Swearwords increasingly used for emphasis and to build social bonds, rather than to insult, say academics
I never understood people that freak out at swearing. I can understand it’s not the most polite, but some people really freak out if you swear.
As someone who curses quite a bit, going to America was an eye opener. People who weren’t even in the conversation were taking offense. I didn’t realise it was so taboo there. Cunt is never said and it’s like a 20 a day word for me.
Imo here in the US, cunt has something of a sexist connotation, so respectable blasphemers tend to avoid it unless it’s really called for.
In my personal swearing, I try to limit it to things that apply to everyone. Fornication, defecation, and damnation are things everyone can do (but might choose not to). Gendered or targeted swears have the possibility of perpetuating toxic traits, so I personally stay away from them. Fuck, shit, damn, all good. Other things get slippery so I try to avoid them myself. Granted, even that is a blurry line as I’ve highlighted I’m fine denigrating walnuts and trumpets elsewhere in this thread. I also don’t force that somewhat provincial view on others because it’s a personal standard. I might talk about why I try to avoid gendered swears, but that’s on me not on you.
It’s also sometimes used as an extremely crass description of genitals. People calling it a cunt either tend to be a bit of a pig or someone who’s got one and swears like a sailor
I’ve always perceived Americans as very curse word friendly people. Not like Australians of course, but still very accepting of it.
As an American yeah that’s used to happen. But I’ve not had it happen in years. Cunt though, yeah it’s considered either an extremely misogynistic insult or an extremely graphic term for body parts we don’t talk about much.
I’m not that old but even in the last 15 years or so I’ve noticed that the fuck-word has become a lot less taboo. Even people I know who don’t swear very much I’ve heard use it, granted very sparingly, but they wouldn’t have used it at all a fewyears ago. Kids are picking up swearwords casually earlier than my peers did.
My hypothesis, I think I big part of the change is YouTube personalities. A ton of the biggest YouTubers, especially the gamers, have sailor mouths. Gen z and later grew up with “let’s fuckin go” and shit like that, and I think that that casualness is bleeding into older generations too.
I work a trade in the US, and if something is a little off, it’s a cunt hair off. But that’s the most common place I hear it.
I’m curious what state you were in. It varies quite a bit regionally. I curse frequently and have never had anyone in public get offended where I live.
I’m in the US and swear quite a lot. Even at work and on slack and shit. I don’t think I’ve ever been fussed at for it.
At least the “serving cunt” meme has supercharged America’s acceptance towards the word. Live in the south and have heard more people say it in public in the past year than ever before.
Honestly you have a right to complain to anyone who is swearing. That’s not a nice thing to say and serves no value.
As a Californian who grew up playing long nights with my Aussie friends (AUS connects to CA for their Internet so we get them a lot at night):
I’m one of the Americans fighting for the use of “cunt” more!
People are shocked at first when I use it but I’m usually onto the next thing so fast, suddenly say it in an Australian accent, and am very clearly not being negative when I say it most times (big smiles) they usually pick up that it’s not mean.
They do ask where the fuck I learned to use it though and it took my wife literal years to adjust
Why on Earth would you be using such language in a public place? I can’t imagine why people were freaking out.
I’ve found that many people can’t differentiate “swearing around” vs “swearing at.” If I am swearing, it is to add filler words to my sentences that serve many purposes. I am not (rather, very rarely) attempting to insult or denigrate someone else. I do not understand why someone takes offense at “I really struggled to hit my fucking steps today” or “Shit I dropped the fucking ball.” I do understand why someone takes offense at “you ignorant fucking walnut” or “fuck you you fuck trumpet.” Conflating the two situations is so fucking dumb.
I’ve thought about this (and taboo and norms in general) for a bit, so I’ll take an unresearched guess that can be summarized as “swears are bad because people agree they are”. Words have an associated context; which ones you use give some indication about the kind of person you are. In the case of swears, the context is that most people think that it is wrong to say them (though exactly how wrong varies), and (this is important) that most people think that everyone knows how wrong it is to say them. If you say a swear, you are (in others’ eyes) demonstrating that you are the kind of person willing to knowingly violate these norms. The implication continues, then, that you are uncaring about what they might think or believe, what everyone in the community thinks or believes, and are willing to demonstrate that to their faces. Obviously, that may not match how you intended the word, but I think that this perceived hostility lies at the core of the reactions of those who freak out.
Either that or trauma from their parents or teachers freaking out it, or fear of divine punishment or something similar.
Fuck, I sure as shit hope so.
I still fucking hate that some places require you to censor swear words in comments.
This creates a shitty situation where you have to play a fucking guessing game, where you try to guess if your comment gets removed by mods
I still think swearing should be used sparingly! Otherwise its effect gets diluted! It!d be like replacing every bit of punctuation with an exclamation point! Eventually it just loses its original meaning! and people stop even registering it! Treat swearing as sacred! use it to accentuate a point! and people will appreciate its importance when you do use it!
It should be diluted. Language should not have that power over our emotions. Swearing becoming an extension of a purely descriptive lexicon is a good thing IMO.
Poetic language and rich prose should be the standard for emotional conveyance. That makes it special and rare. Allowing simple crass or boorish language to hold emotional power is what cheapens the concept of language having power.
You can still pack a punch with swearing, you just gotta get creative about it.
Swearing is to language what capsaicin is to food. It’s not required, in some circumstances it makes things worse, but in many other it would be a real shame to deprive oneself of it, especially for a reason as stupid as “but I’m going to increase my tolerance”. So fucking what? It’s not heroin, shit’s not going to put you into cardiac arrest if you take too much.
Eh, they’re just words. I agree that using them too much “dilutes” them, but is that really anything to do with them being swearwords? Or because they’re the same word I used 20 times in a two minute conversation? Literally, when I literally use the same word in literally every other sentence, you’ll literally start to doubt that I even know what the word “literally” literally means.
Personally, I think that most swearwords are pretty versatile. Especially fuck. Fuck can be serious. Fuck can be fun. Fuck can be casual or intense. Fuck isn’t a monolith, it’s all in the context, tone, and delivery.
Absolutely, keep your powder dry until you need it. Swears are sentence enhancers, they carry weight, but if you throw them around in every sentence then they lose that weight and have no real meaning anymore. But if you hold off so people aren’t expecting it and then throw in a choice word then it carries a lot more weight. That’s the fucking point!
It comes up a lot more in professional settings than it used to. I would actually give this one to GenX and appreciate it when used correctly.
Gen X broke down the gate, millennials buried the gate, and Gen Z built a monument to swearing on top of where the gate once stood
But that’s not a swear or curse word. The swear words are: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits, damn, sonofabitch, goddamn, ass, asshole, bastard and other plays on those words.
And I’m pretty sure the unalive thing came from TikTok pulling and censoring videos with the word kill in them.
Why have you chosen this hill to die on? Swearing harms no one, and makes talking more fun. I honestly take an aversion to swearing as a sign of immaturity.
The fact that you resort to swearing is immature. I ask the people I’m around to not swear and the people that know me know my thoughts on swearing.
I ask the people around me to not use such harsh language. Most people are more than happy to comply
Damn right, fuck good manners, you cunts!
sir Nacktmull you motherfucker you can have fucking great manners and swear like a sailor. Thank you very much ya cunt