Swearing

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Why does people think that swearing is wrong?! I swear ALOT. But why does people think that you are unintelligent if you swear?
Swearing is in fact intelligent because it's words to give out your opinion which in my head is intelligent, man some parents wouldn't like me to raise their kids
Also swear words expands your vocalbulary which is also a kind of intelligence!

If it stood to me small children should learn to swear at a low age... Nothing wrong with swearing it's just words! also it could work very well here in Denmark since it's illegal to bully...
So you can't bully people verbal without getting a fine or prison sentence.

Swearing is better than physically beating on someone.


BUt it doesnt impress people with your intelligence, or vocabulary.

In fact the quest to seek substitutes for swear words can inspire you to expand your vocabulary more.

I went through a phase in which I used the name of the Russian classical composer "Shostakovich" as a cuss word.
Since it sounds like a combination of the S word and the SOB phrase it vents your emotions quite well if you're a native English speaker (try it sometime).

One friend who heard me use it was quite impressed at how erudite I was instead of being offended at how foul mouthed I was.

Because swearing (excessively?) is associated with a lack of class, which is associated with a lack of intelligence.

But I'm pretty smart D: not to be arrogant...

Well you asked why people think swearing is a sign of stupidity, not why I think so lol. I don't think swearing is stupid since it's a matter of style rather than of substance. Besides I'd be insulting myself if I said people who swear are stupid.

It ain't so smart if you casually use it on purpose in every single sentence, and your child starts using it.

(I'm talking about my brother)

Yeah I can't stand people who swear in every f*****g sentence.

I've been swearing FAR too much of late (due to anxiety) but want to cut down because it is seen as rude and a sign of low class and low intelligence - I think it comes down to it being considered 'bad language'...

Swearing is not 'bad language' in that it expresses an emotion very well and in a very particular way, only swear words are capable of invoking the sort of response that they do because they come from taboo subject matter, swearing has it's place and it is needed within society in the same way that we need un-PC jokes to break tensions over taboo or sensitive subjects. It is however bad language when used in excess or in place of more appropriate language - thus why it's considered a sign of low intelligence, because people who lack a rich vocabulary use swear words instead, it's lazy, and if you're class-less you use swearing purely because it invokes a certain response - you lack the words to express yourself, so instead you use words that are shocking or threatening.

Here's my take:

People often swear when their emotions are high. If people swear in every sentence, it also indicates a lack of effective vocabulary. People who swear consistently are either assumed to be A) Highly emotional (which is not associated with intellect) or B) Don't bother to use more effective vocabulary (which is considered lack of knowledge or capacity to learn).

Why does people? He does, she does, it does, but they do, not does. For the minuscule increase in vocabulary that profanity may provide, it is better yet to have proper grammatical constructions of ones verbs if you care to demonstrate your intelligence linguistically.

Or it could have been a simple typo, and you are overreacting to an honest mistake.

I would be more concerned if this improper use of grammar was consistent.

Edit: I read it more closely, and I see more mistakes. I tend to ignore grammar mistakes in written text due to exposure from my fellow engineers.

You know, my father would swear a lot and I'd wonder why as a child. I associated it with "bad manners". Then I had a summer job that entailed doing some manual labour and I realized why he'd swear, as doing a lot of work builds up the stress. I also know someone who said that, after year of work in markeeting, he started to swear a lot.

Vulgarity is directly proportional to the vigor of one's labours. Having a "clean mouth" is indicative of being a self-righteous, idle rich, member of the trust fund brigade, being emotionally flat, or being unwilling to release excess tension. There are exceptions (for instance, some unemployed youth with affinities towards "gangster culture" or the lumpenproletariat themselves swear a lot).

Last edited by Master_Pedant on 13 Aug 2011, 10:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Reindeer wrote:

Oh I did learn to swear at an early age, much to the distress of my parents.

My guess is because there are other words in the dictionary you can use to express yourself and those who don't do that are unintelligent because they are too lazy to find other words to use or not smart enough to express yourself the right way.

As for why people think swearing is wrong, probably because it makes them feel uncomfortable. To me swearing indicates anger and when someone swears a lot, I think they are angry people with anger problems. But yet if they sound all happy but yet are swearing excessively, it confuses me. It feels like they are messing with my head. Maybe that is why people think swearing is wrong because they feel the same way.

Some swearing doesn't bother me but lot of it does. But yet if it's directed at me, I don't tolerate it and lose respect for the person who did it. My stalker once told me "f**k you" and I never spoke to him again by trying to reason with him to get him to understand why he is bothering me but he could never comprehend it it seemed like so I just kept blocking him without saying a word to him and to me "f**k you" means "I don't care about your feelings, I'll do whatever I want to you." Nope I don't want that person as a friend if they don't care about me.

I knew swear words from a young age but mom put a stop to me using them when I started to say them and told me she slap my mouth if I say them and told me they were bad words. Then she said they were grown up words and kids were not allowed to use them because only grown ups can.

I get the impression that he is from Denmark. So English is not his native tongue.
So you have to cut him some slack.

Is claiming to be a foreigner going to be the new excuse for bad writing on the internet now? Even if such is the case, it's better to learn more scholarly vocabulary, such as that derived from Latin and Greek, than to merely learn words relating to bodily functions and relationship statuses of fornicators or whatever. If anyone thinks that swearing is a way to demonstrate intelligence, they've got an incredibly messed up notion. The opposite is more like the real case, and even among those who can't think but to swear every other word it is not a matter of showing intelligence but instead sincerity since they seemed to have developed the notion that having a toilet for a mouth is equivalent to honesty.