Are we really the offended by swearing?

[Mouse]

I have noticed swearing appearing on here of late!

Where? The forum censors are too restrictive here, in my opinion. For example, I can't write ****-up or ********.

(And to get around the censors, those are c.o.c.k-up and f.r.i.g.g.i.n.g. Now ok, c*ck might offend some people, but the other one?! That's the non-swear version of the f-word! It's ridiculous that it's censored.)

 

[AE35Unit]

Ive noticed p#ssed off and b@##@cks a few times.

 

[Mouse]

They're not swear words!

 

[AE35Unit]

They're not swear words!

Sorry but if one of my kids told me to p#ss off Id be really annoyed with them!

 

[Mouse]

Well, yes, because that's disrespectful. If a child told me to piss off, I'd be unimpressed.

 

[alchemist]

An olanet.

Nah, the O is silent

 

[AE35Unit]

Well, yes, because that's disrespectful. If a child told me to piss off, I'd be unimpressed.

Exactly, because its a swear word!

 

[Mouse]

No. If a child told me to 'do one' for example, I'd be unimpressed just the same. Disrespectful, but no swearing.

 

[Montero]

I remember the start of 4W&AF, and the start of The Commitments (first dialogue: F*** off!), and have to say I didn't like them. It seemed too obvious a use (for the first, it juxtaposed the words with a posh voice, and the second said "it's grim here)..

4W - it was running so much dialogue by the re-use of one word that was what creased me up the most and then, finally, an unexpected word.

It could have had the dialogue of "oh no!", "what?", "we've overslept, look at the time", "oh no" etc but that wouldn't have been as funny. (And as a sideways thought, how many times on here has it been discussed that the alarm clock rang/didn't ring is an overdone book opening ? )

Fine by me if you didn't like it, just explaining why I did like it

Commitments I watched once a long while back and thought it good, but haven't been moved to re-watch and don't remember the dialogue.

 

[AE35Unit]

No. If a child told me to 'do one' for example, I'd be unimpressed just the same. Disrespectful, but no swearing.

I disagree. Its a swear word. If its not suitable for children to say then it's a swear word!
I wont use such on here because its a family forum and I'd expect to be jumped on!

 

[Mouse]

Eh? 'Do one' contains no swear words whatsoever. Not even any words that could be possibly considered swears. Your argument baffles me, utterly and completely and so I'm out. I really should be writing anyway!

 

[AE35Unit]

Eh? 'Do one' contains no swear words whatsoever. Not even any words that could be possibly considered swears. Your argument baffles me, utterly and completely and so I'm out. I really should be writing anyway!

No I meant p### off is swearing. You said it isn't when it obviously is.

 

[HareBrain]

(And to get around the censors, those are c.o.c.k-up and f.r.i.g.g.i.n.g. Now ok, c*ck might offend some people, but the other one?! That's the non-swear version of the f-word! It's ridiculous that it's censored.)

The second one comes from the name of a Germanic goddess, so you'd think on a fantasy website it would be actively encouraged!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I love this one by Victoria Wood

 

[Montero]

Couple of further sketches without links

1. Not the Nine O'clock News sketch on the prevalence of swearing without people even noticing they've said it.

2. Somebody, can't remember who, doing a sketch where they claimed to have sung a duet with Sir Cliff Richard and said the words for Sir Cliff's bit were easy and the audience were to supply the words. Every SC bit was a cuss word - the audience laughed rather than singing them.

 

[Ursa major]

Where? The forum censors are too restrictive here, in my opinion. For example, I can't write ****-up or ********.

(And to get around the censors, those are c.o.c.k-up and f.r.i.g.g.i.n.g. Now ok, c*ck might offend some people, but the other one?! That's the non-swear version of the f-word! It's ridiculous that it's censored.)

The second one comes from the name of a Germanic goddess, so you'd think on a fantasy website it would be actively encouraged!

The word has a number of meanings (including in the software industry, where it's an alternative to "fudge", apparently), but it is a handy swear word in its own right.

*cough*

 

[Parson]

Strange, I was raised the same way, by the time I was 16 I could out swear sailors, though I damned sight didn't do it at home.

I had a few years in college when I would regularly use the F word, but since that time it is extremely rare for me even to "think" the word and I haven't said it in decades. I do occasionally say "Blast" when I'm really angry. Had no idea where I picked that one up until this thread.

I would agree that swear words do sometimes lose their punch as time goes on. A lot of people use "My God" as an interjection, and I doubt it is heard as cussing, but to my ears it is a shocking statement when not used to address God.

But like I said before, I'm probably more sensitive about these things than most anyone I know.

--- I was pleased to hear that a couple of you grew up in a house without swearing. Gives me a bit of pleasure, that. ---

 

[Handra]

I'm new here so sorry if someone already mentioned this BUT I get really surprised (and this is more prevalent in American fiction) that graphic acts of violence can still get a PG-13ish or be considered YA but swearing is pretty much an automatic "Mature". I don't know if it's a case of the normalization of violence or if people don't squirm at gross violence but do at bad words.

I curse a lot in my writing though, and frequently have to censor myself/characters.

 

[HareBrain]

--- I was pleased to hear that a couple of you grew up in a house without swearing. Gives me a bit of pleasure, that. ---

I'm another one, but I'm not altogether sure how healthy it was. I remember the guilt at accidentally saying "crap" in front of my older brother when I was about ten. (Yes! "Crap"! Guilt!)

Even in my twenties, I had a dream in which I was in a room with my parents, and self-censored the f-word to "effing". In my twenties! In a dream!

My mum wouldn't even use the euphemism "sugar!" What she'd say, in the event of a chip-pan fire or nuclear war, was "bother!" But she managed to invest the word "bother" with such half-suppressed frustration and anger that it was probably more alarming to me than if she'd ranted "you ************* piece of ****!"

 

[Ursa major]

At least, HB, your mother didn't use the racist version of that swear word, i.e.: "Botheration!"