I want to take a bit of time to talk about bad words, cuss words, swear words, just words that are considered "bad" in general, I do not want to include racial slurs in this, those are bad and everyone knows they are bad, so I am not talking about those here.

I love to swear, I mean in my daily life in any given conversation I could probaly make a sailor blush with shame, I use swears to emphisize what I am saying.

also It is no secret geroge carlin was my all time hero and this is one of his all time gripes, but it is still a valid argument and discussion worth having IMO.

is there such a thing as a bad word? do bad words exist?

my stance on the subject is actualy identicle to carlins, and it was long before I ever heard him, infact it was his bit on bad words, and how identicle to my own views it was that got me to liking him in the first place.

there are no "bad" words, words are just words and nothing more, take the word fuck, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the word fuck in and of its self, it is just a word, its the context you use that word in that makes it bad or unaceptable.

I dont think if I am at the mall I should have to watch my mouth, I should be able to say "wow did you see how expenisve this fucking shirt is " with out getting a bunch of dirty looks , I can understand if thier are children around but that would be one of the few exceptions where I would restrain my self.

so what are your views on bad words ( swear words ) ? can an actual word be bad? do you swear? do you think people should not be allowed to swear in public? does swearing and cursing ( especily in public ) fall under free speach?

discuss !

I'm pretty indifferent to the subject. I will say this though...words are not just words. Words have meaning, and regardless of who says them, they can be taken different ways depending on who hears it. Mostly because at this point in our evolution, we have attached meanings and symbolism to words. If I were to call you a really cool piece of shit, how would you take that? It's a rhetorical question not aimed at anyone.

Take my job for instance, if I were on the phone with someone and said "God damn that fucking sucks!" You can bet your sweet ass I would be first in the unemployment line next week.

But it's all about who you say it to, why, and how you say it. Despite what we all want to believe that we're equal, we're all raised different with different values. It's like someone said in the virginity thread, if the words are bad to you, don't say them. If they aren't and you do, you're not satan.

So, to sum up my rambling, yes, bad words exist. It just depends on the context they are used. Hell, I could call you a nerfherder and it could be bad or good. Princess Leia...oh yeah.

Yeah i swear. I just do. There is no way around it. It emphisizes what i am saying. I hate people that swear just for the fun of it...Its retarded.

I am of the opinion that resorting to commonly used swear words displays a lack of imagination and vocabulary.

My dad used to refer to swearing as "showing your ignorance," and I can't help but agree. (EG: rap music)

Dammit.

Well in Ireland, at least where I'm from, people swear very casually and even affectionately. Speaking with my friends any day of the week I'll be swore at and insulted, but it's done in such a way that no one takes it seriously. I myself think that a lot of people are too uptight about swearing and dislike it when people say swearing shows a lack of intelligence, how so?

90 percent of fights don't get started with swear words.

Really, swear words are mindless words that you blurt out for no thought for context.

I use curse words everyday. I love em. I use them for emphasis and comedic value. I know that there's a time and a place, but as long as the company I'm with enjoys cursing and curses along with me, then I'll go nuts and just have fun.

To me swearing isn't a sign of vulgarity, its just how I talk.
And I swear alot

Because swearing is down and happening with the kids. For realsies.

I swear but not excessivly. They are just expressive words which are only offensive because people deem them to be offensive

I hate fuck dudes.

You know, the guys when talking have to put in the "fuck, dude" every other sentence.

I don't think there's anything wrong with swearing, but I try to do it sparingly. They lose their meaning if you use them too much. I think it's ridiculous when people get offended by swears though... At the end of the day they're just words to be used to express strong emotion.

I agree that words are just words - they're tools, they're air coming out of your face. Why would you say that swearing around kids is bad? If you don't believe dirty words are bad, you shouldn't be afraid of kids using them.

Transcultural swearing is an example of how words are not 'bad' or 'offensive'. One word in one language can be a cuss word, in the other it might be an every-day expression.

Still, people widely believe that words have this 'moral quality' about them.

I love this subject actually, as an amateur linguist and a 'fan' of freedom of speech. Insulting and offending someone is even more interesting. What does it mean to insult someone? Say some words about him? Do words change reality? They don't, unless people blindly believe them. So usually people are offended because they believe that the people who hear the offensive words will believe them. Say someone is calling your relative a whore. Why would you care about that? Because someone might actually believe that. It's all about reputation I guess. In fact, I believe that if you're able to ignore 'offensive' remarks, you actually prove that they are powerless.

Words cannot offend you, they cannot be offensive. It is only the person who hears them that can 'become offended'.

Well, my post is really messy, but that's just because I'm in a hurry. Hope you can make out anything from it.
I'd love to talk more about this subject and hear some polar opinions.

Cheers.

its actualy not so much about the kids learning to swear or not, I grew up in the chicago public school system so i heard swearing from like age 5 and up on a daily basis and I turned out ( semi ) fine.


its more because of the reaction of the mothers / other people around looking at you like you got 2 heads and making a big scene, best just to avoid that mess.

also Savuyar I agree with most everything you said.

Read the #$!%!#$% post a little closer, man. I said "lack of imagination," not intelligence.

How much brain does it take to tell someone "STFU," as opposed to "Does your mommy know you're using her computer this late?"

Goddamnit, John...you are the funniest motherfucker on the planet!

But in all fairness, I see bad words as a way to colorfully illustrate your speech. However, like anything super colorful, you will eventually be diagnosed with diabetes. So use bad words sparingly. Because once you use them so much, all their flavor will be gone.

I curse pervasively in my life, but only in what I find to be appropriate situations. I think a lot of people in this thread are talking about things today, and the way the status quo is shifting; where in fact curse words have really almost become meaningless. i.e.: "fuck dude, i fucked that girl instead of going to work and now i'm fucked". that of course is an exaggeration but it's just to show how meaningless the word has really become over time and cultural changes. However there's no getting around the fact that these words have their origins as something that was meant to be offensive. the reason they were invented was to be "dirty" or "bad" otherwise they never would've been distinguished as such. and a lot of people still associate that connotation with them. So really when you boil it all down, it's completely cultural which words themselves are bad, but I think that the idea of words that are meant to offend is very real so one needs to be very aware of what words they choose to use and to who.

to the OP, you said that what you're saying excludes racial slurs because we all know that they're bad but why? If I say "which n-word took the last donut" to someone who wasn't black and i genuinely had no racist feelings or intent when i said it, but was just using it in a meaningless way , would that by the same logic not be a bad word?

dunno about that one. Mainly because you might get your ass beat if not shot. But the thing is if you said, "Which fuckwad took the donut?" Well, "fuckwad" is rather anonymous and doesn't apply to any ethnicity. But saying, "Which n*gger took the donut?" already uses a word that has negative implications towards a particular group of people.

I think swear words are mainly Anglo-Saxon words that were seen as 'vulgar' by the 'educated' people. They were just normal words, but I think they were seen as common by the French (I think it was them, I may be wrong). Another reason why it's stupid to get all holier than thou about it.

Try walking into a job interview and saying, "Sup, b*tches? Nice m*th*rf*ck*ng place you run here." When they don't hire you, THEN try to sue them, claiming discrimination based on a "holier-than-thou" prejudice they had against you and your way of life.

...

Actually, f*** that. If you did that in America, you'd probably win the stupid lawsuit.