/17, 3:21 PM
Humperdink said...: "Plain old vulgar language is what the church ladies pretend to faint from hearing .."

Ironic to see that coming from someone who calls himself tradionalguy. (I could be misreading your point here.); 9/6/17, 3:21 PM
PoNyman said...: rcocean: Yes, so if I asked if your 6 y/o daughter or 60 y/o Grandma if she'd like to take a "Fucking shit" instead of "going to the Ladies Room" you'd be OK with it?

Not sure what traditionalguy would say, but if you were to say as daintily as possible that you'd like to use the washroom to flush down a long log I'd wonder what was wrong with you. It's about context.

I've coached soccer for a while and I'd seek out boys teams for my girls teams to scrimmage in the process those boys teams were very verbal especially if they were losing and the language would fly. After one of the games my girls were complaining about it to me and wanted me to have a talk with their coach. I told them that in life they were going to run into all kinds of different mindsets on what is appropriate and what is not, but they can't let that affect their effort or their sportsmanship. (I did have a private chat with their coach later.); 9/6/17, 3:25 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/17, 3:26 PM
Fernandinande said...: Three-year-old: "Oh bullshit!"
Self tries to not laugh: "Where'd you hear that?"
Three-year-old: "Grandma!"; 9/6/17, 3:33 PM
MadisonMan said...: When I swear, people notice. It means something. I do it maybe once or twice a year.; 9/6/17, 3:35 PM
traditionalguy said...: RCOcean...my point is that vulgarisms are the easy to keep rules, and they are harmless for games of class ranking like GBS loved in Pygmalian/My Fair Lady.

The curses are the harmful weaponized words. Swearing is a substitute word used to avoid the other two words in a game of higher class than you man ship.

And southerners all practice "fighting words" as Mel Gibson in Braveheart. That is a technical insult directed into another's face/grill.; 9/6/17, 3:35 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Taboos haven't vanished, they've shifted.

Ain't that the truth. Husband got a talking to from HR for using the term "goat rodeo" while there is zero prohibition against the F word in his workplace, and it's even been used in front of clients.; 9/6/17, 3:47 PM
rcocean said...: "Not sure what traditionalguy would say, but if you were to say as daintily as possible that you'd like to use the washroom to flush down a long log I'd wonder what was wrong with you. It's about context."

'Flush down a log" Huh? Why would I do that? I'd ask them if they wanted to go the "ladies room" or the "rest room".

If you're the kind of person who doesn't mind your daughter exposed to profanity or doesn't mind if someone calls your wife a "Cunt" - more power to you. My daughter and wife Do Mind - and so I mind. But's that's my family.; 9/6/17, 3:52 PM
Tom_Ohio said...: One of my best friends at work, who is recently one now: the best comment i get about her interaction with users (we do support) was her judicious use of the phrase Fa Fa. People loved it from her, i am not sure they want me cursing, especially in regular American slang.
So its seems fairly complicated; the Who its from and the Whom or What its toward.
I know I miss her and her Fa Fa. She picked it up in Poland where she was from.; 9/6/17, 3:57 PM
Jim at said...: "This is a big fucking deal." - Joe Biden
Vice President of the United States of America

Screw those awful people still living in the 1950s. We have a bright future ahead of us.; 9/6/17, 4:01 PM
Quaestor said...: Are there social benefits to swearing?

Absolutely! But it depends on what kind of society you want...; 9/6/17, 4:20 PM
mockturtle said...: If I'm not mistaken, fuck is an old Anglo-Saxon word. Although I tend to be suspicious of people [guys, mostly] who use it several times per sentence, thereby losing its emphatic power, it seems a useful expression of anger and also an apt description of the sex act. If there is no emphasis involved it loses its effect. I'd rather hear the word 'fuck' than hear the Lord's name used as a swear word. My sister says Jesus Christ all the time and, believe me, she's not a Christian.; 9/6/17, 4:30 PM
Random Thought said...: According to the author of a very interesting and entertaining book, Holy Sh*t,
"We need some category of swear words... [They] really fulfill a function that people have found necessary for thousands of years." More on that here: http://www.npr.org/2013/05/13/180811135/why-you-should-give-a-about-words-that-offend; 9/6/17, 4:35 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Swearing among old friends? Not so bad.

