“Huh? No, what the fuck are you… I’m not… We’re talking about unchecked aggression here, dude.”
Stranger
I don’t curse in front of my elders and my students. Otherwise I curse like a sailor. Although I go through phases depending on the company I keep.
I swear too much but I think I do it…ironically? I have a degree in journalism, I do know other words. I just like the powerfulness of swear words when used properly.
I make a point never to swear around kids. I never swear when I go to a ball game.
When I went on a week’s vacation with some friends and their 1-year-olds, I felt really bad because by the second day I’d decided that the hardest thing about being around little kids so much was the fact that I couldn’t swear. It made me feel like a real piece of work that I lamented not being able to swear!
I usually don’t swear all that much overall, but it is not really a conscious decision and I don’t hesitate when I do. So option #6 probably comes the closest.
My level of swearing in general has skyrocketed since I began my graduate studies. I began my master’s program in 2006 and very rarely cursed; now as I near the end of my PhD, the following phrase gets said at least once every time I go to open up a program on my 5-year old PC:
“C’mon motherfucker!!! I double-clicked two goddamn times, you piece of shit. Jesus.”
I curse a lot when I’m driving. I have road rage issues. Outside the car, basically never, unless “sucks” and “crap” count as cursing.
Do non-standard swears count?
I used to never curse, and my head nearly exploded. Then I came up with the idea of making my own words, which technically weren’t obscene but relieved the pressure. True, most of them started with f and ended on a hard consonant, but there’s not much one can object to about “flurg”, “fork”, and “frog”.
I’ve also started saying “dran” instead of “darn”. It started out as a very frequent typo, I began to write/say dran on purpose as a joke, and it became a habit. It’s technically as innocuous as darn, but it feels stronger.
Um, so depending on your definition, I either never swear, or I turn the air blue when I get upset and for strong emphasis.
Scarlett67- I, too, was wondering how a white man could be equipped with an African-American member.
I would say I swear about an average amount - I don’t ever try to stop myself from swearing if I’m around friends. (Or apparently while I’m at work. My work is not a very formal environment, and my boss frequently drops the F-bomb.) However I also have a collection of pet euphemisms. I say ‘bollards’ instead of ‘bollocks’ (which admittedly is pretty tame over here in the states anyway), and I say ‘oh dear’ pretty often.
I try not to cuss in front of my kids so that when I do, it scares them.
Otherwise, no particular effort not to, but I’m not too bad. “Holy shit” doesn’t count as cussing, does it? Didn’t think so.
Fucking constantly.
I swear much more when I’m alone than when in company. With friends, infrequently, but whenever the urge takes me, and with others, I don’t swear at all…
… but when I’m home alone, you’ll hear my exclamations of ‘ohhh fuuuuuuuccckkk!’ echoing through the house.
I also swear a lot, creatively, in my own head. Inspired by Bill Nighy’s performance in Love Actually, I love using strings of words like ‘fuck wank bugger arse shitting dick fuck!’
I’m the opposite. I have less of a problem using it here. It communicates something that is normally lost without tone of voice.
What I am trying to do is not get mad so easily, so I have np reason to use the words.
I had a friend, years ago, who said he was sometimes vulgar but never profane. I’d say that covers what you said there.
I guess it depends. Cursing (or cussing) means different things to different people, but to clarify my bit of oddity, I’ll use the occasional ‘damn’ or ‘hell’ in writing, but never actually say these words. I prefer ‘heck’ over ‘hell’ and actually say ‘heck’ a heck of a lot in real life. I’ve never felt comfortable with the F-word, or the S-word, even in writing, and use ‘freak’ and ‘crap’ instead, although I have been known to write ‘effin’ from time to time.
My family was very religious when I was a child; they still are actually, and cursing simply was not done or condoned, and even though I am a confirmed atheist and have been for over 30 years now, that part of my upbringing is still very much a part of me.
I never learned to use ‘those words’ and I pretty much did learn not to. When I was a child, my dad would occasionally let loose with a ‘damn!’ or ‘hell!’, immediately followed by a stern admonition from my mother.
For the most part, the worst I ever do is a very strong ‘bullshit!’ when I’m very angry, and usually hurt, in an argument with my husband. I have actually used the ‘f-word’ twice in anger. No, wait, make that three times. Once in the past month of so. (And once not in anger, about a year ago.)
My husband has remarked on my potty mouth in the past year, since I have taken to using the word ‘crap’ sometimes. More often than I would like, actually.
Sometimes I almost wish I could, but it just doesn’t work for me. Since I’ve been hanging around here I’m much less affected by reading, or even hearing ‘really bad language’, but it’s just not me to use it.
Sometimes at especially assholish drivers. Mostly when alone in the car.
Computers bear the brunt of my cursing. Yeah, I go all anthropomorphic on their asses all the fucking time 
Working in the field doesn’t help…
Almost never, and never intentionally, to another person’s face, unless jokingly (which is not all that rare, but I make sure it’s obvious! :D)
I’m from Spain, sweetheart… my English tends to be clean, but only because I find English cussing fucking boring.
The Nephews’ Proud Parents don’t even want the Kidlets to be exposed to such horribly unacceptable words as “turd” or “shit” (meanwhile, conversations at the table between Proud-Mom-the-GP and my 70yo mother on the subject of fecal matter are acceptable - except then it’s me and the Bros who ask for a timeout during meals please); now that the Kidlette is in pre-K and the Kidlet has been in kindergarten for two years it’s not so bad, but for a while there I was thinking I’d have to start speaking in writing to make sure I didn’t break their censorship rules.
I used to curse only in foreign languages, because it seemed a bit more polite than cursing in English, and my ex husband didn’t care if I cursed in front of his daughter in foreign languages, but hated it when I did otherwise. Then I started working for the agency I currently work for, and I stopped fucking caring what other people thought. Mostly. I still pretty much hold back in front of my mother, out of respect.
I use cursing as a way to really make a strong point when I’m working. It is a way to escalate a situation without going too far overboard.
I don’t make a special effort not to swear, but it doesn’t happen very often. More online than IRL. And as some others have said, I never blaspheme. “Jesus Christ” is only ever a name to me, even in the privacy of my head, but I have to make a conscious effort to stop myself using "g-ddamn’ and variants when I’m pissed.
I think that cursing is to language what Habanero peppers is to food: Required at certain occasions, but will dilute its effect if overused. And I agree that cussing all the time does give a poor impression. It seems uneducated and vulgar. Really chewing someone out has a stronger effect if you’re not using those Goddamn motherfucking swearwords all the fucking time. When used properly, cursing gives a really nice contrast to the otherwise fairly civilized language I try to use. Even if it takes some training to cuss like a real pro.
And yeah, I totally agree that Finnish probably is one of the better languages to cuss in. I like to throw in a few of those myself once in a while, for variation and comic effect.