Whats wrong with cursing word?

[FetusHead]

Leaving out a couple letters to hide your intentions will not protect you from being reprimanded.

 

OH NO!!! NOT A REPRIMAND!!!

 

Get over it, man.

[WildRose1010]

Children, please! I thought I was the student. Infamous, me thinks thou dost worry too much about how our language is 'going to the dogs', so to speak. (yes, the pun was intentional! :) ) Please chill! English has changes so much over the years that when we look back at old manuscripts they are difficult to comprehend. Would you understand if someone were to tell you "curse you"? Of course you would, but it wouldn't have the same potency that it had back in the 1600's. You would probably understand "**** you" a lot better. Swear words change, but the implied meanings stay the same. Dominance, as stated before, is all that it is about.

Oh, yeah, FetusHead, be nice! We're only here to dicuss swear words, not use them! :)

[FetusHead]

Oh, yeah, FetusHead, be nice! We're only here to dicuss swear words, not use them! :)

 

 

Well, I didn't mean to call anyone a name, but rather implied one. It's a symantec argument, but that particular part of the post was largely knee-jerk. When people get up on a high horse, it is instinctive for me to try and knock them off of it...:)

[infamous]

Oh, yeah, FetusHead, be nice! We're only here to dicuss swear words, not use them! :)

Thank you WildRose1010, FetusHead is entitled to his opinion as is everyone else at Hypography. I have no problem with opinions and like everyone else, I'm entitled to mine also.

[insight]

we know what f*** means, we know what it is.

some people are very sensitive about this word.

when they hear it, they pretend they dont know about it, or get mad, or get nervous.

why do we show such strong disapproval toward this word?

 

(imagine how powerful this word is!)

i rarely see such word written down in the daily life, and this word is not allowed to be used in so many situations.

 

as far as i know, most of the language have cursing words.

so, why did we even create these words? whats the meaning? how can 4 letters make such a big difference?

 

Not the word is powerful, the user uses it as a sign of his anger or whatever and there is a reason behind. Sometimes it is easy to solve the situation what his reason behind is. Usually human nature responsed it as an insult to them. This weakness slows down the understanding of any situation. We, human beings, are learning from experiences and decide which is beneficial to us or not. Dump those is bad. So we can response it intelligently if we meet the similar situation. Fire starter won't burn IT till it's not burn itself.

[questor]

the English language in its full expanse is expressive and descriptive. there are those who lack vocabulary and the desire and diligence to expand it. just because there is evolutionary change in language does not mean improvement . teenagers constantly

think up ways to bastardize the language as an ''in'' thing. once they grow up, they usually

put away childish things. since we have those that want to cry for attention, shock and show disdain for authority, we get constant usage of words that aren't needed for communication.

[IrishEyes]

Is there a difference between 'swearing' and 'cursing'? I mean, even those two words, while they may mean the same NOW, have very different literal meanings, don't they?

 

Language is a puzzle, and I love trying to figure it out. I laughed at the person who said something about a child hearing a 'bad' word once and repeating it all the time. I can remember when my oldest was learning to speak. She spoke Spanish better than english, as we lived in Puerto Rico. She asked for a fork, but hadn't learned how to form sentences yet. Basically, she said "Fork, me" . Of course, that's not what I heard, because she didn't have a firm grasp on those English 'r' sounds yet. Of course, when she got an instant reaction out of me, that became a little sing-song game for her. The same thing happened when she was learning to say "sit". Needless to say, I learned my lesson after the second word. When the next one was learning to speak, he didn't get those instant reactions out of me. He just got the repeated correct pronunciations of whatever he was trying to say. He didn't utter his first curse word until after spending a week with Grampa. :)

 

I had a long talk with my kids about 'those' words, and things like sticking up your middle finger at people. I explained that there are lots of people that use those words. They can be heard on tv, in the movies, on the street corner, and even the school yard. Many people use them. I don't think any words are bad. They are just words. However, I think that people often use words with bad intentions. Therefore, we have a group of acceptable words, and a group of unacceptable words, that we use in our home. Needless to say, the f-word, along with most every other word that has already been mentioned, are on the 'unacceptable' list. It really has nothing to do with the words themselves, but how people that use the words are perceived in many circles. I want my children to have the opportunity to be or do anything that they want. If they are limited by a language and/or vocabulary base that identifies them with inner-city street thugs, they will possibly be perceived as inner-city street thugs. That has a tendency to limit opportunities.

