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Potty mouth

I have a question mostly for the ladies but guys will want to weigh in.

There have been a few times I come across a few Potty mouth words. I've heard mostly guys use the F bomb or assorted other words deemed socially unexceptable. I will admit I may have used shit a couple of times but only because I saw it used before. Personally, I will not use these words unless the lady may use it first. My first exposure to the impact of the word was "F### Trump" and I was stunned at first. Now, I am perfectly capable of speaking like an angry atheist and could keep up with most sailors. But I am not used to this kind of adjective, noun, verb........used in this environment.

Do you ladies find this offensive at all? When would it be acceptable?

kgoodyear 6 Dec 11
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9

“Phoebe Hurty hired me to write copy for ads about teen aged clothes. I had to wear the clothes I praised. That was part of the job. And I became friends with her two sons, who were my age. I was over at their house all the time.

She would talk bawdily to me and her sons, and our girlfriends when we brought them around. She was funny. She was liberating. She taught us to be impolite in conversation not only about sexual matters, but about American history and famous heroes, about the distribution of wealth, about school, about everything.

I now make my living being impolite. I am clumsy at it. I keep trying to imitate the impoliteness which was so graceful in Phoebe Hurty. I think now that grace was easier for her than it is for me because of the mood of the Great Depression. She believed what so many Americans believed then: that the nation would be happy and just and rational when prosperity came."

-Kurt Vonnegut in Breakfast of Champions-

Swearing is a valuable and effective form of communication, if done "gracefully" as Kurt says. I suck at it, but I am not going to give it up.

@KenChang I liked this a lot!

8

My southern manners kick in when they'd be important, for introductions, business transactions, formal exchanges with institutions or academia. If you work with me or speak with me casually for long you might as well get your clutches on those precious pearls of yours now though, Sally, cause you're gonna hear me curse up a fucktacular shitstorm of epic proportions before too long.

Don't worry; studies show that us motherfuckers who swear a lot are 3x more goddamned trustworthy than your average cocksucker. So I've got that goin for me, which is nice.

@Gooniesnvrdie I take it you've never visited, bless yer heart.

@Gooniesnvrdie well the 90s around military bases may be an exception but anyone who had a good southern mamma damn sure whipped some manners into us, trust me lol. You don't know manners til you've had to cut your own switch. And it better be a good one the first time or youre really gonna get it ?

@MissKathleen I know, thems fightin words but Im just bein cheeky 😀

@MissKathleen lol thats not always true by the way. It's funny to let people think so, but the phrase is highly contextual. I've said/heard it earnestly before or depending on tone it could mean anything from "you poor thing" to "I pity the fool" to "go fuck yourself" for all practical purposes. But that doesnt mean people are literally thinking those words when they say it, just that it's as close as most old southern ladies would ever get to saying something like that. Which is another testament to our manners, that even if we wanna cuss ya out we'd say something so benign. ?

6

I work in an office of 9 women. All of us swear. Well, maybe except one lady. Because seriously, "idiot" just doesn't convey the level of stupid like "fucking idiot" does.

5

I swear a lot. Some would say too much, I'm sure. I tone it down when I'm in company of family or kids. It's not for my sake, but those are the people that don't appreciate my "potty mouth" and/or don't want their kids exposed to it, so I respect that. But I think it's hilarious when people (adults) get their panties in a knot because of expressive words. When a gentleman says he won't swear in front of me, and I respond with something like, "That's fucking stupid!" I always get a smile in return, and then we're buddies!

Kat Level 5 Dec 11, 2018

I think there is a certain grace found in very selectively using these expletives and writing around them. I find them cheap words, though i find them somewhat endearing when whispered in my ear as pillow talk.

5

If I could stop saying fuck all the time, I could get a better job LOL

4

I use the word fuck all the time. It's one of my favorite words. I am a potty mouth most times. I do not trust a man who does not cuss.

4

Shit, did I say FUCK?! 😁
I curse like the proverbial sailor. It doesn’t offend me to hear it. I can tone it down on occasion...the above statement is one I actually made to my dad, when I cursed at a family thing. I was just😳, oops!

4

Depends....when it is for the general public, as yours is here, I think it would be against the rules of decorum...these are not groups that people can select to see or not see, so whatever is done outside of groups has a wider range of people with different sensibilities...