Swearing among people you don't know well? Not so classy. Kinda presumptuous.; 9/6/17, 4:36 PM
PoNyman said...: @rcocean 'Flush down a log" Huh? Why would I do that? I'd ask them if they wanted to go the "ladies room" or the "rest room".

If you're the kind of person who doesn't mind your daughter exposed to profanity or doesn't mind if someone calls your wife a "Cunt" - more power to you. My daughter and wife Do Mind - and so I mind. But's that's my family.

Sorry about that. I was trying to follow your train of thought and I must have missed the mark in the process.

I'm saying that words are a social construct. The set of English taboo words spoken in predominately English speaking countries typically are different in some aspect with some overlap. The word itself is not somehow moral or immoral. Someone could call me a butterfly and given the context it could be fighting words or something more benign.

As for how I treat people and want to be treated along with my family is with respect. Living within the society and culture that I am that means that some words are out of bounds in certain situations and contexts even as I understand that the reason for the taboo is asinine.; 9/6/17, 4:39 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: If I'm not mistaken, fuck is an old Anglo-Saxon word. Although I tend to be suspicious of people [guys, mostly] who use it several times per sentence, thereby losing its emphatic power...

George Will, co-religionist of our hostess in the men wearing shorts jihad, made that point in a column many years ago. If your everyday language is peppered with swearing, what do you say when something really bad happens? And how do you get across, to the people around you, this time you're really upset?; 9/6/17, 4:41 PM
Quaestor said...: I game on the Steam network from time to time, mostly history-themed FPS like Call of Duty and Day of Defeat (a Half-Life mod rather than a stand-alone game) and most of the popular servers low-latency servers strictly forbid swearing. If a player lets fly with an f-bomb, he is immediately criticised by the others with admonitions to "cool it down" or "keep it civil, please" which usually results in immediate compliance. From time to time someone who hasn't quite realized that everyone, apart from those who actually pay money to keep the server online, is a guest enjoying the hospitality of others, will rebel with absurd statements that amount to jejune cries of censorship! These players are banished with the same prejudice afforded to rank cheaters. Generally, these "no swearing" policies are effective at curbing the kind of worthless hostility that unbridled cursing and scatological utterances engender. Over the years I've concluded that f-bombs are to everyday human relations as a-bombs are to foreign relations.; 9/6/17, 4:45 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I agree with those who think there is a time and place where it is ok to swear (in moderation).

OK: Among friends who also can drop a few swear words. When you are hanging with your biker, construction working, military friends, plumber husband ;-) When you drop a frying pan on your foot. Emotional moments.

Not OK: When there are small children or even young adults present. When you are with people who you know will be offended. When your Grandma is in the room. In public where there are strangers. In Church! In formal situations like work, the doctors office.

Moderation is the key as well as being appropriate swear words that make sense in the conversation. Unless you have Tourettes then you can't help it.

Anecdote: Way back when my daughter was little, about 3 years old and paying attention to what was going on, we had a friend who had been in the Marines during Vietnam and who had only been out for a few years. His conversation was laced heavily with F bombs and other stuff. I don't care if he talks that way or talks that way in front of me. However, I asked him to please tone it down when at our house so my daughter won't start up with the F bombs.

Somehow he thought I was being unreasonable. Sooooooo, one night I had a tablet and a pen and everytime he swore the F bomb or mothereffer, I made a hash mark. I stopped him at about 5 minutes and told him how many times he swore( at least 50!!!) and said "Tone it down!! motherfucker or you can't come to our house anymore and swear like this in front of my kid. Thanks :-)" He was actually shocked and asked everyone else if he really swore that much. Um. Yep. He toned it down. He was really a very nice guy, and it was just basically unconscious reflex .

He did tone it down around our; 9/6/17, 4:47 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ Quaester.

I also used to play online role playing games, like World of Warcraft. The other players were mostly very strict and vocal about swearing and inappropriate types of talk. The reason is that you have no idea, first of all who you are talking to, who you are playing with or their age. They really policed themselves quite well and would boot someone from the guild if they wouldn't stop being crude, racially offensive or sexually hitting on other players.

