I guess that there are a few different dynamics to this question:
(1) When did it become OK for you, mentally, to cuss in front of your parents?
(2) When did it become OK for you to cuss in front of your parents, without facing any punishments?
(3) When did it become OK for you to cuss in general?
For my part, I didn’t start using cuss words with any regularity until I was about 12 or 13; up until that point, I very much bought into the argument of my parents that cussing was arbitrarily “wrong” and that doing it at all would make me feel guilty in some way. Moreover, before the middle years of my adolescence, I’d always face somewhat severe consequences for using cuss words at home and at school, ranging from things such as harsh scoldings from my parents or detention after having had my cussing outed to a teacher by a fellow student.
I think that, in general, cussing just became OK to do once I got over the silliness of my parents’ argument and matured enough to the point that I started to intelligently choose when to utilize cuss words in my speech; from there, I wouldn’t just cuss for its own sake but rather because any terms that I’d use were probably appropriate for whatever discussion I was engaged in. Still, I never felt comfortable cussing in front of my parents until it just started happening naturally around the time I hit 14 or 15, and, though it was never excessive, I was able to start dropping the occassional s-word or f-bomb without facing any punishments or whatever from my parents.
To this day, though, I still think that cussing isn’t really appropriate at all in a school setting. Although I’m passed the point in my life wherein I could face arbitrary punishments such as detention or demerits for cussing in a classroom, it still seems a bit uncalled for to cuss in a classroom given the inherent nature of the academic environment.
Never. I never knowingly used foul language in my mother’s presence. My kids, yes, sadly they’ve seen me in a rage on more than one occasion (not directed at them). My mother went upside my head once when I was 24 for a ‘breach of etiquette’. I don’t think she would have tolerated it at all.
After I left active duty the bad language pretty much evaporated from my vocab. Once I lose my temper though the ‘old’ G0sp3l rears his ugly head.
Hmm regular things like “shit” or “a shitty thing” probably first, maybe around 12 as well. A little later words like “fuck”. Sometimes my mum still says “I beg your pardon”, but she swears herself as well I grew up in a bilingual household, but Dutch swear words are used much less, as they are often really horrible, nasty and ugly words. They swear with diseases, and I think my parents would still be shocked if I started using “cancer”. It’s a nasty thing to say, so I don’t say it anyway.
I don’t swear around my grandparents though, dutch or english…
God, I’m 35 years old and my mother is dead and I still wouldn’t curse in front of her.
Saying “fuck” in front of your mom? :eek: I remember when I was in college and they withdrew my tuition and told me if I wanted to finish college I’d have to consent to an arranged marriage RIGHT AWAY to a man of their choosing…I told them to "Go to hell’ and was appalled at my own daring.
I’ve been cussing around my mom since I was 16 or so. Not that she liked it, but there wasn’t much she could’ve done. I try not to anymore, but old habits are hard to break. I’d try the quarter in the jar trick, but Donald Trump couldn’t afford that.
I started cussing when I was 10 or so. Mostly just around my friends, as it was the “cool” thing to do at that age.
My mom gets all up in arms when she “takes the Lord’s name in vain” or says damn or asshole. She’ll sometimes get mad enough to say the latter two and, when she does, she’ll apologize first, then whisper the word. I occasionally swear in front of her when I’m really mad (though would never swear at her), but I usually preface it with an excuse me out of habit or she gets mad at me.
What’s funny is that she gives me the finger and has since I was in high school. Only she’ll put up three fingers (index, middle finger & ring finger), then tell me to “read between the lines.” In my book, that’s the same as giving me the finger, but she gets offended when I just flip the bird. Apparently there’s an acceptable way to give someone the finger and doing so directly is just crass. And ladies should never be crass.
I started swearing among my peers in 8th grade, so about 12 or 13.
I cussed once in front of my mom. I was in my early 30’s, married and had a kid (not with us at the time). I said “Damn it” while trying to parallel park. She was so “shocked and appalled” that I haven’t done it again.
My kid (13) doesn’t get in trouble for saying damn, but shouting “what the fuck?!?!” at the Playstation in my presences is not tolerated.
