Does Swearing Offend You?
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Do you swear or does it offend you? Do you like hearing it while you are out? Do you turn off a tv show that has too much swearing?
strangely enough I find it rather fascinating of why they are ‘bad words’ Where did they originate from? What do they really mean? Why we use them so often? Why use them if they are insults and why use them when your not angry? I might be a nerd but I find it doesn’t bother me it more makes me question lol
RiannonWood I admit that the derivation of some words fascinates me too! Bernard Cornwell, the historical author once wrote about the phrase 'fake away' changing to what's used today. (FO) It's believable because regional accents and plain laziness will change words and phrases in a relatively short period of time. eg 'he did it off his own back' ......nope! ' he did it off his own bat) (cricket term) 'one foul swoop'..... no 'one fell swoop' (like a bird of prey)
angemski Thanks... I hadn't realised "off his own bat" derived from the game of cricket, (first citation 1742) I had heard that it was to do with "brick making" the "bat" being an implement used.
Apparently the 4 letter c word used to mean friend, but has some how become an offensive term
No not really. I was initially shocked by it when my family moved to a not so great area when i was a kid, as my previous home was relatively idyllic. So when i started school and heard that everyone was effing and blinding...all I did was learn a lot of short, stark words and not take any of them to heart
Doesn't bother me at all. I'm not offended by it. Iv never stopped watching something due to swearing. I grew up in a large family, most of them potty mouthed . I dont swear alot (I think), but if I'm wound up / cheesed off well that's another story!!!
I wouldn't say I like it, but it doesn't bother me when I hear it... However, I am getting a little tired of hearing the word literally. It's like everyone has learnt a new word and can't stop saying it
Quite true - another word that got the same treatment was "majority" and not unlike "literally" has become very misused. People are using the word "majority" when "most" (or even "the bulk") should be used. I've even heard BBC weather and news reporters misusing it.
I think it depends on the swear words concerned, how often they appear in a sentence and the inference behind them. It shouldn't be common place but they are useful in certain situations. Every other word in a sentence is not on.
I don’t like swearing. it comes across as aggressive there are plenty of other words to use.
Agree absolutely. There are two types (mostly) those directed at others as in 'you f------ w-----' or there are the habitual swearers as in 'I went down the f------ supermarket to get bread and they didn't f------ well have any'. Both sound awful and the first especially aggressive and can lead to road rage incidents and other punch ups. The second are usually those brought up around swearing who think of it as just another word, but what is it actually saying? The sentence makes sense without it. There is no need for swearing but those who resort to it know no other way.
In my work with children it is a disciplinary offence to swear even in general speech, let alone at the kids. But on a daily basis we have kids effing and blinding all the way to school and their parents think there is nothing wrong with their little angels. They constantly swear around us and at us but one of our drivers got suspended because she swore at a little tyke who was trying to steal from her handbag. It makes me sick when kids have the upper hand over adults and we are not allowed to discipline them. Even shouting is not allowed these days. Whatever happened to the days when whatever adult was in charge (when out of parents sphere) was also in charge of keeping the kids in line. Of course, no one should ever physically discipline another persons child but they need to be able to exert authority. It is no wonder we have such unruly undisciplined kids these days. They have the upper hand all the time and know that adults have their hands tied when it comes to keeping them in line. Swearing is the first boundary they push and it behoves adults to set a good example. Sorry, I may be old fashioned but I will not be made to feel I am a weirdo because I believe in good behaviour.
As a little aside to my steam venting. The other day I arrived at the contact centre and a carer was entering with a child. A second child in her care refused to go in and kept running from the door and defying her. As I left I whispered to the carer (who I knew) 'don't worry, I will get her in'. I stopped about 3 yards from the child and in a loud firm voice said 'YOU, get inside NOW!' She stopped dead took one look at me and ran in the door. The next time that child saw me she smiled. Children actually prefer to be disciplined and know where the boundaries are set rather than be in the charge of a wavering adult who doesn't know what to do when they behave badly, that's when they begin to suss they can get away with bad behaviour.
I have always been firm with the kids in my care and yet when they see me they all run up and hug me and ask if I am taking them home. They also know I am fair and play games and let them watch cartoons on my phone when travelling.
It's a very generational thing I believe. I was brought up not to swear and even now I won't swear in front of my family or older people. I am the only woman at work and on the rare occasions I see anyone else, every word is a swear word, that bugs the hell out of me. I know 'research' has shown that people that swear a lot are intelligent but to me it shows a lack of vocabulary and being unable to articulate. I was brought up to respect others and I am able to hold a conversation without swearing.
I was in my car last weekend and in front of me on a two lane set of traffic lights was a 7 seater with 4 young boys in aged roughly 2 to 5, they were sticking their fingers up at people, gesticulating with their hands and shouting at everyone 'you f****** c***' the parents were finding it hilarious and every other road user was appalled. How is that OK in anyone's eyes?
Sadly, it's become so commonplace that it will soon be absorbed into everyday language and ignored. Before I get judged as a goody two-shoes I admit I am quite capable of some fairly juicy epithets, spoken with vehemence but in private. I absolutely twitch when I hear it in a public place, punctuating every sentence with eff, regardless of who else is close by. It goes hand in hand with starting a sentence with 'so' and a rash of 'likes' it's just boring and uninspired.
Isn't it sad though, that you are worried about being judged as a goody two shoes. People who swear or do other things that offend society in general are not held up as baddy two shoes, in fact they are often proud of their lack of morality and are held up as examples to the younger generation. I don't understand why those who choose not to offend are ridiculed for being goody two shoes. I am proud to behave morally and try very hard not to offend, even though I am far from perfect and, like Johnny, will sometimes slip up when I bash my head on the kitchen cupboards, but as I live alone I am offending no one. I did on one isolated occasion swear during a phone conversation with my youngest son in his 40s and he was shocked to the core as he had never heard me swear before. He kept saying mum, I can't believe what I just heard, mum, I feel really upset hearing you say that!