I once found myself randomly teamed up with a really fun, very good player for several days of playing, who turned out to be an 11 year old boy. I complimented him on his fantastic game skills and told him that I was old enough to be his grandmother. In a private chat, I told him he really shouldn't tell everyone how old he is because there are some bad people on the internet who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of him.; 9/6/17, 4:58 PM
Alex said...: I can't stand it when some stupid rom-com features tons of swearing, I think it's just virtue-signaling.

However when it's in high volume on "The Sopranos" I like it, because you know in that mafia culture those guys swear a storm. It's being true to who they are.

You see - it's not difficult.; 9/6/17, 5:04 PM
Alex said...: mockturtle - I'm not Christian, but I don't like it when people say 'Jesus' all the time. I think it's insulting and hypocritical given our society does not tolerate disrespect to Islam or other religions.; 9/6/17, 5:05 PM
tim in vermont said...: "People don't expect a silver haired, kindly old man to say, "fuckinA"' "

Who else would say it?; 9/6/17, 5:05 PM
Alex said...: Excessive swearing in everyday life is what I'd call lazy. If you think it's somehow 'culture' to say 'f this', 'f that' every other sentence, then I would consider you a troglodyte. Now if you were Tony Soprano, I'd not say a thing.; 9/6/17, 5:07 PM
Michael K said...: "If I'm not mistaken, fuck is an old Anglo-Saxon word. "

"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" but I am unsure of the provenance of that expression.

" He was really a very nice guy, and it was just basically unconscious reflex ."

Sort of like blacks trying to say "Mother Superior."; 9/6/17, 5:12 PM
Alex said...: Also the use of the f-word can be a shocking event in a film. F.e., when Jack Torrance starts hurling f-bombs at Wendy in "The Shining" it has added force because up until that point he's not used the word even casually. When he does use it, Wendy almost feels like she's been punched in the stomach.; 9/6/17, 5:16 PM
LordSomber said...: My parents rarely swore, but were creative with their colourful language.
"Right in the tuches," or "Up the wazoo" were commonly heard.
Even my grandfather would exclaim, "Oh, Fudge!"

I am fortunate to have some copies of "Maledicta, The International Journal of Verbal Aggression," an actual academic journal.
I think the kind professor would find it of interest, but there are only samples to be found online.

http://aman.members.sonic.net/journal.html; 9/6/17, 5:16 PM
Big Mike said...: @DBQ, your anecdote about the Vietnam vet reminds me of a story about a noncom who admonished troops returning to the World that when they talked about something, anything at all -- don't describe it!; 9/6/17, 5:18 PM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, I have indeed noticed that politicians don't seem to mind using foul language on camera. I hypothesize that they imagine this will allow them to connect with the middle class and working class voters who rejected their party so roundly last November.

If so, then they're wrong.; 9/6/17, 5:21 PM
Josephbleau said...: It has absolutely made me more likeable, to several groups, miners and sailors and college students for example.; 9/6/17, 5:35 PM
Josephbleau said...: BTW, fuck is one of the few words that can be used in any of the 8 parts of speech.; 9/6/17, 5:42 PM
Josephbleau said...: Freeman Hunt, Piss Off! is probably less offensive.; 9/6/17, 5:44 PM
Greg Hlatky said...: In "Tristram Shandy" there's an episode where two pious nuns use a cart pulled by a horse that only responds to the word "foutre". They get around the obscenity when each says one syllable.; 9/6/17, 5:44 PM
tcrosse said...: A true gentleman is never unintentionally offensive.; 9/6/17, 5:59 PM
furious_a said...: Try cursing in French: "it's like wiping your *ss with silk" -- the Merovingian; 9/6/17, 6:03 PM
RMc said...: What the copulation is this excrement, you Diety-cursed, penis-vaccumming rectum?; 9/6/17, 6:07 PM
furious_a said...: Can anyone still taste the soap? Do parents even do that anymore?; 9/6/17, 6:18 PM
Lucien said...: One of the great joys of watching "Dexter" was Debra Morgan's dialog.

Also "You ol' goat felcher you" is a term of endearment. Right? Right?

Titus, Laslo, help me out here.; 9/6/17, 6:39 PM
traditionalguy said...: Granted that Vulgarity in the presence of women is traditionally verboten, but women in the Military is thereby impossible. Sounds like a Patriachal trick to me. What would the biggest vulgar blasphemer in military history have done with his Third Army rolling across France in 1944.; 9/6/17, 6:43 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: The proliferation of cheap movies and series from HBO, Netflix, Amazon, etc. is dismaying, disgusting, and depressing. Quantity aplenty, but quality is in the gutter.

