Rampant profanity

[MehGuy]

Hmm, I guess curse words have never really bothered me. My childhood friends cursed like sailors. Even when I was a Christian trying to do the right thing, I swore an awful lot. Only thing is the more people use them the less shocking they become. My level of profanity outside of CF is probably on the higher end socially. As someone born with a language disability and as a result forced with a life with sub-par language skills my vocabulary is sadly always going to be limited. So.. who am I kidding? I might as well use the dumb and trashy words.. lol.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Not in and of themselves. Hurt comes from inferring from someone's usage that they wish you to feel hurt from their use of words.

That's nonsense. Profanity is lowbrow and indecent and is used incessantly by those who either do not possess sufficient vocabularies, or, to a lesser degree, by those who just want to shut others up and erroneously believe their mastery of the F word somehow conveys substance to their inane blather.

If you can't say anything without it, don't say anything.

 

[Tinker Grey]

That's nonsense. Profanity is lowbrow and indecent and is used incessantly by those who either do not possess sufficient vocabularies, or, to a lesser degree, by those who just want to shut others up and erroneously believe their mastery of the F word somehow conveys substance to their inane blather.

If you can't say anything without it, don't say anything.

Actually, that's not true: Is Swearing a Sign of a Limited Vocabulary?

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Actually, that's not true: Is Swearing a Sign of a Limited Vocabulary?

Yeah, I know about that one, done at a COLLEGE, where they gleaned their subjects and did a correlation test. Confirmation bias. Not to mention that correlation is not causation.


Gee, no excessive swearing goes on at a college campus (sarcasm).

One of my young relatives said that on campus, it is virtually impossible to have a simple conversation about any topic without being hit by a barrage of swear words.

Don't miss this part: Article: "That said, these results need to be taken with a grain of salt. Knowledge of taboo words and the regular use of those words are two very different things. I might very well have an encyclopedic knowledge of vulgarity, but I might also have the tact necessary to regulate my language in social situations. In other words, just because verbally fluent people have the ability to cuss with the best of them, does not mean that they will do so. This presents a bit of a problem with the current research since the authors do seem to want to make the claim that their results inform what kinds of people actually curse in the real world. This conclusion cannot be drawn from these data."

 

[MehGuy]

It would be entertaining to hear a professor who really knew his science giving a thorough and deep lecture with excessive language and using rude mannerisms to describe the scientific concepts.

 

[The happy Objectivist]

I am annoyed at the rampant profanity in our culture. People I would otherwise enjoy listening to grate on my moral sensibilities.

Some of them I listen to anyway.

Me toooooo. I especially can't stand hearing foul language from little kids. I'm talking 7 or 8 years old. It just seems so wrong. Now I think that there are times and places where they are appropriate. But it seems people use the F word two or three times a sentence. They lose all meaning when used so much. I myself have only used the F word maybe three or four times in my life.

 

[ToddNotTodd]

That's nonsense. Profanity is lowbrow and indecent and is used incessantly by those who either do not possess sufficient vocabularies, or, to a lesser degree, by those who just want to shut others up and erroneously believe their mastery of the F word somehow conveys substance to their inane blather.

your opinion is noted, but demonstrably false...

 

[TLK Valentine]

Language is a tool... sometimes it's a weapon. It can be used in subtle ways, shooting down bad or mistaken ideas like a sniper rifle, and it can be as blunt and crude as a bomb.

Seems like more and more people are finding the bomb more useful than the rifle.

(I posted something about this a few months ago on another thread; pardon my cut-and-paste)

Case in point: In 1992, Sir Paul McCartney released a controversial song called "Big Boys Bickering":

LYRICS:

big boys bickering,
that's what they're doin' ev'ryday.
big boys bickering,
[F-bomb]in' it up for ev'ryone, ev'ryone.

guess while they're betting on the track,
they're tryin' to win your money back.
all of the taxes that you paid,
went to fund the masquerade.

He defended his use of profanity in an interview: "...I'm talking about, erm, the ozone layer and the big hole in it, fifty mile wide hole. I don't think well that's a flipping hole, I think that's a [F-Bomb]ing big hole!"

And Sir Paul isn't the first Beatle to go blue to make a point -- in 1972, John Lennon released "Woman is the [N-bomb] of the World,"

Lyrics
Woman is the [N-bomb] of the world
Yes she is, think about it
Woman is the [N-bomb] of the world
Think about it, do something about it

We make her paint her face and dance
If she won't be a slave, we say that she don't love us
If she's real, we say she's trying to be a man
While putting her down we pretend that she is above us

There's also the famous "Frankly my Dear, I don't give a damn," line from Gone With the Wind; the moral guardians of the time were outraged. Now of course, the studio censors (The Hays Code was in its infancy) were similarly outraged at the script and made their own suggestions:

But that line (arguably one of the most famous in all cinema) was in Margaret Mitchell's original book, so producer David O. Selznick and his editor Val Lewton fought back, and the original line stayed in.

Personally, I'm glad they did.

