Inhibitions on cursing

[DrDingo]

Alright, so here's a question for all of you.

(And no, it's not about how Harry Potter can't cast spells out of Hogwarts)

Some people I know swear quite commonly and openly- even loudly-, whilst other people that I've seen rarely- if ever - swear. They might subconsciously say it quietly, as if ashamed that someone else might hear them.

So I pose these questions:
-If you live under the same roof, what are your parents' attitudes towards cursing?
-Do your friends do it? Does it affect you?
-Would you describe yourself as timid or shy? Or quite open? Does this affect your cursing habits?
-If you don't do it socially, do you only tend to curse at yourself (say, if you hurt yourself)?
-At your school or workplace, will casual cursing land someone in trouble?

 

[Tica]

I curse like a sailor, but I only start if someone else curses first. I don't like to offend people on purpose, y'know? If the group I'm with is comfortable with it, I'll do it, but otherwise I try to hold my tongue.

 

[mcjoel]

i used to swear like a sailor then i went two years without now i only do it when I'm really upset. My parents couldn't care less if i curse, and since I work third shift as long as it's not in front of customers management don't mind.

 

[sniperfreak223]

I openly curse all the time, I seriously have no filter...I try to limit it when I'm around children, but other than that, no filter at all.

-my grandparents hated cursing,my mother (parents were divorced when I was 18 months old) really didn't care.
-my friends are all metalheads,so they're just as bad or worse than me, but I was a "potty-mouth" well before I met them.
-I'm shy at first, but I open up pretty quick once I trust you a little...and it doesn't affect my habits, I curse a lot regardless.
-Yes, I curse at myself all the time...and it's actuallly been proven that cursing can help alleviate some pain if you hurt yourself.
-yes and no, depends on the supervisor and whether or not we're getting visits from the market team or OSHA, but 95% of the time they let it slide.

 

[Fiab]

Used to only curse when I was playing some Halo 3 way back when. Friends would get a kick out of it just cause I was one of them guys that just didn't swear and then a stream of em would flow from me. Randomly out of the blue it became a casual thing for me and still have no opinion about it either way. Just tend to watch it around the children and the sensitive peoples.

 

[Misomie]

I try not to curse. I just don't like the way it feels on my tongue or in my mind when I type it. It's hard to explain. I'm not against it and I'm not offended by it for the most part.

However, I do admit I cuss tons inside my head, where no one can read or hear what I say. Sometimes I will use substitutes or blank out a word if I get ticked enough. Every now and then I will accidentally cuss (like if I'm thoughtlessly mimicking someone) but as I said, I hate the feel of it.

-I don't think my parents care. My brother and sister cuss and I've not seen any anger towards it.
-Some of my (irl) friends cuss but most are like me and don't. Doesn't bug me when they do though.
-I'm not really timid or shy but really quiet because I just don't like socializing sometimes. I'm not afraid to be myself so I do goofy things in public, but I'm in no way open about my feelings, thoughts, self, ect. (I dislike people knowing things about me, I've gotten better about it but I'm still careful with what I wish to share).
-Only in my head. Usually if I make a mistake or if someone annoys me.
-Usually but it's not really enforced.

 

[Sylver]

- My parents don't mind if I curse, as long as it's not too often or too vulgar (e.g. the word that begins with c and rhymes with hunt).
- My friends swear from time to time, no it doesn't affect me at all, unless they start using the magical 'c' word a lot.
- I'm shy; I like to abstain from swearing because I believe that only people with a limited vocabulary swear; telling someone to go defenestrate him/herself is like choking them with silk.
- I'm a University student, I don't work either (my parents generously pay for everything).

 

[sniperfreak223]

Oh...andI forgot to mention that I absolutely hate to use slurs, even the "F" word (not "fuck", the other F word), since even potty-mouths have their limits, and using words meant to degrade people for race/ethnic heritage/gender/sexual preference just hurts me on the inside...but anything else is fine...

 

[Punnchy]

Alright, so here's a question for all of you.

(And no, it's not about how Harry Potter can't cast spells out of Hogwarts)

Some people I know swear quite commonly and openly- even loudly-, whilst other people that I've seen rarely- if ever - swear. They might subconsciously say it quietly, as if ashamed that someone else might hear them.

So I pose these questions:
-If you live under the same roof, what are your parents' attitudes towards cursing?
-Do your friends do it? Does it affect you?
-Would you describe yourself as timid or shy? Or quite open? Does this affect your cursing habits?
-If you don't do it socially, do you only tend to curse at yourself (say, if you hurt yourself)?
-At your school or workplace, will casual cursing land someone in trouble?

When I became an adult, the whole you can't say this/can't say that mentality at home went out the window. However I did teach myself something important in life, called proper context. My friends curse, rarely, and no it does not. I'm an extrovert, and no not really.
I've had jobs fire me for my mouth, but that's just the way things are.

 

[Ikrit]

I rarely ever curse, even around friends. So when I actually do they generally know that I'm really aggravated

 

[Eiriol]

I don't live with my parents anymore, but when I go and visit them and happen to say a swear word they tell me off and say it's "not lady-like" lol.

I think how much my friends swear and talk about sexual stuff has made me start swearing and making sexual jokes a lot more. They're a bad influence on me lol, but I still love them. However, I don't like when people swear excessively when it's not necessary, and every other word they say is the f word. Also, the word I don't like anyone around me saying, and don't say myself is the c word meaning vagina. It's just a horrible word.

