Has anyone else decided not to swear?
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I'm trying to swear less. Or rather, to swear only where a swear is warranted.
My Dad has a habit of interjecting constant cuss words into everything he says,ike "I was at the fucking supermarket right and then I'm just trying to find a fucking tin of beans..." and it's just so unnecessary, to the point where the swears mean nothing because they are just peppered everywhere. I have to keep.reminding him, "Dad, please tone it down a little"
And that's an easy habit to get into but its exactly what I don't want to be doing - swearing just as punctuation.
If a situation calls for a swear then I will swear quite happily, "Ouch, my fucking toe!!" and I'll use the proper word. There's no need to find childish swear-alternatives.
But I don't want to sound like I can't even stop it.
100%. I’m trying to swear less just to avoid the punctuation-level swearing that feels childish to me. But replacement swear words that have the same sentiment feel even more childish and pointless to me.
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I do not understand the reason for swearing being considered bad.
I do not understand why replacement words are better.
If it were the specific sounds being made that are wrong, replacement words would make sense. However, since other languages have no prohibition on these words and may have words that sound the same/similar to swear words in another language.
If the meaning behind the words was the 'bad' part, then replacing those word with other words that express the same idea would be just as wrong.
Who determines which words are bad? If it's a cultural thing I guess it makes sense but a person is fickle and groups of them even more so. I still don't understand why a group would prohibit specific words but not their meanings (barring superstition, like in the case of the origin of word "bear"). If it were a deity of some kind, it makes me return to the question why specific words in specific languages but not the meaning and intent behind those words.
I'm decently sure profanity became known as such because of either religious reasons or class division (along the lines of peasants vs nobles from early/medieval europe) and it just became commonplace.
I would say profanity nowadays though is a lot less taboo. It's been normalized in culture (hip hop, city culture, punk subculture) and a lot of people are less religious nowadays.
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Jesus fucking Christ! Learn to think for yourself! There is no such thing as "good words" and "bad words". There are just words.
/* Except the 'n-word'.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I don't have a thing against swearing but I do sometimes say heck instead of fuck
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I don't know about that, MOTHER LOVER DOOM just doesn't hit right.
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/* Except the 'n-word'.
The word itself isn't bad. In fact, many languages use the equivalent word as a regular part of their vocabulary. What's bad is the intention and history behind it. Using a racial slur isn't wrong because of the word being said, but rather because of the intention to offend or demean the people it's used toward.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I disagree. Swearing a useful expressive tool.
Just don't overuse it and know situations where it's best not used.
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On those last two, watch this old ad
High quality stuff
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It doesn't sound like you've chosen not to swear but that your family has chosen it for you. It actually sounds like you would swear if it wasn't for your family not wanting you to.
Well, you can chose to conform to your familly, I guess.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
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I don't have a thing against swearing but I do sometimes say heck instead of fuck
Mixing it up can be fun. "Gosh fucking darn it" usually gets some sideways looks.
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Mixing it up can be fun. "Gosh fucking darn it" usually gets some sideways looks.
I play it the other way. I'm pretty polite and well spoken most of the time, so when I bust out with "You cock gobbling rotten foetus fucker" it usually gets a good response.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
My favourite is to exclaim "Shut the front door!" in conversation.
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The word itself isn't bad. In fact, many languages use the equivalent word as a regular part of their vocabulary. What's bad is the intention and history behind it. Using a racial slur isn't wrong because of the word being said, but rather because of the intention to offend or demean the people it's used toward.
What word is that?
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Swearing is brilliant if you smash your thumb with a hammer, or break something expensive. If you swear all the time in normal conversation you don't have any special words left to use when those things I mentioned happen.
Shouting “asparagus” is just as good, neurologically. It’s the action that matters, not the word.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I swore for emphasis in a job interview and got the job! It was definitely a risk but they received the message I was trying to convey so it worked.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I think swearing is good if not overused.
I've heard studies show that people who swear are trusted more, something about them coming across more open and genuine.
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I think swearing is good if not overused.
I've heard studies show that people who swear are trusted more, something about them coming across more open and genuine.
I agree, I save my good swears for special occasions.
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I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I've considered removing or at least reducing swearing in my common language usage, but I don't consider it enough to just replace swearing with placeholder words. "What the fudge" doesn't work, in my mind, because it is still clear to everybody what my brain was trying to say before my resolution not to swear intervened. "What on earth are you talking about?" Much better.
I kind of realised through running that through to its end that what my issue was, with swearing, was lazy use of language. So I still swear, but I try not to lean on the words as crutches.
Where this puts me, language usage-wise, is in a position where I'm using swearing as a tool to accentuate my meaning or express emotion succinctly, since I don't swear as often it carries more weight.
For instance, my high school bully was a reprehensible human being but Donald Trump is a worthless fucking cunt.
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Personally, I try not to swear even when I stub my toe… but it's quite difficult sometimes. When I do swear, I want it to be a deliberate decision.
I mostly agree but there really is no more powerful painkiller than "fuck" after the moment of impact