My opinion? We call these words "F-bombs" or "N-bombs" for a reason -- sometimes you need the heavy artillery; put the pop guns away and drop the bomb.

 

[Tinker Grey]

When I was still a Christian, I went to a men's retreat. I was impressed with how the pastor handled a tough-ish situation during one of those sharing times.

One of the guys [in tears] said something like, "It was just so [F-bomb]ed up." The pastor responded, "Yes, [guy], that was [F-bomb]ed up."

This was the correct response.

 

[stevevw]

I am annoyed at the rampant profanity in our culture. People I would otherwise enjoy listening to grate on my moral sensibilities.

Some of them I listen to anyway.

Words take meaning depending on the language used and the norms of a culture/society. Words can then become a powerful tool that attaches a larger meaning to them. For example, the word Stop on a road sign takes on particular meaning as it represents road safety. So it depends on the context they are used in.

In that sense what may be offensive words on their own are not necessarily offensive if the context is not offensive. Nonoffensive words may become offensive when used in a way that uses cultural or social meanings that are offensive.

I think a culture of offense has been created due to the way we communicate today such as through social media as opposed to face to face interaction. I also think an outrage culture has been created where everything that is said is taken to mean something offensive. people look for offense and to offend. Then there is the PC culture where what was once OK to say is now offensive. Not because it has evolved that way but because of moral sensibilities, virtue signaling, and individual rights gone overboard.

 

[TLK Valentine]

That's nonsense. Profanity is lowbrow and indecent and is used incessantly by those who either do not possess sufficient vocabularies, or, to a lesser degree, by those who just want to shut others up and erroneously believe their mastery of the F word somehow conveys substance to their inane blather.

That's a matter of opinion -- some great writers, thinkers and leaders have seen the value of the occasional four-letter word:

“In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” -- Mark Twain.

"It comes to pass oft that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him." -- William Shakespeare

"When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can't run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn't fight its way out of a [urine]-soaked paper bag. As for the types of comments I make, sometimes I just, by God, get carried away with my own eloquence." -- George Patton

President Andrew Jackson swore like a sailor, and apparently his pet parrot learned a lot of his vocabulary... so much so that the parrot had to be ejected from his owner's funeral.

Going back to Twain, he was also quite the swearer with an extensive vocabulary -- a fact which frustrated his wife, Livy, to no end.

There's a story how, one morning, after cutting himself shaving, Twain went on a ten-minute tirade in his bathroom, with his shocked wife in the bedroom next door. When he came out of the bathroom, his wife tried to shock him into good behavior by repeating, word for word, everything he had said in the bathroom.
"Do you understand how terrible that was?" She asked him.
"Indeed, it was quite terrible," Twain replied, "You know the words, but you can't carry a tune."

 

[gaara4158]

I am infinitely more disturbed by abhorrent opinions stated in clean language than I am by innocuous opinions stated with profanity. Language is more often indicative of the passion with which a position is held than the moral value of that position.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Yeah, I know about that one, done at a COLLEGE, where they gleaned their subjects and did a correlation test. Confirmation bias. Not to mention that correlation is not causation.


Gee, no excessive swearing goes on at a college campus (sarcasm).

One of my young relatives said that on campus, it is virtually impossible to have a simple conversation about any topic without being hit by a barrage of swear words.

Dismiss the academic study and replace it with an anecdote... nice.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Dismiss the academic study and replace it with an anecdote... nice.

It's called pointing out the obvious bias. The anecdote was just an extra thought.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

I am infinitely more disturbed by abhorrent opinions stated in clean language than I am by innocuous opinions stated with profanity. Language is more often indicative of the passion with which a position is held than the moral value of that position.

No, it's really more indicative of class, not passion.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

your opinion is noted, but demonstrably false...

Please substantiate your opinion. It's not false, actually, though you may disagree with it.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Me toooooo. I especially can't stand hearing foul language from little kids. I'm talking 7 or 8 years old. It just seems so wrong. Now I think that there are times and places where they are appropriate. But it seems people use the F word two or three times a sentence. They lose all meaning when used so much. I myself have only used the F word maybe three or four times in my life.

That's just wrong, if you are profanity spewing around young children. No one wants to hear that nonsense, much less repeated by the little parrots.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

When I was still a Christian, I went to a men's retreat. I was impressed with how the pastor handled a tough-ish situation during one of those sharing times.

One of the guys [in tears] said something like, "It was just so [F-bomb]ed up." The pastor responded, "Yes, [guy], that was [F-bomb]ed up."

This was the correct response.

"I'm sorry," would have been a better response.

 

[Tinker Grey]

"I'm sorry," would have been a better response.

No it would not. The pastor's response should empathy and connection. "I'm sorry" is distant. I was there. It was effective.

ETA: It also showed that the pastor would brook no complaints about language when dealing with a hurting person.

 

[durangodawood]

"Bad" words are sometime perfectly appropriate, and even the right choice. But not as often as many people think. Dont wear em out, people!

Not much dumber than an f bomb carpet bombing.