I used to be really shy at school and would rarely openly swear or talk sexually. I'd swear at my brother, but not around anyone outside my family. We would get in trouble for swearing at school too, so I guess that also had an influence. Now I'm a lot more confident since coming to University, but I still make sure not to swear around old people like my grandparents, or children. I also try not to swear online and if I have to, I'll censor myself, as I never know who might read it, and don't want to unintentionally offend someone.

I will, of course, swear like a sailor if I hurt myself or am playing a video game though. =P

 

[VintageLynx]

I used to swear too much - thought it would make me fit in better when meeting new people. It didn't because when you're swearing you are not actually saying anything - it's like filler.

I still swear but before I do I think if it will add to what I'm saying. Sometimes the only word that needs saying is th F-word (like seeing someone do something stupid).

 

[Alexxx-Returns]

I will commonly use the word 'shit' to replace to word 'stuff', and say 'fuck you' when my guy takes one of my pieces when we play chess or backgammon - but I'm laughing as I do, so he knows I don't mean it maliciously. I also replace 'messed up' with 'fucked up' regularly. Some thing just work better for me.

Other than that, I can be pretty variable. It does depend on who I'm around. My parents don't like me cursing, so I won't do it around them. My best friend is one of the people who I feel most comfortable around, but I've got to be careful around her because her daughter is learning words now.

Cursing probably would get someone into trouble at uni, but I'd just rather be polite to the people above me there. They don't know me, and don't know how I mean what I say. I did once say to my tutor "I know, my essay is crap". But I've never used any stronger words.

 

[DeCatt]

"Family Reunion" by Blink-182 is a textbook example of a typical conversation between my friends and I.

 

[Hinalle K.]

I like using silly or fancy words to substitute spoken cursing. But that's just a quirk of mine.
The British do it best!

I don't mind it at all when others swear, though.

 

[Belluavir]

I refuse to accept that swearing is fundamentally different from any other words, but I do understand that many people experience these word as magical incantatons that, when spoken, make them feel uncomfortable for reasons they cant quite explain.

 

[Astus]

I don't do it because society finds it unacceptable to do it in public places, but realistically, it's just a sound that was given meaning by some person a long time ago, and it had a negative connotation assigned to it.

 

[Pantheros]

i curse alot around friends since we're all ok with it and do it every 5-8 words. When talking to other people i dont curse, even on the internet i try to control myself, usualy just saying friking or damn.
people that curse in public and are over 30 make me want to slap them..... with a plank

 

[Fallowfox]

I try only to swear when I'm stressed or emphatic, because I feel reserving my most vulgar words for such occasions affords them more power when I do use them.
This appears to be supported by research- swearing reduces the amount of pain an individual is experiencing under test conditions, and the less frequently the individual swears in their daily life the more pain-killing power the word achieves when they do use it.

Swearing is fundamentally different from other words because numerous studies have demonstrated we use different brain regions and mechanisms to process swear words to normal words, which is very curious.

 

[Distorted]

I tend to only cuss when I'm angry or frustrated. Otherwise I use other words. My folks used to be strict about it, but after I graduated they didn't care as much anymore. My brother and his friends are worse than I am though. They call each other the n-word all the time. I don't really use racial slurs myself because it doesn't feel right on my tongue.

But I do have a habit of "taking the lord's name in vain" when I cuss. I had a friend who would get so upset every time I said "goddammit" or "jesus fucking christ", which is just about all I ever say. I tried to curb the habit, but it was all I ever heard growing up.

 

[Fallowfox]

I tend to only cuss when I'm angry or frustrated. Otherwise I use other words. My folks used to be strict about it, but after I graduated they didn't care as much anymore. My brother and his friends are worse than I am though. They call each other the n-word all the time. I don't really use racial slurs myself because it doesn't feel right on my tongue.

But I do have a habit of "taking the lord's name in vain" when I cuss. I had a friend who would get so upset every time I said "goddammit" or "jesus fucking christ", which is just about all I ever say. I tried to curb the habit, but it was all I ever heard growing up.

Spice things up with an 'Oh Oden, god of gods!' Or 'thanks muhammed!' and see if his constitution improves, and if it doesn't, Ra knows you tried!

 

[Icky]

I swear all the fucking time, honestly. It's gotten to the point where I wish I had a little more of a filter, but there's honestly no use.

 

[LizardKing]

I live in northern ireland so everyone around here swears like fuck anyway (including my boss). IRL I generally only swear for emphasis, otherwise I feel it loses its potency, so to speak.

 

[Troj]

When I have the reason and the drive, I can swear like a drunken, angry sailor on Xbox Live--"fuck" is such a versatile word, after all--and my parents' swearing has actually INCREASED over time, thanks to me!

I'll casually drop the occasional obscenity conversations with friends and easygoing acquaintances, and how often that happens depends on the context and the people.

When I'm in a safe, no-shits-given space with good friends, I can crack jokes and use language that could make Daniel Tosh cry, kill pixies and unicorns dead, and have me banned from all sports leagues forever.

In contexts where I'm getting annoyed, agitated, or upset, I might employ "fuck" more firmly and in quicker succession, in roughly the same way the rattlesnake uses its rattle to warn people to step off.

Of course, I don't swear in contexts where it's going to detract from my message or cause undue hurt or offense. I also notice I swear less in contexts where part of me feels obligated to be "the adult" or "the leader."

And, one of my special abilities is that I can be incredibly edgy without the use of obscenities or slurs. You just have to be articulate and imaginative .

 

[Jags]

I actually have a horrible swearing habit - but since pretty much everyone I interact with daily does too, it's rarely an issue. I make an effort not to when young children are around, but apart from that vulgarity tends to pepper my speech.