Cussing for unintelligent folk? (generation, rating, elect, money)

[Cyber Surfer]

I can see cussing if it's like the slip of the toung/anger moment. If it's during regular conversation, yeah it screams unintelligent/bar-smoker-party crowd. It also paints a negative stereotype for the blue collar workers when all it takes is for one person to speak this way at a job site.

I've known quite a few people that talk and swear like its part of the normal vocabulary, it gets cringe worthy after a few minutes.

[jay5835]

I don't object to any words anyone uses, per se. It's the context in which the words are used that can bother me. I was waiting for the bus once recently, and this mother of five (two in a stroller, three on foot) was at her wit's end and screaming "motherf***ing this" and "eat $H!^ that" at her kids while she was shaking one of the standing kids. I was about to call the police when she came out of it, and started straightening the hat of the boy she'd been screaming at.

It was the emotional content of the moment that upset me, but the language helped convey that awful content.

I couldn't care less about a little "f***ing this" and "you f***ing **** that" when it's in fun. I often see the morals police in action on the internet, calling people who "cuss" a "pottymouth." Well, let me tell you, the word "pottymouth" connotes a far more disgusting image than anything that comes out of most of said mouths, or anything that would go in a "potty" (maybe the most disgusting word in English).

[old_cold]

To call somebody a S of a B or a **** is insulting them.
To label some inanimate object or an action (an F'ing chair, for instance) makes absolutely no literal sense......not unless you've seen chairs do things I've never seen them do!

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by nature's message

My parents raised my with the belief that cussing is for the ignorant, impulsive folk who have very limited vocabularies. I tend agree with that logic if the person injects a swear word in every sentence, but I don't agree in the case of an occasional slip-up. Maybe it's because I'm nineteen, but I don't see the problem with cussing in a casual environment. It's just a part of the vernacular is all.

Thoughts?

To a certain extent, yes. However, I have heard some people get awfully creative with their swearing and I can't help but think that requires a level of intelligence to come up with some of the things they do.

I still, to this day, have a favorite that someone used in a comment somewhere, (not on CD), many years ago. It was so brilliant, I have it used it twice since then, in real life.

I shall share it with you:

"I could take what you know about (insert subject here), write it down on a piece of paper, crumple it up and shove it up an ant's (backside), and it would still clang around like a bb in a boxcar."

Now come on, that is NOT impulsive, ignorant nor does the individual have a limited vocabulary.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by sskink

I think it's a perfectly good idea for parents to teach their kids not to curse, because it's not until one becomes an adult that one can really understand and appreciate the nature and nuance of a well-delivered, appropriate and effective cuss.

If cussing is a crutch, it's too much and essentially meaningless and crude. But used in context/setting, cussing can be spectacularly effective in conveying specificity.

There was a classic letter received by an executive at my wife's employer from a customer who was very upset at something. It read to the effect of: "You f'ing f'ers. Your f'ing policy on f'ing (subject) is a f'ing joke. Who do you f'ing think you are f'ing customers like that? Go f'ing f yourselves." It became legendary in the customer service department as nobody recalled ever receiving a customer complaint that conveyed as much displeasure as that letter. And yes, the customer was contacted immediately and the issue more or less resolved.

As far as cussing relative to one being uneducated, I'd be more inclined to you with overuse of "like" and "you know" to tell who the dimmer bulbs are.

^ That sounds pretty typical in the bogan/redneck areas round here.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by Crackpot

I can see cussing if it's like the slip of the toung/anger moment. If it's during regular conversation, yeah it screams unintelligent/bar-smoker-party crowd. It also paints a negative stereotype for the blue collar workers when all it takes is for one person to speak this way at a job site.

I've known quite a few people that talk and swear like its part of the normal vocabulary, it gets cringe worthy after a few minutes.

I went to a mechanic one time, here in Australia, an Italian American from Chicago. Swore more than anyone I'd ever met and also managed to include '******', '******' and 'Jew' into his tirades (like how he recounted to me how he was robbed).

[Glenfield]

If swear words are so fine and dandy, how come I see a bunch of ****s and $$$$ and such through this thread? C'mon people, I thought you said they're just words.

[Ollie1946]

A problem with profanity is when you do it as a habit, without thinking, you might blurt out something at the precisely wrong time and wrong place with disastrous effects. What people got away with decades ago can get you fired from a job nowadays. I worked with a female who was the most foul mouthed person in the work group by far. She got away with it. Uppers thought it was "cute". If one of us males had done that, out the door.

[chris123678]

Originally Posted by Ollie1946

A problem with profanity is when you do it as a habit, without thinking, you might blurt out something at the precisely wrong time and wrong place with disastrous effects. What people got away with decades ago can get you fired from a job nowadays. I worked with a female who was the most foul mouthed person in the work group by far. She got away with it. Uppers thought it was "cute". If one of us males had done that, out the door.

Yes, I agree, if your making a habit out of it and you lose all control of what comes out your mouth, then you got issues.

[mateo45]

Yup, kinda depends on the company you're in and how it's used. I'm not above the occasional ''anglo-saxonism'' now and then for 'effect', but IMO the important distinction is doing it by choice, instead of just unconscious habit. English is an amazing language, always evolving and so ''adaptable''!