Is swearing a sign of a limited vocabulary?

In today’s column, Ann Landers waxes forth:

(Aside: does this mean I can keep using profanity?)

I’ve heard this argument a number of times before – not generally directed at me, because I don’t swear all that much.

I’ll grant you that some people who swear a lot have limited vocabularies – but some people who talk incessantly about sports or computers or fashion or whatever have limited vocabularies, as well.

And, obviously, some people curse eloquently and well, and some people just say “fuckin’” a lot.

But is there any factual basis for believing that the size of a person’s vocabulary can be measured by the foul language he or she uses? Or that using vulgar language diminishes my otherwise stellar vocabulary?

I try not to curse for religious reasons (and don’t often succeed these days). My vocabulary hasn’t improved since I cut down on cursing, but I’m told I have a quaint sort of distinguished sound about me because I say things like “disagreeable person” instead of assh*le (usually) or “Mercy!” instead of, well, most generic curses. Some people might think I’m a geek, others think I’m cute. But my vocabulary? When I’m mad, whether I curse or not, nobody’s taking notes on my articulation or diction.

Friggin’ Ann Landers…

Wellll… Sort of. The use of swear words for both cursing and as intensifiers can lead to being unable to think of any other way to express yourself verbally. If one becomes reliant on saying “Fsck you!” as a rejoinder, then the ability to creatively and colourfully curse someone decreases. Brains are lazy; if not made to work, they will choose the path well-trodden.

Personal example: When I was a wild and impetuous youth, I spent my time around bikers and junkies. My volcabulary didn’t so much decrease as it did become limited. Everyone swore all the time and many of them had even less education than myself. Fitting in meant speaking as they did and it became a habit. I didn’t realize how much I was relying on vulgarities to express myself until my mother made a comment about how much better spoken I had been at the age of 13 then I was at the age of 16. Yikes!

So, while I don’t believe swearing decreases your volcabulary, I do believe that swearing will encourage one to become verbally lazy. (I know that George Orwell wrote an essay on this called Politics and the English Language. He talks about the same phenomenon as regards “pat phrases” and cliches and how they affect the way we think.)

My personal antidote for verbal laziness (which includes over reliance on intensifiers such as “really,” “very,” etc.):
Reading authors whose literary style derives from a classical education. Guranteed to have me back on my verbal feet (there’s an image!) and ready to exchange witty repartee!
Current list: George Orwell, Robertson Davies, Max Beerbohm, Dorothy Parker, P.G. Wodehouse, Robert Graves, Oscar Wilde.

I have a huge vocabulary (at least as compared to the average English-speaking person) and also swear habitually (at least, among friends. The word “fuck” doesn’t seem appropriate to your typical job interview…) Even if you can find more “eloquent” ways of expressing yourself, swear words have a different impact. I’d argue they have a different function as well. I think the “limited vocabulary” argument is bullshit.

I’ve got one word for you: **JARBABYJ[/b}

I reserve swearing for when I’m under the car gettin’ greasy. Otherwise, I manage to find other words for expressing displeasure.

The there is pseudo-swearing.

“dagnab that sonova seabiscuit to heck!”

Lots of satisfactory sibilants in that one!

think this one belongs in IMHO.

I was hoping someone would know of some sort of basis for the claim, however tenuously factual. But it appears that it may just be a popular way for parents (and parental figures, like Ms. Landers) to scold people into cleaning up their foul mouths.

In which case, perhaps a move to IMHO would be wise.

I do think that the claim “people who swear have limited vocabularies” ignores the difference between the words people use and the words people know. The former is always a small subset of the latter. I may know what tonsillolith, crwth, and hebdomadal mean, but I don’t drop them into casual conversation all that often.

And while it’s fun to call someone a whoreson zed, that tends to confuse them more than “you son of a bitch.” I don’t know that a richly populated vocabulary has an advantage over everyday speech in moments of passion.

I’ve heard this argument before as “If you resort to the use of an expletive, you’ve lost the argument”. Well, bollocks.

