Bad language!

Definitely, but I do it all the time so it must be ok.

I do remember being pulled up for it on occasion in my youth. I would go home and tell my mother and she would go slightly red. She did not however explain it to me, I learnt about it at school and even back then our teacher said that most people blasphemed, but that they would have been whipped or even killed for it a few hundred years ago!

A good swear over a stubbed toe or such works wonders.

Tonight at choir I did rather loudly and quite mildly exclaim "Holy Moses"! (quite mild for me) when I looked at how high and difficult the Alto parts were in the liturgical piece Benedicte

(" All ye works of the lord, bless ye the lord: praise him etc etc.)

(My comments were aimed at the composers musical arrangement rather than the liturgical text itself.)

I think in the circumstances that was quite moderate. Was that a blasphemy?

My grandma used to say it too - but I still use it. Mea culpa, I feel slightly guilty every time I do!

ethelbags you will be pleased to know that at DBH's school no swearing is allowed. Parents with strongly-swearing children are severely chastised and told to moderate their own language, or the children will be removed. One swearing child can disrupt a whole lesson when with those who do not do it. It doesn't stop them doing it in private of course, and my son has never sworn in front of me, nor my daughter, but I have walked past his room at times when he is playing an online game with friends and the air was definitely blue. That's fine by me. I admit to the odd outburst when in pain. And found I had a vocabulary I didn't know I possessed when divorcing ex.

Sounds like my granny's way of thinking. "Only goats have kids".

Why?

The most offensive word I've read here, is kids. I hate it.

Ariadne I know that story!

I was a teacher, I am a parent, and I brought my children up as the latter, maybe informed by the former. We are all people first, each one of us different with a different history. You cannot expect to classify everyone as the same!

Agree, Anno Rita got it right. And there is a superb short story by Doris Lessing - "You Should Have Seen the Mess" - which debunks the idea that any "class" is better (whatever that means) than another.

I've had mine for probably twenty years. At the time it was considered to be the best version of the diaries, more true to the original.

I didn't get mine all at once but purchased various volumes over a year or two.

When I visit the National Gallery I always visit S Pepys' portrait which is reproduced on the dust cover of the diaries. I sort of feel I know him

Petallus - thankyou. I was thinking of buying the set but it looks rather expensive.

"Maybe it's just me, but a good strong swear word, or even a whole string of expletives in extreme circumstances, genuinely does seem to dull pain more effectively that a simple 'ow'."

It's not just you, psychology experiments have shown it to be true.

I once lost my temper with my son after I'd waited ages to meet him after school. I think I only used the F word once but he and his friends still talk about it in hushed tones 25 years later it's much more effective if you only do it rarely!

I thought this was a very interesting article, I can't see how anyone could be offended by it

annodomini: Many years ago, I was driving my then primary school age children and one of their friends somewhere. They were all in the back and when some mad driver cut me up on a roundabout I forgot they were there and let rip. Then I remembered them. I can still remember the expressions on their faces when I looked in the mirror!
I'm happy to report that none seems to have suffered long-term damage from the incident! It didn't turn them into serial swearers

ethelbags have a think about people, not just the people you may admire, but those you really like. Those qualities that define them, regardless of education or status.

MamaCaz . I reserve my worst expletives for the confines of my car, usually aimed at the folly of other drivers. However, as I live alone, I sometimes let rip with a good old rant!

ethelbags1: Maybe it's just me, but a good strong swear word, or even a whole string of expletives in extreme circumstances, genuinely does seem to dull pain more effectively that a simple 'ow'. Because of the presence of the grandchildren, I've recently had to limit myself to a mild 'sugar', but believe me, it really didn't cut the mustard!

Don't knock it until you've tried it, that's what I say

If I could only find my copy of the original stage play, Educating Rita, I'd be able to refer you to the scene in which Rita remarks that the educated class got away with casual profanities all the time whereas the working classes which she came from were much more prudish. Times have, of course, changed and such profanities are heard from the mouths of children in all kinds of school playgrounds - including those in the more affluent areas of South Manchester and Cheshire!

Ive started another thread on this subject but what do you mean by the 'other values that define us'. ??? Anya

Nothing wrong about that at all ethel

However in trying to better yourself don't lose sight of tolerance for the foibles of others. No matter how well educated you are, what level of society you aspire to, there are other values that define us.

Sorry that some of you don't like my comments about wanting my DGD to mix with well behaved kids. I really think that professional people such as teachers would teach their kids to be better behaved than the local yobs. Maybe Im wrong. When I was at school the better off kids would not look at the 'rougher element' of which I was considered one.

I determined to 'better myself and I worked hard as I got older, read good books, went to evening classes and eventually despite being a widow helped my DD through to MA level. My husbands family considered themselves very middle class and looked down on me because everyone in the family was either a professional or a manager and at that time I was working in a fairly grotty office. No swearing was allowed and the tv was turned off if anyone kissed and I assumed that this was middle class behaviour. I learned never to show my feelings, I copied my late MIL and kept a stiff upper lip. I now despise people who show emotion in public. After all what good does it do if you swear, it does not help the situation. If you hit your thumb with a hammer and swear, it doesn't hurt less than if you say 'ow'.

I am being really honest about how I see things and I always try to behave in a socially acceptable way. Can anyone see any wrong in wanting to better myself.

Was anyone watching Newsnight on the 50th anniversary of the 9PM watershed?

Laura Kuenssberg turned to the camera with a mischievous look on her face and let rip with a tirade of four letter words. It's a pity I can't find it on you tube, it was a scream.

The article is interesting.
As for swearing today, it's 2015, not 1950. Get over it.

Excellent article! Thank you, Lilygran!

And, picking up on the assumption that a "nice" private nursery will shield a child from unpleasantness, I can only laugh. I have met quite a few students, coming into my comprehensive school's Sixth Form (or rather, trying to get in in latter years) from twee little private schools, who were the most obnoxious, snobbish and ill educated young people I had ever met.

Elegran I didn't know 'heck' came from 'hell', I've always thought it was a corruption of "A hex on you".

petallus love the hat one!

I guess that is where we get Windbag?