Damn, was going to post that. Also more Stephen on swearing
Hm, I can think of unpleasant scenarios in which a cuntlapper could end up as a doody-head. You probably shouldn’t try to imagine it, though.
How can one possibly know that their vocabulary is the same as another person’s?
Intuition.
I hate quoting all of a long post, but this just cracked me up. No disrespect to its author, but I remember mothers like this when I was a kid. They were always the ones clutching their pulls, clicking their tongues and producing the worst hellions behind their backs. You know the kind? They were never allowed to even say heck or darn, so once out of ear shot, they’d cuss up a blue storm like a sailor. Of course, now that much of them are older, they’ve followed in their morally superior parents’ footsteps, so a whole new generation of school marms are populating the planet. It’s hilarious.
Oh, and I’m okay with profanity as long as it is used with knowledge of your audience, isn’t excessive or just for show. Occasionally, a well place piece of vulgarity can speak volumes.
I haven’t noticed any real significant change in the use of cursing other than perhaps it’s used a bit more casually. For me, it’s actually something I have put a great deal of thought into, not only how much is appropriate in what circumstances, but when I’m compelled to or not to use them.
I have heard it said that cursing is a crutch for a poor vocabulary, and to a certain extent it is true. Some people will use cursing unnecessarily or as catch-alls for expressing contempt, or simple modifiers. If that’s how you’re using a lot of your cursing, then I think it is overboard and makes a phrase where it might have impact not really have that desired impact. So…
I’ve also heard it said that sometimes fuck is the only word. And this is how I like to use cursing This particularly applies in emotional discussions. If I say fuck or shit all the time, it can’t adequately describe something with the same impact that it could. If I always say “I feel like shit” when I’m not feeling well, I have to come up with a more impactful statement when it’s worse, but by limiting the use, that phrase has meaning. That’s really what I think those words should be for, they express a level of extremeness that just generally isn’t appropriate for more diverse crowds.
But at the same time, I also have a tendency to curse more when I’m just hanging out with friends, but that’s not really any different than how I’d tell jokes with them that I wouldn’t tell at work.