Warning. There are bad words in this thread. Okay then, onward.
I’m not talking about words that are degrading to a particular person or group of people, like faggot, nigger, etc.
I’m talking about words like fuck, shit, damn, etc. used in an (otherwise) non-offensive way, such as “What the fuck is that?” or “Just put your shit in the trunk and let’s get going.” Are you offended when you hear or read such things? If so, why? IMHO, they’re just words. What if it’s censored, like “$hit” or “f***”? Does this make it less offensive in some way? Again, why exactly?
Mods, is this more GD? I never really know for sure.
I completely agree. Swear words should augment regular vocabulary, not replace it. I can swear like a drunken sailor, but I use is to punctuate what I’m saying. However, I find the C word to be pretty offensive and have used it only a few times in my life for the most deserving of people. The most vile word in the English language is the N word, which I NEVER use.
The only word which causes a rather obvious response is sl*t, I can’t explain it but it is a word which truly bothers me. Yet I hear it so often from my friends that I notice I’ve been much more accustomed to it.
I’m not generally offended, though I have some personal aversion to hearing the word shit, but that’s because of some psychological damage I suffered growing up. I try very very hard not to swear around my children (8 and 4) because I don’t want them to swear in school until they’re teenagers…
Saying fricken for fuckin’, or shoot (or poop) for shit are cutesy ways to get around this.
I use these words a lot myself, but mostly if I am frustrated, annoyed, surprised or just pissed off. I’m not offended by hearing them in casual conversation and I also use these words in my conversations, and I don’t mind hearing such words in public unless I am in a place where I wouldn’t expect to hear such words spoken (church, day care center, public library). I do get put off, though, by people who insert the f-word into their speech gratuitously.
I can’t even bring myself to say C***. Come to think of it I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to say Sl*t, either, but I’ve never had a reason to. I think it has to do with the sound of the words as much as their meaning. I say other curse words (not slurs) all the time.
I work in a very macho factory environment, life would have been miserable if I were the type to be offended by cursing. I sometimes have to remind myself how to talk when not in the shop, sucks sounding like the proverbial sailor when I’m at a bridal shower with the elderly aunts or something.
I’m not offended by people over 18 swearing. To hear kids swearing, that bothers me.
The C word doesn’t bother me at all, but the P word does. I hate that word, and especially hate it when people use that word to describe a wound that’s draining. It even happens in the dr’s office that I work in. Sounds VERY unprofessional, and I sure wouldn’t want to be the one that wrote that, as a witness in a court.
Transitional phrases, noun stand-ins, expletives & etc: Oh fuck! What is this shit? Get a fucking life, asshole! etc — doesn’t bother me.
Politically loaded terms: words with implicit “double” meanings. “Fuck” to refer to sex used to bug me (still does but I’m more desensitized to it) because it’s a violent angry assaultive word all chock-full of contempt. I’d be fine if the word was used to refer to rapes and raping because that feels like what it means, but when it’s used for sex generically it’s like saying all sex is…you know, fucked up :z
Female-parts word: really chapter two of politically loaded, I guess. For some reason “cunt” doesn’t bother me for the parts themselves ('tis a strong, snub-nosed, direct, “cope with it” unapologetically strutty-proud word). Used for a person — You stupid cunt! —I’m used to hearing it used this way only with lots of hate, and I think that would spill over into how I’d hear it even if someone tossed it in casually, e.g., “So in walks this tall cunt with a receipt for the shipment, and…” — I’d be inferring contempt for her on the part of the speaker even where none was really discernably present. For pussy, it’s different: the word has all the contempt, a bit less hate and anger, and no strength. Cunt has that tuffness about it, like bitch, whereas pussy is just defenseless weak & contempt-worthy, and so pussy does bother me when used for the parts themselves. Used for a person — funny thing is, the person it’s most often going to be used on is a male. Why don’tcha stand up and fight ya pussy.
Boyparts: Some stupid terms but most of them silly. None offend me.
Other, random categories: I don’t get the contempt and anger thing attached to “asshole”. Everyone hates assholes. Don’t know what the useful sphincter ever did to so many people to make them hate it (you want maybe it should stop?). Whatever. I do it too, you asshole. It’s like shithead. So piss off. Stinky stuff from the toilet zone. Doesn’t offend me. In excess, potty-mouth makes me think I’m in the company of 4th graders though. Actually so does “fuck” if it gets slung around to excess.
?? If I"m thinking of the right “P-word”, it’s pronounced totaly differently in refernce to a wound.
Personally, I’m not offended by swearing but I think we’re totally diluting it’s impact by using it constantly. When I was a kid, I knew my mom was mad when she used “damn”. If you go around throwing out the F-word or the C-word on a regular basis, who can tell when you’re really pissed off?
I might be misunderstanding but “pussy” as in “filled with pus” is a perfectly normal word, and not in any way unprofessional. And, as tremorviolet points out, pronounced not at all the same.
My reaction when encountering a song or whatever filled with expletives is an intense :rolleyes: along with the snarky judgement “Guess that writer wasn’t very creative”. It’s a great way to get me to ignore a message.
Expletives and interjections used under stress I have a lot more tolerance towards.
If I meet someone who regularly refers to most other people as ‘cunt’, ‘prick’, etc (not one specific person that they may dislike intensely), my opinion of them goes way down, because they obviously have no respect for others.
I am not easily offended by words. I don’t particularly like to hear the God I worship’s name being taken in vain but I can’t say that I’ve never used it myself in anger.
On average, I cuss like a sailor. I tend to watch myself a lot around my kids. I don’t want them to pick up on my vocab at ages 7 and 2.
I think a lot of it has to do with being in the business world, particularly in an industry dominated by men…I’m not shocked anymore by hearing words in the workplace.
