Being a Christian I try to refrain from vulgar language, but I have always been curious as to why people curse. Can’t you find a nicer, more polite way of communicating yourself? Besides the morality of it all, I don’t think that I’d curse even if I weren’t a Chrstian just because of the “I’m desperate to make a point” attitude that is associated with it. Thoughts? BTW, please be kind. Thanx.
Well being a Christian you do know that “the enemy” is out there, he is the one using the vulgar lanquage.
Dam did I just say that?
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” W.Zevon
I used to swear a lot, a byproduct of working on trading floors for the last dozen years. Now I swear less.
But I still swear. I pick a curse word exactly as carefully as I pick any other word, which is to say sometimes quite carefully and sometimes not carefully at all.
So when I’m in casual conversation, I’ll let the occasional obscenity pass my lips just as I’d say “ain’t” or “fuggedaboudit” or any of the other casual things I’d say. And just as with the other expressions, I consider my audience. If I’m with people whom I know or suspect to be upset or offended by an obscenity I’ll avoid it just as I’d avoid bringing up a recent bender to a recovering alcoholic.
In more formal conversation, I also use swear words exactly as carefully as I choose other words. If I’m trying to make a particular point about how upset or insistent I am, I’ll use an obscenity instead of a less intense word. Likewise, I might use the word “lie” rather than “misrepresent” to convey the same impression.
So I guess to me, curse words are just words. They can be (and often are) used to offend or shock, but context is key and sometimes the context calls for it.
Jenkinsfan asked:
Fuck if I know.
People need words that are sufficiently strong to express an intense state of emotion, and curse words provide exactly that. Granted, they’re overused by a lot of people. Bad words aren’t bad if they can’t be shocking, and if folks punctuate every other sentence with their favorite expletive, then the words cease to be taboo and lose their power. Look how the F-word has evolved over the years.
I’m not much of a cusser myself. When I’m around peers I usually make an effort to slip in the occasional swearword just to keep up with the vernacular, but I’m pretty well-trained most of the time, especially around my family.
I think it all goes back to the first grade when I made fun of a little girl with the suggestive surname of Schmidt. “Look,” says I. “There goes Susan Shit!” Being a first grader, this was the funniest thing in the universe. Unfortunately, Mrs. Houston overheard my little bon mot. Mrs. Houston was a beast — she called my parents and forced me to write “I will not use bad language in school” 500 times after publicly apologizing to Susie (who didn’t even hear the joke). I was pretty much humiliated.
Anyway, I don’t think cursing is much of a moral problem, unless you’re purposely insulting another person. After all, they are just words. I’ve always been an “actions speak louder than words” kinda guy anyway.
-JB
jenkinsfan:
I will try to be as kind as possible but,
This is not the passive agressive christian BBQ pit. If you want to post a question to me then don’t chide me while you do it ok?
Here is how that sounds to me. Excuse me while I do some witnessing as I ask this question and BTW speak as I speak for I am holier than thou and thy speech is but trash under my feet.
Well geeezz I have been striving for perfection most of my life but I just don’t think I am gonna get there.
You are probably a nice person jenkinsfan but loaded, troll-like questions like the one you posted above…well they just tend to piss me off ok?
And notice, I only used one curse word the whole reply!
I curse when I want to emphasize a point. For the most part I don’t use profanity, it sounds bizarre and foreign coming out of my mouth. HOWEVER, if I have a point that I NEED people to listen to, I will get their attention anyway I can.
Or when I’m frustrated. Like when the computer restarts itself while I’m working. Then I sound something like this “Wha’FUCK!?”
That allows everybody around me to know not to bother me until I get my computer working again. All in all, profanity is very useful.
My question is this. I have friends who get all offended when I say “fuck” around them, because they are Christians. These same Christians go to the dances and act like they are having sex with various people on the floor. “Pimp Dancing” is what my friend Chris calls it. That’s a bit hypocritical to me. Does anybody else experience anything like that?
I didn’t mean to be agressive.
You are free to say what you want and if I don’t like it I’m fully aware that I can leave. I wasn’t even trying to witness either…I was just asking why people curse so much. BTW, if you’re dissapointed, I’ll gladly witness to ya! 
What is a troll-loaded question? Sorry about p****** you off.
Thank you sir.
God bless,
jenkinsfan
jenkinsfan:
Tell me which is more offensive? Someone’s occasional lapse in language brought on by the heat of passion or someone else purposely implying people not following their faith will burn? Whether I believe what you do or not, aren’t you implying a curse of sorts on me? Suppose I start the First Church of the Lswotes and my theology is that anyone named jenkinsfan will die by being disemboweled horribly in front of their children and their children right after them, and I create a sig that says. ETERNITY: EVISERATED OR NON EVISERATED?
Even though my sig doesn’t specifically curse you, if you understood what I professed my beliefs to be, wouldn’t you feel I had cursed you or at least exhibited horribly poor taste? What evidence can you put before me that proves your rights to purport damnation of me are greater than mine to purport damnation of you?
Sorry if my previous response is one more appropriate for a general question or great debate but here is where the thread is and great debates is down anyway.