In groups, where people can turn off viewing, there appears to be an inordinate amount of swearing to the point of being ineffective...I am sure that is where you saw that post...

Personally, I swear worse than a sailor and admit doing so 🙂...just not in public with people I don't know; I will also refrain if asked...

3

I am a lovely woman but I curse a lot. Has nothing to do about anything else in my life...my values or beliefs... I just speak that way and have always done so just not on the job or in front of kids.

3

A word is merely a sequence of phonetic values, and how people react to words usually tells you more about THEM than it does the speaker of the words. Being an ex-sailor, I have a very wide vocabulary, including many words in other languages . . . .

THHA Level 7 Dec 11, 2018

@thinktwice I am bothered by people who say words are "just words". They aren't. They can be weapons and they can tear people apart. I suspect there are a lot of women on this site that have been belittled by "just words"--I'm sure I have done it. It's been done to me. But words, including body English are NOT just words. Words can also soothe the savage breast and these words can be delightfully entertaining, funny and effectively devastating. DO NOT TELL me, "You stupid fucking bitch!" are JUST words even after you apologize because you are going to do it again.

So if you think words are JUST words: FUCK YOU!

Well, you have done more to prove my point than disprove it. The words I used elicited a reaction, and the reaction does indeed tell us more about you than it does about me!

@Spudnut I have learned through my years and education in the study of English grammar that there are responsibilities of the speaker and the listener. Words are powerful, playful, sharp, wonderfully humorous and deceptively understated.

For one can not be both at the same time and one's volume can only exacerbate the situation. I believe, deeply, that each has a responsibility to the other. The speaker must do due diligence and speak in a way and at a level the listener can understand while the listener must do due diligence to understand what is being said and ask questions when they don't or leave when they can't.

Sadly I have not always followed my own words. I have called the mother of my children a bitch and I have said it loudly. I have smashed a keyboard to bits from frustration I did not understand. And while I have never touched a woman in anger I have had to expel a companion when I felt I could. (We remain good friends.)

So, Spud, I like so many others are a work in progress and like the seed of doubt in a theist's mind I can only hope I will continue to learn to be a better man because of it.

@Spudnut, @THHA The words I used elicited a reaction, and the reaction does indeed tell us more about you than it does about me! So words DO have power and what, pray tell did they reveal of me? If you are correct I will be more than happy to respond in kind.

Your words were a trap. You were attempting to elicit an emotional reaction that you did not get, all to prove your point. So, yea, it revealed something about you . . . Words are nothing more than phonetic sequences. If I tell you Отвали!, you hear the phonetics, but you do not react emotionally to it, because you have no idea what I said when you hear it. It has no power over you . . . you give words power, words do not have power in and of themselves. They are but phonetic sequences, and the only power they have over you is the power you give them yourself. In that way, each person chooses how they react to words, and hence, it does indeed reveal much about them.

@THHA And.....You beg the question. What have you learned ABOUT ME?

@kgoodyear Given that as mentioned earlier, your words were a trap, once again, you set the same course, instead of accepting the fact that you have been proven wrong, you attempt to go off on a tangential question rather than sticking with the assertation that you made, that is, that words are not simply a sequence of phonetic values, as I have clearly proven. The only power words have over anyone is the power that they give them. As for the tangential, that was addressed sufficiently, there as here. Если вы не слышите мелодию, возможно, вы глухой.

@THHA What a crap load of word salad.
Или, может быть, это просто шум. Anyone can use Google Translate.

Anything to avoid the fact that you were proven to be wrong . . . . it takes a human to give a word meaning, not the other way around. They are in fact, "Just words."

2

My job experience was in the printing industry as an offset camera operator, not many women working the production end of printing. I swear like a trooper and am not offended when the word is not used in anger. I will never say f you to someone during a discussion / argument. I may use it too much sometimes and I do try to not use it if I know someone is really offended by it. i think I fail a lot. Never used it in a sexual context cause I always made love.

2

Sometimes just saying (yelling even better) that F word relieves so much tension!

2

Juicy words are a wonderful addition to the mundane ! They accentuate in a way that nothing else can. While I don't use them all the time, I savor the moments when I do ... "fuck yeah !"