Do you swear or does it offend you?
Rarely if ever in public, and yes it offends me.
However I will almost certainly swear when I bash by head on a low beam, or hit my thumb with a hammer.
Do you like hearing it while you are out? No. I hate it.
Do you turn off a tv show that has too much swearing? Yes, especially if I feel it's unnecessary.
I think it's absolutely discusting the kids today could do with a bar of soap in their mouth they even call each other bad names and it's a joke to them.
Adults are just as bad swearing in supermarkets at there children and the one word I just can't bear is the c one. No need for it I swear yeah but not in every sentence like I hear all time if am angry that's different
No. Although i don't like hearing children swear and there's times where it is inappropriate. I don't like the C word either but in general chat with friends etc it doesn't bother me.
I swear like a trooper, so no. I blame guns n' roses and their album appetite for destruction. I was 13 and it opened up a whole new world of swearing for me. I try not to swear but it just comes out.
You give words the power you want.
The final scene of this episode probably would have been worded differently today because tons of people have a stick up you know where.
Normally, I don't care much, and I swear (mostly to myself). But there was a situation that bothered me the other day...
I overheard a young mother tell her son (maybe 5 years around), because he was being slightly noisy, to "stop being a noisy c*nt", while she bottle fed her other baby.
I don't particularly have anything against that word, but to use it against a little boy, her child, as if it's a normal thing to do... What the hell?
That has to be the worst word ever! It's been around for hundreds of years and yet it's the one I detest. I think it's because it's so guttural and it's meaning. Even worse that a woman would use it talking to a child.
angemski it does tend to be the one people hate the most. I don't think the meaning is offensive. There are plenty of synonyms for the word that are more common, and in some cases used differently. But yeah, I just didn't get her speaking to her or like that. I was genuinely shocked and appalled.
I swear when I am angry. There are certain swear words that I cringe if I hear like the
C u next Tuesday one.
No, it never has. It depends where you are, and who you are with. I suppose I spend a lot of time around people who have looser lips
I'm a chef and sadly my filter over the years has broken, it works Infront of my Nan but I have on many an occasion dropped flowery language in front of my Mum. My sister has to tell me that I'm on speaker now when we talk on the phone because my 3year old nephew is a sponge.
It doesnt bother me in conversation but at people in an aggressive way or when you see children swearing on the street its not very nice. I swear all the time though most of the time in conversation without even realising
I agree that there are two types of swearing, I personally don't like to hear it but have friends and colleagues that use it as part of their normal conversation and I suppose I have just got used to the way that they talk. I absolutely cringe at one particular swear word though, just no need for it.
No I swear a lot and have since being young. They are just words.
There are MUCH more annoying words that make me wanna land a fist in a face when I hear it lol. Such as bae and a million other things
I don't mind and will occasionally use "mild expletives" but unless more colourful language is required, perhaps in a joke, then I object to it and won't use it. I do tend to avoid films and TV programs where too much bad language is unnecessarily used.
They don't offend me, i like a good swear word I was brought up on it, but i am careful in front of other people as i dont want to offend
If it's done in every other sentence unnecessarily, then yes.
But if it's only done here and there or when someone is angry, then I am not really bothered.
I very much doubt that any of us has a perfectly clean tongue.
RegularComper90 I agree with you and it makes me laugh when the top hated word is ......... 'moist'
We are a strange lot.
Swearing is just a lack of intellect and class - next time you see Hugh Laurie or Stephen Fry just listen and see how many times they swear - then stick on some Love Island nonsense or other low brow thicko program - sadly people have become desensitised to foul language and think its the norm thats why society is in retrograde evolution - come to Slovakia where i live 6 months of the year - no swearing or violence at night , no girls pulling their boobs out in the street or boys fighting and swearing in the street - then tell me when you come back to the UK that you are not shocked - I was when i first came back from 3 months in Presov!
And yes I speak Slovak and Czech so do understand when someone says Turanitsa or Hovno!
My Italian friends said it well "All your average brit (with a small "b") needs these days is his beer , his faags and his football"
How sad is that!
I have just been to the contact centre to collect a baby to take home and was waiting patiently in the hallway for him to be brought out. In the kitchen right next to me a mother was having a go at the supervisor for following her (that is the rule when mother leaves the room with the children) and said something rude about the two of us hovering over her. I pointed out politely that I was just there to collect a child but I think she was cross because her children ran up to me and chatted as they know me well.
She went back in the room where I could hear her swearing and shouting at the supervisor and then she slammed back out and passed me again saying 'and you, you effing c---'
I felt as if I had been punched.
To everyone on here saying swearing is ok I would ask how that would make you feel and if it is not ok then why is it ok to say the self same words in a different attitude or context. Either way it is an assault on my ears and as someone who doesn't swear it actually gives me a physical reaction.
If it is so ok why is it not deemed appropriate to swear in polite company, at a job interview, in front of children, on TV (except later dramas and comedy) or in a school, hospital, or anywhere that people work and there are signs up about not accepting that type of behaviour. I think it would make for a politer and nicer society if people didn't swear but what does an old fogey know? All I know is that the woman has ruined my day.
Someone on here once actually called me a f***ing c*nt. Yes, the full actual words uncensored. That was around a year ago now, and I am still puzzled as to how it managed to bypass the word filter.
And it can certainly be hurtful.
People do say that it's just words, but words can be very powerful.
Lol I know what you mean and and am really puzzled about your example too RegularComper90. I once had a deal for a pantomime about D. Whittington censored so am amazed that got through.
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