One of those most effective tools in argument is the expression of obvious contempt. There as some people who just aren’t worth the trouble of composing a flowery and imaginative insult. A simple, hearty “f**k you!” has its place.

Why does swearing mean you have a limited vocabulary? I thought it was part of the vocabulary, thus it would mean you have a larger vocabulary…

I think you mean having a limited emotional descriptive vocabulary, for some yes, for others no.

One thing to keep in mind is that constant swearing would necessarily result in a limited vocabulary… hower, a limited vocabulary could likely result in more swearing.

Mrs. Landers’ got it half-right in her comments… if a person can’t think of a better rejoinder, they’re probably going to give out a hearty “Fck you!" However, if you have a person who is absolutely brilliant, having him say "Fck you!” won’t kill off any of his/her brain cells.

Now, now, profanity is the crutch of the inarticualte mother fucker… :smiley:

It is often said that swearing makes one look stupid, because smart people don’t have to resort to such language. But I’ve noticed that this is always said by morons. How in the fuck would they know?

Fck that. Screw that. The hell with that. What the fck would she know? She’s full of sh1t. What a load of bullsh1t. She’s coming up short on the "I know what the fck I’m talking about" meter. She doesn’t know a god d@mn thing. She’s talking out of her @ss. That smarmy-@ssed b1tch has only the most tenuous grip on reality. If you agree with everything that silly slitch has to say, do you think, as she does, that nothing bad ever happened in the fifties? Christ on a fcking pogo stick, what utter dross.

In terms of pure truth-functionality, that statement is false. It does not follow from the use of vulgar statements to the posession of a limited vocabulary, or even the USE of a limited vocabulary. It is possible, in fact probable, to have in one’s repertoire a large number of words that one would not use on a daily basis. For example, how often does one need to use “truth-functionality”, “repertoire”, or “terrawatt”? Simply put, using one word does not imply the lack of the ability to use another in its place. I make use of “imply” to mean the logical conclusion of the one from the other.

Bitch. She makes up her articles, I’m sure. Saw once that someone wrote in complaining his girlfriend wouldn’t have sex with him and concluded saying, “what kind of girlfriend would put her health above my pleasure?” Like that was real. No one who would write to Landers (or Abby, one or t’other) would write anything like that.

I have had a similar experience, when I was betwen college and my new job I spent a lot of time watching “Cops” and afternoon talk shows. I began to imitate the people on tv to make a joke, but realized after a while I was using double and triple negatives, along with swearing more than I normally do (which is a lot I’ll admit).

It doesn’t take much to clean up your language, but on the weekends - away from the office - I do take the liberty to “loosen up” my speech quite a bit. I tend to use it in a way that makes me feel more relaxed. “I ain’t goona do that” is more fun to say than “I would rather not participate in that” - its all in my state of mind.

Shit. I dunno.

Ann Landers is old. Old people say things like this. It doesn’t mean much. I trust her advice about as much as I trust that of Marylin vos Savant (wow, now there’s a great topic for a pit rant).

Swear words are part of the vocabulary of a language just as any other word is. They mean things that cannot be expressed in the same way by any other words. The emotions they evoke are peculiar only to themselves. And if one refuses to use them, I say their vocublary is that much poorer for it.

Ann Landers has obviously given scant attention to the smart, timely and well thought out rants of Dennis Miller and all of their vocabularic glory interspersed with the occassional profane jab.

Profanities are vernacular words that have their proper time and place. Ann Landers/Dear Abby are upset because that time and place occurrs more frequently (acceptably) nowadays. “O tempores! O mores!”

FYI, I know people who used to write “goof” letters to these old coots, and they’d sometimes get printed or (occasionally) they’d get direct responses like “I couldn’t print your letter, but you’d better get to a doctor immediately!” They’ve given out lists of their most unusual or humoruous items, and from them you can see that some are obviously setups on the part of the person writing in to them.

I think profanity, used appropriately, enriches a well-rounded vocabulary. I’ve taught my kids that, too. It’s not whether they swear; it’s where, when and around whom that is important.