Developing Fast': Britain Facing...
News12 mins ago
No best answer has yet been selected by brooklyn77. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I don't think it's fair to say everyone swears brooklyn. I know what all the words are, but choose not to use them.
nowadays nobody bats an eyelid when foul language is used on tv or on the street, so it seems we've accepted it as part of our everyday language.
I suppose it's a case of live and let live, although personally I find it uncomfortable being in company that is using strong profanities.
I'm no prude, having a working class background, and having worked a large part of my life on the railways. Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter.
Bleeping out words and using asterix in the written form is only done as a matter of decency. Everybody understands what your saying but no one actually wants to see it .
I'd say also that the person writing the word shows the reader that they are aware of the offensive nature of some swear words and hasn't decended to to some base level of decency just to make a point.
Although I would suggest most people know HOW to swear, not everybody thinks it's appropriate to do so.
True, dilligaff, we've got things pretty mixed up. Governments use euphemisms all the time to make things more acceptable, but no matter whether they call it 'friendly fire', 'collateral damage', 'surgical strike', 'air support' (strafing and bombing), or any other fancy name, they're still talking about killing and maiming, usually on a grand scale, even when it's done through incompetence (as in 'friendly fire').
If we were more honest in the way we spoke about upcoming wars, few governments would get the public's backing to go in, guns blazing. Not that that would deter them, of course, since they'd just go ahead regardless, and with disregard for the UN as well.
swear words are, these days, mostly verbal punctuation. a lot of people don't mean much by them and often don't hold much mind to people who use them.
some people are prudish, but perhaps if we just all use them as just words - because they are, just words - it would take away the 'offense' and 'shock' factor and therefore disarm the meaning.
i agree about kids swearing. its not the fact that they swear at all thats the problem, (to me) its the fact that they cannot know when its innappropriate, like an adult would. most kids swear and have no idea what they are saying, only that its 'naughty' and that they shouldn't - but we all know that that makes kids do somthing all the more!
i remember me and sis being very young and seeing a girl on tv jumping up and down and shouting " stinky dirty b*stards" over and over - we knew it was naughty, but we also knew that we were too young to understand what it meant and started copying her - deliberately to annoy my mum!!
if we remove the sense of guilt and shock we disarm the words.
I agree with xrayspecs' take on this.
Everyone learns swear words, it's part of growing up, but an essential part of growing up is knowing the appropriate place and time for certain words, and behaviour.
I work in an office where swearing is a daily occruence, and I join in, but I never swear at home, in front of my family. I know that all my daughters know what swear words are, and mean, but again, we don't use them in front of each other.
Just because people know certain words, does not imply that usage is acceptable anywhere and everywhere, as the famous phrase says - 'Freedom of speech does not allow you to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.'
The essential understanding of time and place for language and behaviour are what make us a civilised society - and hopefully this will continue.
Because someone swears alot does not make them less intelligent... Where that notion came from i have no idea.
Swearing is used normally for one of 2 reasons. To insult someone, or to emphasize a point (especially when in pain).
When you stub your little toe on a door frame...
'ouch, that really hurt'
[edited by AnswerBank]
Swearing makes you feel better!!!
Hi brooklyn77,
Please remember that profanity is not allowed on the AnswerBank, regardless of users' ability to recognise them or their use of swear words in the "real world".
As an American, I probably have more of a potty mouth than most people born and bred in the UK, but to paraphrase andy-hughes there is a time and a place for everything.
AB Editor
Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.