My mom still scolds me (a 26-year-old adult who hasn’t lived with her since I was 18) for using language she doesn’t approve of. Including ‘taking the Lord’s name in vain’. I don’t see her much though. My sisters and I all have dirty mouths and are atheists, we say what we want now that she’s not the boss. When we lived with her we had to toe the line.
When I was a kid, it was situational: If I stubbed my toe or whacked my thumb with a hammer, a “shit” or a “dammit” wasn’t going to get me grounded or anything. Otherwise, only the mildest of curse words (hell or damn) weren’t frowned upon after I was grown and paying my own bills. These days, even the F word isn’t off-limits, but only with extreme provocation. I’m 42, and still won’t say GD in front of my mother, because she believes and would be very offended at the broken Commandment.
In front of my mormon dad & stepmom: I’m 42 and it’s *still *not okay. Which doesn’t stop me, but it does slow me down. I might say damn instead of fuck, but I have been known to drop an f-bomb if I think it’s appropriate. What’s dad gonna do, ground me? Psh. I try not to use his lord’s name in vain out of respect for him, but other cussing… :: shrug :: Once, in a conversation, I started to say fuck and pulled it back and changed it to a g-rated curse instead. He laughed so I said, “Hey, at least I caught it.” He actually thanked me for trying.
In front of my mom: Probably around 14 or 15. She’s a nurse and not only is nothing sacred, but pretty much any cuss goes. She’s a big fan of “fuck.” We were allowed to cuss at home – I don’t remember ever getting in trouble for it with her – but out in public we were expected to at least attempt some degree of civility. I took her and one of her friends on a road trip once and asked Mom’s friend if she was offended by my potty mouth. I’d dial it back if she was. She said that she was fine with it because I use cuss words as mostly adjectives and do not really direct them toward people. As long as I’m not cussing out people, she was fine with random colorful language.
I don’t know. The first time I was spanked was when I was two or three and read some “funny” words from a toilet stall and repeated them dutifully to my mother. Given her relish it was probably something like “Fuck off and die, whore.” Since then, through my teens, I never cursed in “mixed” company – meaning both parents present and/or some “alien” to our pod, but somewhat vaguely was able to throw in the odd word when warranted.
Never, never, ever talked the way I do now in front of either parent – I would never say “Hey, pop, I got some major whore-tongue last night and did some poker in the rear when them baconstrips had their fill.” I wasn’t smart enough and didn’t even get laid (source of all cursing!) until I was sixteen. I didn’t even know what it meant for a woman to “cream her shorts” until I repeated the phrase (overheard from a boss of my father) and had it explained at twelve or so.
I hang with my mother from time to time and in the car (I’m thirty-five now and see her maybe once a week) and it’s a veritable shanty-town when she gets anxious about some other asshole driver – I’ll usually say, “I’ll take a blowtorch to that cunt’s face and put cholera in the wound,” usually prompted by her saying something tame like “that bitch, I hope she dies.” This is a sixty year old woman with graduate degrees, not some toothless hick, mind you.
Late teens. Mom’s actually a pretty good swearer, and had to make herself stop it again when my siblings had small children. I assume she did the same when we were little, since I don’t remember her talking like that when we were kids.
I use mild cuss words around them (shit, piss, hell, damn) but nothing stronger.
Once, when I was about thirty and raising children, I accidentally dropped an F-bomb within my mother’s hearing. She backhanded me across the face, bloodying my nose. :eek:
Although my dad uses the same kind of mild curse words, I’ve never heard him use fuck or any of its variants, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he used it around the guys at work.
I grew up in a bilingual household, but Dutch swear words are used much less, as they are often really horrible, nasty and ugly words. They swear with diseases, and I think my parents would still be shocked if I started using “cancer”. It’s a nasty thing to say, so I don’t say it anyway.
Which doesn’t stop me, but it does slow me down. I might say damn instead of fuck, but I have been known to drop an f-bomb if I think it’s appropriate. What’s dad gonna do, ground me? Psh. I try not to use his lord’s name in vain out of respect for him, but other cussing… :: shrug :: Once, in a conversation, I started to say fuck and pulled it back and changed it to a g-rated curse instead. He laughed so I said, “Hey, at least I caught it.” He actually thanked me for trying.