Worst part is the gratuitous, pointless, irritating unimaginative slutty dialog. I admire an innovative exclamation. Juno's cunt! Satan's gonads! Brit shows provide some relief. Bollocks! Wanker! Some Brit shows are just bloody this, bloody that, but still not as bad as the typical made-for-streaming show that cannot go two minutes without a needless "fucking" adjective or adverb.

Tedious.; 9/6/17, 6:53 PM
Mr. Groovington said...: It's the middle classes that get uptight about it. Go up on the blood quality scale, in Britain, and it's a sewer.; 9/6/17, 7:09 PM
Mr. Groovington said...: Bugger, is the most common swear word at British public (private) schools. Rarely heard over here in the colonies.; 9/6/17, 7:11 PM
Hagar said...: Social swearing is a contradiction in terms, isn't it?; 9/6/17, 7:15 PM
n.n said...: Profanity is the sign of urban decay. Today, you mock the mortal gods in ivory towers and let the euphemisms fly.

For example: Go Plan yourself with a scalpel. Oh, and have a gay old time.

A little progressive, a little liberal, and mitigation of catastrophic anthropogenic language corruption.; 9/6/17, 7:32 PM
Christopher said...: Constant gutter profanity is the sign of a degraded, polluted mind.; 9/6/17, 7:40 PM
rhhardin said...: Euphemisms ought to be a book of the bible.; 9/6/17, 8:06 PM
Howard said...: White collar, non-military and female swearing is cultural appropriation. Condemnation of swearing is virtue signalling.; 9/6/17, 8:31 PM
Deanna said...: The only swearing I ever heard growing up ('60s and '70s) was "damn", only used when my father was exceptionally angry. He was one of five brothers, all of whom were in the Army at one point or another; I never heard any of my uncles use even that mild expletive. I am grateful to have been married, so far for 23 years, to a man whom I have never heard swear. It gives a sense to me that the person swearing is out of control and who knows what might happen next?; 9/6/17, 9:05 PM
Be said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/17, 9:20 PM
Be said...: I remember the owner of the restaurant I worked at until recently writing invective filled diatribes about "Restauranting always have been F#cking Vulgar."

Funny thing: none of the folks having been trained in Food Service, nor anyone else having worked in Food Service seemed to remember ever living the owner's Fond Reminiscenses of Invective laden Reality TV rages.

Part of what caused me to move on was the number of times I had to move him out of the dining room of his Own Damn Restaurant, because I wanted a Peaceful dining area for the customers.; 9/6/17, 9:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Swearing (to me) signals anger and/or frustration. People that are easily angered or frustrated can be hard to be around. I don't think people like that can possibly be more likable.; 9/6/17, 9:48 PM
Mr. Groovington said...: Can you trust a person that swears? Two people above say no. Unreal.

Going back to the Brits for a sec:

Hitchens routinely told people to fuck off. And sometimes worse.
Churchill taught Charlie, his parrot, obscenities.

Plus I'd ask you to Google studies of men who swear using intelligence and honesty as key words.; 9/6/17, 10:01 PM
Mr. Groovington said...: Can you trust a person who doesn't drink?; 9/6/17, 10:16 PM
mockturtle said...: What the copulation is this excrement, you Diety-cursed, penis-vaccumming rectum?

It does lose a little in translation, doesn't it?; 9/6/17, 10:28 PM
Dude1394 said...: Go through st any comments section. Search for foul mouthed words and you will overwhelmingly find a liberal post.; 9/7/17, 7:14 AM
LilyBart said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/7/17, 8:36 AM
Phil 314 said...: I'm sure shit is not a swear word. My father told me so.

Case in point: When reminiscing about his sons as todldlers he stated " I remember when you were just little shits..."; 9/7/17, 9:55 AM
Todd said...: Phil 3:14 said...

When reminiscing about his sons as todldlers he stated " I remember when you were just little shits..."

9/7/17, 9:55 AM

In the 80s, we had a cat named "Little Shit".; 9/7/17, 11:06 AM
DRMc said...: "Vulgarity is no substitute for wit."; 9/7/17, 5:13 PM