 

So do I think that every person that curses is an idiot? Hell no. :) But I do think that many times, people go for the shock value of the word, instead of using another word that would fit the situation just fine. Is "This is ****!" "This is crap!" "This is poop!" or "This is ludicrous!" the same? Do you really need to say the first one, or would the last one work just as well?

 

And I try to use the Grams test. If I wouldn't dare use the word in front of dear ol' Grams, then I really shouldn't use it any other time either. Most of the time, that works. When it doesn't, I just remember my oldest at two saying "****, **** ****" and remembering how awful that felt. It tends to keep my language in check most of the time.

[infamous]

 

And I try to use the Grams test. If I wouldn't dare use the word in front of dear ol' Grams, then I really shouldn't use it any other time either. Most of the time, that works. When it doesn't, I just remember my oldest at two saying "****, **** ****" and remembering how awful that felt. It tends to keep my language in check most of the time.

Nicely put Irish, the Grams test might help others recognize that this method of communication is sometimes offensive. I do however understand that this is a choice that everyone has a right to make. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion, as for myself, I'll take the higher ground.

[Buffy]

Is there a difference between 'swearing' and 'cursing'?

Swearing used to be good, as in "swear allegiance." Of course it can be turned into an epithet if you swear allegiance to the wrong group (e.g. Ann Coulter thinks all Democrats are traitors). Then there's "swearing to God" which is taking the Lord's name in vain, which initially was a sin, and then examples of it became using God's name as an interjection (my fave: "Jesus H. Christ!" with its obscure etymology), and then combining it with "curse words," which are quite old (click here if you really want to see the etymology of the "F-word")."

 

Cursing has always been bad, as its something you do to tell someone they're bad or that they should be punished (e.g. witches curses). If you're an old computer scientist, you'll know that Ken Arnold pulled the cursor positioning routines out of the original vi text editor and created a library called Curses used for forms based displays (and cool games like Rogue and Hack) on dumb terminals, but I digress.

 

Cursing can of course range from things you can easily get away with on television to George Carlin's famous 7 Words (that you can't). We in America have lost the art of formulating the former, but they really are much more interesting and some Americans have been experts at them (Groucho: "A child of five would understand this. Send somebody to fetch a child of five." or "I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception." or "She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon." Mae West: "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." or "She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success... wrong by wrong"), but you really have to go to the Brits who are experts at them (Noel Coward "I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me." or "He's completely unspoiled by failure" or just listen to Question Time sometime on C-Span (which carries it occasionally)).

He didn't utter his first curse word until after spending a week with Grampa. :)

 

And I try to use the Grams test. If I wouldn't dare use the word in front of dear ol' Grams, then I really shouldn't use it any other time either.

I think you've proven this useless! My ex and I were horrified when my mother-in-law decided that it was cute to try to teach our then 4-year old how to say the "S-word"! Those "grands" are the worst! My mom can swear like a sailor when she needs to too, but her favorite epithet is the much milder "go piss up a rope". I just keep the kid away from them...

 

Seriously though, my rule is the simpler "do unto others" rule: if you don't wanna be called that, don't use it with someone else. Also: always be nice, it pays off in spades (and Karma too!)

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[someguy]

Ok now let's revive this bad boy.

Having been reprimanded for bad behavoir, I am know trying to do the right thing.

