whats the point of a swear?

I was raised in a very strict household, with strict relatives, strict teachers, on and on. I got to the university and I did not know what '****' meant. So, consider me the naive one walking around on two feet, quite confused.

Later, in the labs I worked in, people swore easily. It seemed quite expressive to me, and it fit with the era (late 60's, 70's), and seemed less phony than saying gee whizakers.

I still enjoy the odd swear now, many years later, and don't feel badly that you wouldn't like it. I did notice, that as years went by and I tamed my happy workplace swearing self, it would break out on occasion around the few people I knew who were phobic about swearing. One of my cousins, for example, she all about precision language, seemed to bring it on as a reaction to prissy.

I think I distrust gentility more than I do any swearing.

What do you mean, we know it is wrong?
What do you mean, it serves no purpose?
Who is your instructor?

Bill Cosby just did a local interview where he talked about swearing. He said he can swear with the best of them, but doesn't. He says when you take out the swearing, you have to have REAL thought, REAL material that must stand on its own. The swearing - especially the F-word - will automatically get laughs. It's a filler, a shock, an easy thing to do.

The real work is speaking without that crutch.

Platitudes are us, punkey.

Of course someone who f's their way through efforts at sentences is using a crutch. But swear words have a long history and have some value on occasion.

Red Skeleton, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Bill Cosby - and many more - didn't use it.

It's just so crass and common nowadays. That's why calling the president of the US a "dick" hardly raised in eyebrow, except in the media corporate world. And the person who said that will have his own show, bet on it.

such as?

Sorry, this was to Hamilton.

Such as that people who ever swear are using a crutch.


You didn't tell me who your instructor is.

**** if i know

im sorry, i dont know what you mean. what instructor?

Your opening post claimed:

'we know its wrong, and it serves no purpose'

This seems infantile from where I sit. I understand quite well that courtesy has its place, but obliteration by societal rules of all swearing is just what so many who have gone before have railed at, not least Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, and for all I know, Shakespeare.

You seem quite sure swearing is wrong and that it serves no purpose. I want you to tell me where you got those concepts.

I generally see it that way.

I don't swear often. It should shock someone if I swear.

If people swear a lot, my first reaction is to perceive it as an indication of a poor upbringing. Doesn't always mean it's the case, but I do think less of people who swear because they're too lazy to express themselves more meaningfully.

It doesn't shock me or anything like that. Bores me - I don't expect much of interest to come from lazy swearers - they get tuned out pretty quickly.

I bet you folks like mincing oaths.

lets see...
up bringing,
(my) common sense,
im a product of my environment.
i see swearing as a pathetic way of trying to shock or intimidate others, when some one is to stupid to find some other way. its like going out of your way while driving to hit a fire hydrant. it make no sense, and it just makes a big scene over something probably pointless. and people usually do it when they're drunk.

As I said, I distrust gentility before I distrust someone who swears, although I don't mean swears-with-every-sentence.

You still didn't tell me. You went to nice schools? I went to one, even had a courtesy teacher.

Sometimes a cuss bwecomes the SPICE of our art. Here is an example of a simple song about the world as it is. It merely uses a cuss word for effect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW9cCWm53H4

First off all, I don't think there is anything wrong with swearing in generally. Obviously it might be inappropriate in some places, such as Sunday morning church services, but there are plenty of occasions where there is nothing wrong.

And swears have many purposes.

1) Swears are perfectly fine word that convey meaning as much as any other word and sometimes carry a meaning that couldn't be expressed without swearing. The phrase "damn that car is fucked up" conveys not only a meaning, but also a turn. Any other way of saying it, such as, "that car is really broken" doesn't mean quite the same.

2) Social bonding. I play poker in a card room with a collection of construction workers, truck drivers and old navy guys. They swear as matter of familiarity, it is a way to fit in with the pack and bond as a group. It means you are letting your guard down and accepting each others lack of polish.

3) To reduce tension when talking about topics related to sex. Guys often have trouble expressing sexual ideas (I can't speak for the gals). Swearing helps this. Saying "damn my cock hurts", is a bit easier than saying "that hurt my penis". I doubt that any teenaged boy has admitted having an erection. It is a lot easier to confide with your friends about a boner.

Case in point.

People who never ever swear at all make me nervous. Like they've had their hedge pruned. A lot of control happening.

I guess, though, that some sort of cycling goes on. People get sick of swearing and tighten up, and vice versa.

Also, sometimes swearing is just a general exclamation, along the same lines as "ouch" or "wow" or "yikes." It's not the result of a conscious decision. In those cases, asking "What's the point of swearing?" is like asking "What's the point of saying 'ouch'?"--i.e. it's a silly question.