# Is there any foul language you won't use? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876 "2010-02-06T02:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/41 "2010-02-06T16:30:13Z")
I don’t use the c word or ethnic, racial or homophobic slurs. Everything else is fair game. My favorite phrase is “For fuck’s sake!” which is employed often… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/42 "2010-02-06T16:32:09Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I would laugh in your face. Yeah, it’s pretty funny when the word is used against people who don’t give a shit, isn’t it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/43 "2010-02-06T16:55:22Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Yeah, it’s pretty funny when the word is used against people who don’t give a shit, isn’t it? 🙂 I find it hilarious if someone thinks they are going to win an argument with me by calling me a cunt. Especially when it’s even my preferred anatomical nomenclature! I’m sure I would be devastated. Right after I stopped giggling. ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/44 "2010-02-06T16:56:58Z")
Nothing’s off-limits to me, generally because I don’t give a shit, and most company I keep don’t give a shit. I do not subscribe to the idea that being more PC will lead to a kinder, gentler world. That said, if I know certain things offend a person grievously, I’m generally mindful enough to refrain. Even when I want to offend someone, there’s more effective and creative ways to do it without painting myself as a racist or sexist in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/45 "2010-02-06T18:08:56Z")
Racial slurs. The rest I don’t give a shit about. People who think that calling a woman a cunt = automatically winning the argument are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/46 "2010-02-06T18:34:20Z")
I don’t swear much - only when I’m really angry. The only words I use are fuck, shit & bloody. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/47 "2010-02-06T18:43:27Z")
No racial/religious slurs (unless a joking ‘Papist’ counts). I also wouldn’t use ‘gay’ to mean ‘stupid’. ‘Cunt’ is not going to win anybody any arguments in the UK. For one thing, it is used for both genders. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/48 "2010-02-06T18:58:47Z")
Redneck and Shit Kicker are words I try to avoid these days. It’s not easy when you live in the heart of Dixie. My uncle had a colorful way of chewing out employees that weren’t working hard enough. He say, “You aren’t worth a c\*nt full of cold piss.” Interesting expression. I almost said it once after one my my employees wrecked our truck. I bit my lip and called him an asshole instead. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/49 "2010-02-07T00:45:52Z")
That’s a good one, **aceplace57**. Or rather: that’s a good one, **aceplace57** ’s uncle. Must remember that one. Otherwise, I don’t use ethnic slurs unless I’m reallyreallyREALLY sure that the other person will laugh it off, and I honestly think it wouldn’t occur to me to call something “gay” or to call someone a “homo” when meant as an insult. If I’m calling something gay, it’s literal, along the lines of differentiating between gay porn and straight porn. Not something that comes up in casual conversation all that much… Otherwise, I curse waaay more than a lady like me fucking should. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/50 "2010-02-07T00:58:03Z")
My wife won’t use the “G\*d Damn,” and she doesn’t like to hear it so I try not to say it around her. Otherwise I’m pretty free with it. I don’t see it as irreverent. If anything, it’s a request that He do some damning of my target. About the only words that I don’t say are c-bombs and racial epithets. If I drop a c-bomb on someone people know I mean business. It almost never happens. I can’t actually remember the last time I used it. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/51 "2010-02-07T00:58:36Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I find it hilarious if someone thinks they are going to win an argument with me by calling me a cunt. Especially when it’s even my preferred anatomical nomenclature! I’m sure I would be devastated. Right after I stopped giggling. After saying ‘nigganigganigga’ about 40 times in one day, I go to my job, set at my desk and have a customer hiss it out with as much venom as he can spew. We put him on mute speaker phone and crack up. Impotent rage is funnier when someone thinks they are wielding a hammer, but they are actually holding a feather. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/52 "2010-02-07T00:59:47Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > ‘Cunt’ is not going to win anybody any arguments in the UK. For one thing, it is used for both genders. I had some friends from UK who used that one liberally, but they said they’d never use it to refer to a female. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/53 "2010-02-07T01:03:08Z")
I try hard not to curse in front of women. It was a taboo when I grew up. I should have mentioned my uncle ran a mechanics shop and had an all male crew. He would have never dropped a c-bomb (my earlier post) in front of ladies. That was an odd time back then. Men cursed in front of each other. I’m reasonably sure women cursed within their crowd. But doing it in mixed company, back then, was a major faux pas. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/54 "2010-02-07T05:04:01Z")
[Obligatory](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E_7q4hzWFc)? ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/55 "2010-02-07T05:42:03Z")
I use them all. I use “cunt” regularly when something is going horribly wrong with some sort of project, especially having to do with home repair. I use “nigger” on occasion in the context of “I’m tired of being my beloved employer’s nigger.” But I never use these two, either directly or indirectly, WRT people. I’ve probably used just about every other bad word in the English language. I regret English is so impoverished when it comes to cursing, compared with other languages. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/56 "2010-02-07T06:04:04Z")
I don’t use racial slurs or “gay”, but I also don’t swear much. When I do swear, anything that’s off-limits depends on who I’m with and what they’d be offended by. I learned at an early age to learn different manners and actions in different situations. It’s handy. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/57 "2010-02-07T10:00:40Z")
Nope, no limits for me! I try not to swear, really I do, but sometimes streams of profanity spew forth. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/58 "2010-02-07T11:26:28Z")
Never say the C word. Never swear in front of females. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/59 "2010-02-07T11:48:15Z")
I’ve had compliments on my creative swearing abilities. Really my only problem with swears is that I don’t know enough non-English ones. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876/60 "2010-02-07T13:46:56Z")
I’m sure ethnic slurs go without saying. Otherwise 99% of the board would let us all know they don’t use the N word. (Or maybe 90% after reading p2.) I don’t say ‘cock’ when pissed off, ever. Nor variations on it. Just doesn’t come naturally. It was an ex’s preferred term in the bedroom but that’s about the only time I’ve used it. I don’t use homophobic terms and I try and avoid “bitch”, which I actually find worse than cunt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-foul-language-you-wont-use/527876.md?page=4)