I often wonder about this topic. I wonder why we allow certain words to obtain a taboo state. If there were no taboo words what would that do to our language?

I think it would do nothing. If we could somehow erase these words from existence and any new word were automatically "safe" what would that accomplish?

If we all agreed that these words were no longer offensive they would lose thier "power".

Would a child feel the need to repeat the words if there was no response to sh*t vs toy?

Would the rebel teen try to shock people with "go car yourself?" having said that I realize the act can be what is suppossedly vulgar.

But why is this so?

An important question is, who made these words taboo?

This is something that effects everyones life, why do we let it?

Some Guy

[Michaelangelica]

Essential reading for the traveller

https://www.docdownload.com.au/document/content.psp?group=personal,59113&content=27503

Dictionary of Australian swearwords:)

[Kriminal99]

it depends on where you live. If you say "I want to make you feel good" to some strange woman in america, you are likely to be sued for harassment and mental anguish, rediculous huh?

 

either that or get laid

 

Anyways I think that anytime a word becomes used often it begins to accrue additional meanings. There seems to be a cross cultrural desire to embarrass people by referring to their sexual activities, perhaps we should look to sigmund for an explanation of that... But once the word is used in a new situation frequently it begins to gain meaning from the new situation as well.

 

For instance because the f word has been deemed a curse word, it has become interchangable with other curse words such as the S word. It would make sense for someone to say "Oh S#$#" as if to imply that the person has seen something as bad as poop all over the place.

 

However "Oh F#$@" only makes sense because it is an alternate curseword used in place of the S word. Here it's original meaning is lost ("Oh screw violently" makes no sense unless you just found your girlfriend with another guy or something) which is really what made the word a bad word in the first place.

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

*marked for future reference*

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

However "Oh F#$@" only makes sense because it is an alternate curseword used in place of the S word. Here it's original meaning is lost ("Oh screw violently" makes no sense unless you just found your girlfriend with another guy or something) which is really what made the word a bad word in the first place.

Makes perfect sence as in Oh shi+ I'm severely screwed......Aka. Oh F##k!

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Ok now let's revive this bad boy.

Having been reprimanded for bad behavoir, I am know trying to do the right thing.

I often wonder about this topic. I wonder why we allow certain words to obtain a taboo state. If there were no taboo words what would that do to our language?

I think it would do nothing. If we could somehow erase these words from existence and any new word were automatically "safe" what would that accomplish?

If we all agreed that these words were no longer offensive they would lose thier "power".

Would a child feel the need to repeat the words if there was no response to sh*t vs toy?

Would the rebel teen try to shock people with "go car yourself?" having said that I realize the act can be what is suppossedly vulgar.

But why is this so?

An important question is, who made these words taboo?

This is something that effects everyones life, why do we let it?

Some Guy

Cuz soccermoms need sumthin ta Btwitch bout and blame for their short commings as parents/disiplinarians

[HydrogenBond]

The reaction to curse words is a learned behavior. If I swore at you, with the same words, but using a foreign language, it might not bother you, since the sound association was not conditioned to create a certain reaction. Pulling the lever can give a sour, hot, or sweet food pellet, depending on how one's conditioning, fills the machine. I am more flexible and can get all three food pellets depending on the situation.

 

Why would one train others to fill the food pellet machine a given way? There must have been a beginning to this. Maybe it could have also been due to the flexibility of words like the f-word. It has many meanings and could have caused confusion as to what is being meant? It could caused too many different food pellets to fall down the chute creating confusion and conflict. Was it better to invent new words to clarify intent so the pellet machine is more predictable.

 

Another explanation could have been class distinction. The lower class, who is less educated, has fewer words to use, so they need words with maximum flexibility. The ruling class to make themselves distinct, had to separate their food pellet from the other food pellets. Now to feel more uppity, you need to fill the machine the same way that was decided by tradition.

[Moontanman]

Wow! I like totally understand now, want another toke?