OP:
This is a sincere question: on what basis do you consider profanity to be immoral? Obviously, the bible condemns profanity, but that is specifically using the name of god in a non-reverant manner. There is also a biblical injunction against swearing, but there the term is clearly meant to indicate “oath-taking”, not using socially unacceptable words. (Anybody have this cite? Jesus says something to the affect of “Say yes when you mean yes, and no when you mean no. There is no need to bring my Father’s name into it.”). Third, there is a biblical command “not to speak in anger.”. This dosen’t seem to apply to any particular word–saying “I wish you had never been born” is clearly speacking in anger; saying “I am so fucking happy to see you, my love.” clearly is not.
Sin is that which displeases God and seperates a person from him. I don’t think that casual profanity fits this definition. Now, you can say that casual profanity is rude, and that you prefer not to hear it and that it shouldn’t be said in polite company, but I do not think you can say it is a sin, or that a person using it is going against God’s will.
Big mistake. The second sentence on the above post should be:
Obviously, the bible condemns blasphemy. . .
Becuase “gosh darn” does not feel right when I drop something heavy on my foot.
THAT is WHY!
Osip
Words are just words–the idea of some words being “bad” or “taboo” is silly. Personally, I pride myself in being pretty good at choosing the communication style which best gets my point across. Usually, this means keeping what I will define as “shock words” to a minimum–I don’t think strings of “fucks” and “shits” are helpful to reasoned debate. But if reason won’t work in a given case, I’ll piss 'em off instead.
Someone else said it better than I ever could:
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”
–Mark Twain
Geobabe, have I formally introduced myself and expressed how much I enjoy your posts? You rock…
The trouble with cussing is it’s like lint around velcro; you have it around you and after a while it just sticks. It becomes almost devoid of meaning—to the user.
Like Manny, I had a real problem after associating with some honestly great people who could turn the air blue ordering breakfast. Blasphemey, obscenity, mind-boggling insults based on familial sexual practices…you name it. It was weird how fast it stuck–and came out of my mouth. And I’m a product of parents who maybe twice in their lives turned red faced, huffed, suffered and burst out with a heartfelt, “damn!”.
I’ve tried to reject the habit, more from precision than moral grounds. Frankly, anyone who has to resort to standard cussing suffers from a lack of imagination and vocabulary. “Habit cussing” is more weak than offensive, IMO; I don’t enjoy hearing it, but it’s sort of a meaningless white-noise any more. (Man, is THAT sad.)
Words count, and they can hit harder than sticks and stones. So I think they should be used with precision and intent–not to say I achieve it. But the truly deadly, human from-the-heart condemnation of cussing only has weight and impact when used sparingly–and precisely.
Veb
I need to vent on this for a minute.
I curse. On occasion, I spew forth sentences that would make a drunken plumber with 30 years in the Navy reel.
I don’t have to curse. I just DO.
I speak to the situation at hand. At a sausage party, I’ll spit out such vitriol as to kill dandelions. In mixed company, you would never hear a foul word.
In essence I’m saying these things:
- I’m going to speak to you the way you like to be spoken to.
- I don’t resort to cursing as a vain attempt to inject artificial power into my words. My vocabulary is strong enough, should I elect to put it to use.
- We speak in emotion and idea. Sometimes, it just comes out that way.
Peaceouuuuuuuuut!
How else could you convey that the bastard just fucked your shit up?
Seriously, watch the South Park movie. I believe its message is that words are only what we make them. The only reason that curse words are so ‘bad’ is because we make them bad. Words are just sounds, just noises. They only convey what we pack into them. If you call someone a jerk when you mean he’s a fucking asshole, it means the same thing as if you had called him a fucking asshole. It’s the meaning behind the words that you resent. Cunt is a resented word not because it’s a bad word in and of itself, but because of the implications of the word. Vagina is a very medical, neutral term. Cunt is a very angry sounding, misogynistic word.
I try to explain this to Beautiful Mormon Girl, but she still frowns and corrects me when I cuss. Not the cunt part. I left that out.
Love,
–Tim
aha was not fooled by this “question,” and neither am I.
jenkinsfan, you don’t need to be Spock to figure out why people swear. You knew the answer before you posed the question. It was sneaky way to get in a “holier than thou” dig, and to throw in a bit of chiding, gentle as it was.
A word of advice: Leave the witnessing in Great Debates. If you start that crap in this forum, I’m going to get pretty fucking pissed off. I’ll be sure to tell you when that happens.
So, how about them Leafs, huh?
This is strictly cultural and I cannot see any relation to morals. I think cussing is more like bad table manners. Just bad taste if done in the wrong company. I am always surprised by how offended Americans are by words. On Spanish TV you cannot go a while without hearing the worst words in the Spanish language and it seems in pretty bad taste to me but let’s face it, most of the people in any culture or country have pretty bad taste. I would not legislate good speech any more than I would legislate good table manners. You also see plenty of nudity and sex on TV and it does not seem to bother anyone… it’s just what you are used to. Americans need to lighten up about these things.