Swearing

GrandmaKT I take your point about adults reading swear words and not being too bothered, but children do read newspapers too - even the Times. Newspapers are also used in schools to cover desks for art and science lessons and I don't think teachers and teaching assistants would be too thrilled at having to check the pages first for inappropriate language.

I can't remember my father ever swearing (he died when I was 15) but he could argue black was white, and prove it! I never heard my mother swear till after I was married. I was helping her make the beds one day and she knocked a medicine bottle off a bedside table and it landed on her toe. She came out with "Bugger, shit, damn" and I collapsed on the bed, convulsed with laughter

roses

DH is too prone to using the f word as an adjective. It may be aphasia, but he's always tended that way. It annoys me when he does it, because I know he is scrupulous about never swearing in front of DGS, so why do I have to hear it?
My favourite swear story was a small year 2 child who complained that another had sworn and used the r word. I couldn't think what that might be and asked him to whisper it "Arse" he whispered.

I don't think anyone would dare say 'blow me' these days BlueBelle

I can and do sometimes, it really doesn't bother me too much as most swear words become common as time goes by What seemed bad when my parents were young were blast, bugger and damn which all seem very mild now I think the amount the f word is used it will be no different to 'blow me' in another generation I do hate the c word though I wouldn't ever shout any swear words at people they are usually to myself I do prefer the Irish fecking to our f word

I certainly don't object to the odd well-chosen swear word used in context. Less impressed by people who just use a string of expletives with hardly any other words in-between.
What REALLY does annoy me though is the way that 'serious' newspapers (e.g. The Sunday Times) are too coy to print swear words. We're all grown-ups for heaven's sake! It's quite often pertinent to the story and I'm fed up with sitting here thinking what swear word beginning with c,n, f, d etc. a schoolteacher might have been sacked for using or a politician reprimanded for! It's as if we're all going to get a fit of the vapours by reading it!

Fiddlesticks

So what do you say when you drop that prized ornament or you stub your toe ?

I have never felt the lack of expressive words to need to resort to what is termed swearing.

I love a good swear up. However no, I won't put up with being shouted at, it's totally different. A friend of mine is really posh, I love it when she swears, it really makes me laugh.

I swear when frustrated or clumsy (lot of swearing atm when i drop my stick). But I don't swear when I hit my thumb etc, when I put my ringer into my circular saw, there was just a sharp intake of breath (I feared that I had lost the finger)

Why is "Bo......s" so much more satisfying than "Bother"

I swear too much usually out of sheer frustration. Often mislaid car keys etc with me as well. Also sometimes out amazement. I really need to try harder not to.

Brilliant!

A bit like my son-in-law at age 4 sitting on a sofa in a very very posh furniture store announcing at the top of his voice: "She'm a gert big bugger!" That too is used in the family for anything large.

Swearing has always washed over me. There's a lot of it about in farming but when we moved to Cambridgeshire, even I was staggered at the amount of fruity language a fenland farm worker can get through.

I'll never forget DH, who was the farm manager, admonishing a tractor driver for being careless with some machinery.

His reply is now part of family folklore.

'How could I break the f**ker when the f**king f**ker's f**ked?

I agree with you too Elegran I have never used a "bad" swear word but can't deny I use the milder ones occasionally but never directed at a person. I almost never swear infront of DGC they would tell on me anyway.

Interesting article bags.
One thing I really noticed when I was in Manchester was the way casual swearing was used by all ages from school children to people of my age and much older, there really was no getting away from it in public. Not shouty swearing at anyone, just punctuating normal conversation. There were two mums with babies on their laps whose chat was littered with extreme swear words. Some words (knobhead? cocksucker?) maybe don't count as swearing by others, but when heard from the mouth of a four or five year old it doesn't sit well with me.

Yes I agree Elegran But the sound of most swear words is harsh and ugly

Agree with Elegran. I don't like it when people swear at me,and I certainly don't swear at other people. But swearing when you hurt yourself,or are angry about something e.g. not being able to find your keys,it's totally different.

I hate a certain 4 letter word being used in every day conversations, & even worse than the men are the woman!! I think it makes the world ugly. (And I don't mean the one beginning with f !!

Being yelled at is worse than sworn at, come to that. Have used a good old Anglo Saxon word now and then in my life , but some people litter their everyday conversation with it , which takes away the ' sweariness' ( just made that new word up) of it.

I can and have in my life sworn like a trooper . I rarely swear now . The English language is so amazing there are enough words for me to find what I want to say without having to resort to swearing .

Having said that I think over time some words seem less swearing than in my youth. But there are still a couple of doodles which I don't see any need to use.

Swearing AT someone is ugly, but swearing because you have hit a thumb with a hammer, or because you have been resolutely polite in an exchange with a brick wall for some time without getting anywhere is another thing.

I think swearing is ugly.

It certainly wouldn't wash over me if someone shouted swearily at me like the man in the photo!