I love the term "juicy words". Thanks.

2

I think a person that can express strong feelings without profanity is far more clever than one who cusses all the time. You do want to feel a person knows there is a time and a place for it.

Orbit Level 7 Dec 11, 2018

I can express strong feelings without profanity (have a Master's Degree after all), but I frequently choose to use crude language as it is way more expressive and is more relative to my personality. 🙂

2

Oh, the thrill, the impact, the shock of finally saying "fuck" but not till in my 40's! Now it's used in appropriate situations & acceptable audiences. I'm pretty good at recognizing them. Just recently uttered, sort of under my breath, for the first time, "motherfucker". That's surely influenced by my only sports hero, Marshawn Lynch.
What saddens me is that young people don't have any bad words left to rebel or shock with now.

2

I swear all the time

I also vary rarely filter myself because of the company I am in, often swearing in public, sometimes in the presence of children....

I am not trying to offend or to be offensive it just does not occurs to me to filter myself,

Part of this I am sure is because I legitametly do not find the swear words to be offensive, or even comprehend how others do find them offensive, they’re just words.

I also enjoy using Blasphemous words

But again I fail to understand how words are offensive

I can understand being offended if the offensive words are directed at you, but one assumes in this case offence was intended....

If they are just words, would you use them with your mother? or grandma? Maybe it is my up bringing but my dad NEVER swore around us kids or Mom. Now, if a lady drops a few of those words all bets are off.

@kgoodyear Yes, have done, will do again,

it would feel really dishonest of me not to

I would certainly much rather be honest than polite, especially with family

2

I deliberately lessened my swearing after I had kids. They're 20 and 18 now so I generally start out by not swearing but if the people I'm with do swear then I gravitate towards it as well.

1

I swear all the damn time when I'm with friends or fighting with household objects but I tone it down in public and at work or with anyone who I know doesn't appreciate it. It's always this funny dance when you meet a new person and you're trying to figure out how much profanity is ok ?

Remi Level 7 Dec 12, 2018
1

I'm not bothered with someone who uses profanity. As long as it's not directed towards me in anger, he can speak his mind.

I sometimes have a colourful vocabulary... ESPECIALLY when it comes to sports. Dallas Cowboys. Need I say more? ??

Check this site out. It's an interesting read...

[sciencealert.com]

1

My current take on ptofanity...

  1. Words, in and of themselves have no power
  2. Perceived word power is on behalf of the perceiver. The listener has to choose whether or no to be offended, regardless of the intent. I have better things to do with my time than being perpetually offended.
  3. Many in society will judge. Such is a "perk" of freedom. Those who opt to use profane language have to be able to roll with those who will choose to be offended by it. Both sides have the right.
  4. There can be times when a terrible word really meets the need. I prefer to not use the "golden biggie" (thanks Mr. Carlin) casually, reserving it for such circumstances.
  5. Overuse of profanity, IMO, shows a lack of creativity. Can't you come up with a less tiresome word than that?
  6. I actually APPRECIATE some profanity, especially in certain comedy dialogue. When censored, a lot of these movies/shows lack flavor. I actually like filth to have the original dirt in it!

As to the original post. No, the prevalence of public profanity does not really bother me, except to say that "fuck" has somewhat lost its impact through overuse, which is unfortunate. I think society needs to choose its next "golden biggie".

Zster Level 8 Dec 11, 2018

While thoughtfully and elegantly written it is hard for me to concur with some of your statements. One can probably figure them out by my earlier replies. Thank you for your feedback. Perhaps we will share more later.

1

WTF! I didn't actually say it, lol

1

Words, words, words. We all use them, some are angered and insulted by some words, others believe they need certain words to express their true feelings. I use the F word to much and my New Year resolution is to try and use it less. I don't think most adults really care how other adults express themselves. I certainly don't care what word you use to describe trump as long as orange and asshole are mentioned.....LOL

That is on my resolution list as well...and has been for the last 50 years or so...ha ha ha...good luck!

@thinktwice yep, I've been working on less swearing for at least 25 years now. Some years I do better than others. LOL

@Redheadedgammy I think if we had swear jars, we would be rich by now...ha ha ha

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