Swear Words?

[NHdisneylover]

Therein lies the problem. A person who finds repulsive swear words offensive is not puritanical. THey tend to have, dare I say it, a tad more class than those who spew certain foul words ten times in one sentence. We have become complacent to boorish behavior. I recently spent one month in Africa. The locals there do not swear and looked shocked when one of my students did so. Not every country swears like Americans do.

Not every country givs them as much power as America either. In Germany, we were surprised when we first moved here that adults talking with kids, or teachers, would use words that you would not hear used in those contexts in the US.

Now we are totally used to it, and only try to remind DS14 to drop those words from his vocabulary when speaking with Americans (well, and DH works on making sure his colleagues know what is and is not the norm in the US work environment before they head to the US on a business trip--most of the older ones have learned, but some of the younger ones don't have it yet).

So, in other words it works both ways

 

[Minnesota!]

We try not to censor language too much. But we draw the line at words used to inflict hurt on someone else.

So, with 'stupid' for example - you can say "I did a stupid thing" but cannot say "He is stupid". Etc. Or "I feel like crap" but not "This dinner tastes like crap". That kind of thing.

We feel words are just...words...until you put emotion into them.

 

[LilyWDW]

I try not to strive for more class than the likes of Mark Twain, Earnest Hemingway, Professor Radcliffe Emerson (AKA "Father of Curses"), John Wilmot, Dick Cavett, John Ruskin (Who is not Teddy Ruxpin's father), George Bernard Shaw, and John Maynard Keynes. Many of them not modern, not American, and (dare I say) certainly not boorish.

I'm certain there are many notable figures of impeccable class and style who eschew bawdy language. I posit that they would still be just as classy if they did not.

But if an occasionally libertine sense of vocabulary is what holds me back from ever higher levels of esteem in the eyes of others then so be it; lest, as Icarus, on the gilded wings of pride I should fly too close to the sun.

As an aside, the locals in that African village may have been shocked that they heard ~your people~ swear, but nothing your group could say would shock their sensibilities. Whether their native tongue is Swahili or Afrikaans ar ANY of the sub-saharan tribal languages, the ALL have and use some of the filthiest swear words you could imagine. It is common for children and grandparents alike to use vulgarisms that would make Trump's toupe fall off.

Edited to remove an arabic word that contains an English profanity. That one was pure coincidence, I'm doing my best to keep the filter happy.

I applaud this post. Wonderfully done!

 

[cobright]

In japan and most of asia discussing biological functions is done far more openly. Kuso, equivalent of the english scatalogical noun/verb that begins with an s. is used with reletive ease. The common(ish) term for snot is hanakuso (nose-poo).

Its.not even an indication of social strata, both my wife and I have or have had jobs where we sat among the company 3-letter club and they swear more than any construction crew I have ever met.

Greatly, its a matter of intention. What I don't want is my kiddos afraid to tell me something because doing so would involve using words off a naughty word list.