How often do you swear?

[skylark]

*sigh*

I'm getting flashbacks of George Carlin now.

*cries in a corner*

[Mr Bekkler]

I love swearing. I'm not gonna lie. I do it at work, I do it at school, I do it at home, in public, wherever. It doesn't have to be a location-specific event, and sometimes it is understandable and while not necessarily appropriate, it can be very helpful. Sometimes a good swear word or two will do two things for you. 1. Grab your audience's attention. 2. Emphasize your point concisely in a halt situation (Hungry Angry Lonely Tired).

This is an article about a study that found that swearing actually helps to alleviate pain.


I don't like getting too repetitive, so I find creative swears to be necessary. "Son of a fuck!" being a recent favorite.

For some reason, taking a swear word out of its normal context bewilders people. Example: "I'll text the shit out of you!" Funny, surprising, and almost scary.

Or even removing the swear word from a common phrase. Instead of bull shit, try "BULL HOCKS!" They'll never see it coming.
I mean, if you're going to swear, you may as well have fun with it.


~
That said, I really find the idea behind swearing, cursing, saying words that are forbidden, to be very odd in and of itself in the current American culture. Censors are so picky and choosy that half the words considered swear words are now acceptable in pop culture and daytime media. So where is the line drawn? What am I allowed to say and not allowed to say?

[Crono666]

I try not to swear if I can help it. But sometimes I swear, like if someone were to piss me off, then I'd swear. But there are just some moments where you have to let it out.

[Thought]

Well I say "curses!" quite a bit, does that count? Though it is usually used more for entertainment value (to myself, mostly) than any other intent.

Other than that, crap is about the only other curse you will hear me utter with any degree of regularity. I tend to approach swearing in an economic fashion. The demand for the words is constant, so by restricting the supply I also increase the value. Thus, when I do use such words, it is a more significant utterance than one might expect if one did not know me.

I’m generally fine with other individuals cursing, though some get carried away. Most swears are like verbal italics; they help emphasize an individual’s point. There is not much of a difference between most swearing now-a-days and, say, repetition in various classical works.

Of course, this only refers to muggle swears. If we are talking about Wizard Swears, then I'm a regular sailor...

...

Voldemort's Nipple.

[Lord J Esq]

Oh, Thought brings up a good point. I actually do curse, all the time, in the way in which cursing was intended. I just don't use vulgarities. Usually it's more along the lines of "Golly!" or "O, my stars!" I've also mastered the jower and the aposiopesis.

Yes, I may be from the 1890s.

[IAmSerge]

I swear on occasion, but wish I didn't.  Its not a very positive habit, really.

[KebreI]

Your all just a bunch of gosh dang cunts. I in the past few years I have begun to swear often, but I still never use then to insult people. I find that lacks creativity and a true insult should never be lacking in creativity.

[Thought]

Not at all! If lacking in creativity would make the insult more insulting, then by all means, one should go with an overused expression.

[GenesisOne]

I just like to swear in private when no one's around.  It would help me put it into context and keep a clean image around other people when I'm finally vented, but rarely does it happen.

[hiddensquire]

Like a few others, none of the poll options applied to me.  I swear at least once in every 4 conversations when not talking to family.  This is partially due to the fact that I exist in an unusual social environment that actually causes my peers to have a lower opinion of me if I do not swear.  I work in a maintenance job in the US military, and the vast majority of coworkers in my career field consist of every idiot you ever knew in high school.  Their vocabularies are so small that I long gave up on being able to dumb my sentences down enough for them to understand every word.  I am ridiculed for my (by comparison, at least) large vocabulary on a weekly basis.  The first impression most of them seem to get from me is that I arrogantly consider myself superior to them, which isn't quite true.  They draw that conclusion purely by the way I talk.  Since all of them swear extremely frequently, I have adopted the same habit in order to relate to them better.  It has helped a bit, I believe.  This all comes with 3 years of experience with these people.

This is an article about a study that found that swearing actually helps to alleviate pain.

Bullshit.  A single study with a pool of only 67 participants does not even come close to counting as proof that that claim is fact.  Furthermore, if all of those college students were frequent swearers, then making an effort not to swear in a situation in which they're used to swearing would detract from their ability to concentrate on enduring the pain.  That variable would need to be taken into account before any data collected in a study like that one could be considered useful.

[Thought]

A single study with a pool of only 67 participants does not even come close to counting as proof that that claim is fact.

Actually, you'd be surprised at how few subjects a study needs to be meaningful, if the statistician working on the project is good. For animals, 10 is quite good. With people, since we tend to lie through our teeth or don't know the truth (even when it is the truth is our own opinion), you need higher numbers, but 20-30 is enough for a pilot study, with 70ish making a nice small study. Not definitive, of course, but valid.

[neo-fusion]

I swear a good amount, much more then I should, but the more I think about it, the more I think... "You know, I only have 1 life, let's live it up and have the freedom to do what I wish."

It's also a thing of just being around friends.

Oh and don't get me started on xbox live... lol.

[TriforceofEternity]

Swearing is unhealthy and makes me feel unhealthy when I do it.

In fact this whole f---g thread is almost pointless.........oops I swore again    *Holy meter drains*            

I mostly swear when people annoy me *online and offline* when I haven't done anything to deserve the treatmeant and I sit there thinking  "Why the f0ok is that person mad at me or what I like?

These people I swear at usually are ranting and/or don't give a valid reason for why they are mad at me.


It's even worse when people avoide me and I don't understand WTF is going on?

 

[Radical_Dreamer]

I never swear in my native language. But it seems i have tendency to unconsciously  swear in English most of the time.

Similarly, a fair chunk of my cursing is in languages where profanity is basically all I know.

[Eske]

I swear often-ish

but now to something random that shocked me so much i had to say something

Sajainta, one of your random-avatar pics was of two of my friends from delaware and shocked the hell out of me.

just so you know.

edit:  (upon doing a refresh fest... i saw the pic again but no live pics of anyone else...  kinda creeped out. )