I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I read somewhere that intelligent people swear more, so I’ve decided to start.
Fuck no. Though I have removed gendered swears from use.
You son of a snitch, I’m in.
It’s really just deliberately using terms like “asshole” and “shithead” instead of bitch and such.
No, it would do my mother tongue a disservice! There are so many flowery and imaginative ways to express emotions using swearwords in Polish…
As an online gamer:
Call someone a slur - boring, stupid, causes harm but rarely to the target.
Call someone an ‘absolute potato’ - seething rage, I am NOT a potato!Not me. I’d explode without swearing. I made a point to avoid gendered swear words though. And also to not use them in arguments.
I tend not to swear. I never swear in front of children since it’s very common for parents to hate that. If I do swear, it’s usually from something drastic, like a lot of pain or if I’ve messed something up irreperably. I avoid explatives in normal situations though, and when I use them I prefer to use a goofier explative than a swear, like “ay ay ay”, “uff da”, “oy vey”, and things like that. I just find it more fun, and keeps my mentality light in a rough situation. I grew up religious, so I have an unreasonable hatred of replacement words and won’t use them.
I will use curse words in phrases that I think require them, such as “shit-eatting grin” or “shitshow” because I don’t know phrases that describe those things any more aptly.
I go to church now for the last few years so I’ve retrained my choice of words to a degree so not to offend, but I still curse loudly.
Yes, because I was forced to exist against my will. Don’t do that next time please kthnxbye.
It’s impossible to take people seriously that do what you are describing.
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If you’re using direct replacement words and the sentiment is the same, what’s the point?
“Freak!”
Fuck no! I always found it funny how communities find specific words offensive and look down upon people that use them. Context is important, of course, but the vast majority of cases I witness people swearing are non malicious in nature. (Don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely words/phrases I will never say; again, context is key here)
Coming up with alternative words for the same intent is super silly to me, too. The individual makes it very clear they are aware of the “rules” and are making an asserted attempt to sidestep them. Why bother with all that effort and not simply use the intended word instead?
Right, it’s the intent and context of the word that could be offensive, not the word itself. Using substitutes doesn’t change how you’re conveying your emotions.
Besides, OP, do you think Jesus wasn’t swearing when he was overturning the money changers tables in the tabernacle? He was clearly PISSED. He was definitely rebuking them, same difference.
Swearing isn’t sinful, it’s what you’re cursing/being hateful about that could be.
Now, if you’re intentionally not swearing due to a personal choice or by virtue of being intentionally different to not be like the culture you’re in then that’s different.
I do not understand the reason for swearing being considered bad.
I do not understand why replacement words are better.
If it were the specific sounds being made that are wrong, replacement words would make sense. However, since other languages have no prohibition on these words and may have words that sound the same/similar to swear words in another language.
If the meaning behind the words was the ‘bad’ part, then replacing those word with other words that express the same idea would be just as wrong.
Who determines which words are bad? If it’s a cultural thing I guess it makes sense but a person is fickle and groups of them even more so. I still don’t understand why a group would prohibit specific words but not their meanings (barring superstition, like in the case of the origin of word “bear”). If it were a deity of some kind, it makes me return to the question why specific words in specific languages but not the meaning and intent behind those words.
I’m decently sure profanity became known as such because of either religious reasons or class division (along the lines of peasants vs nobles from early/medieval europe) and it just became commonplace.
I would say profanity nowadays though is a lot less taboo. It’s been normalized in culture (hip hop, city culture, punk subculture) and a lot of people are less religious nowadays.
Forking shirtballs, The Good Place has the best replacement words.
Fuck, which becomes Fork. Shit, which becomes Shirt. Bitch, which becomes Bench. Ass, which becomes Ash. Dick, which becomes Deck. Cock, which becomes Cork.I forking love this
On those last two, watch this old ad
High quality stuff
I don’t exactly talk like a sailor but I don’t censor myself either. I think swearing is much less of a big deal in my culture than it seems to be in conservative America. For example, bleeped-out words on TV or radio are not a thing here. I have not and will never use any “replacement words”, those just seem forced and silly to me.
Oh nice! That makes sense. My grandfather and dad are conservative, so I think it’s kind of a force of habit to me
