Not because they were raised in a religious/non-religious conservative background or have a high personal emphasis about ‘manners and respect’ but just no desire to do it.
I only know two women, one is 32 and another is 23. The former is an English teacher at a small private school considered a nice and sweet by her students. The latter is one of my friends. Aside from ‘damn/dammit’, I’ve never heard her use any other words. Even her brother says the same thing.
I come pretty close, personally. Mostly as a reaction to being surrounded as a kid by teens who cursed constantly, and hating them enough to do the opposite.
I don’t curse in public and not usually in private.
My kids rarely heard me curse and then it was mostly in “dropping a hammer on my foot” type situations. Less close family members may not have heard me swear in many decades.
I’ve never heard my parents curse (except possibly when quoting someone else), though I couldn’t tell you for sure which of these is The Reason. But they (like all older adults) grew up in a time when there was a far greater taboo on cursing in mixed company, cursing in public, cursing when children were present, and of course cursing on TV or the radio.
To my grandma, that is the worst word in the world. Worse than the F-word. She doesn’t curse much, but will say “hell” or “dammit” if you piss her off enough.
Could be people at work that don’t curse, because I don’t know them well enough to say. Other than that, nope.
Well, there is one middle aged guy I know. RARELY, if ever cusses. And has as far as I know does any particular religious or personal/whatever reason for not doing so.
The FIRST time I ever heard him cuss was when a rattle snake fell on him. That is also when he invented what we now call the"man scream".
PS. Had a relative get mad about me cussing about something. I pointed out that is the whole idea of cussing. It is socially unpleasant and signals that the person cussing is PISSED about something. Obviously, this gets diluted when you are saying “lets fucking watch another Matlock episode bitch”. OTOH, when it is more along the lines of “I told NO ONE to use the God damn washing machine because we have serious XYZ issues and the God damn fucking house might have burned down or flooded”
A few but mostly for because of the reason/reasons you exclude - religion and manners. Right offhand I can’t think of one who simply doesn’t want to the way someone would just have no desire to wear purple or whatever - just as a result of desire or lack thereof.
I used to quite a bit, but I don’t anymore. Having small kids and a conservative work environment broke me of it. Looking back, I feel like I was rude to expect everyone to be cool with me casually using language that could be aggressive or distasteful.
True, sometimes a well-placed F-bomb or “bullshit” can be very effective in certain contexts, but generally it just makes you sound like an inarticulate teenager experimenting with some newfound independence.
I never curse if I am within earshot of anyone whom I have not personally heard curse themselves. If I know that everyone present feels comfortable with cursing, then I consider it to be an acceptable vocabulary.
It is easy too go a week without cursing, as I did on a vacation last year accompanied by my sister and her daughter and husband. I never heard anyone else curse, so I didn’t either. I never felt an urge to into a closet and whisper curse words building up inside me. In fact, I’ve gone on several trips of a month or longer in the past couple of years, by myseof, and I’m quite sure I never cursed once the entire trip. Sometimes I went several days without speaking to anybodyw
My mother would never say a bad word, even if quoting somebody. Of course, she grew up in a religious family and in another era.
While she could define “dammit” or “hell” as a religious no-no, I could never understand her aversion to “shit” or “fuck” – those aren’t taking the Lord’s name in vain, are they, Mom?
“Don’t use that word.”
“What word, Mom?”
“You know the word I mean. Don’t use it.”
She would claim that using such words indicated a limited vocabulary, a bad thing in a family that revered education. I always pointed out that my vocabulary was* larger* than hers, because I didn’t have the restrictions she did.
I personally curse a little more casually in non-professional situations than some people might like. Some words just lend themselves to being adjectives, you know? But I got along with a friend who was very religious and did not curse nor take the lord’s name in vain. All he asked of me was to please try to avoid taking the lord’s name in vain myself (he didn’t push about any other cursing). I had to catch myself several times but for the most part I conversed on his rules just fine. It was my first encounter with someone of such a strict personal outlook, and it was interesting to talk to him about it. He didn’t come across as a “sweet, nice” guy like some other people you notice as non-cursers. In fact it might take you a while to realize he never did.
I’ve known several, though they were all people who were deeply religious.
I used to swear quite a lot; five or six years ago, I realized that I was swearing a lot, and gave it up for Lent. I had to work at it a bit, but I pulled it off with only a couple of slip-ups, and I decided that I liked the fact that my language had become less coarse, so I kept it up.
I’m not “curse-free”, but I generally only curse these days when sorely vexed, or in a social situation when I’m surrounded by people who curse like drunken sailors.
Personally, I’ve been trying to swear more frequently. I’ve read some articles lately claiming that swearing is considered unladylike and that women are less likely to swear in general for fear of disapproval. Fuck being ladylike.
Aye! My brother-in-law has the cleanest language in the world. No cuss-words, no foul language, not even mild ones like “dang.” He was raised religious (Methodist,) but is now kind of a remote deist.
I’ve tried. I’ve really tried. And I can’t do it. The closest I can do is change “fuck” to “fook.” It helps a very little in some delicate social situations.
She doesn’t curse much, but will say “hell” or “dammit” if you piss her off enough.