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What does it say about a person when they are offended by “swear” words?

posted 2 years ago by damocci (1514)
37 replies | jump to latest

They’re feeble-minded, that’s what I think. Soft in the head.

First off I want to clarify what I mean by “swear words.” There’s a difference between blaspheming and swearing. Although I am not religious, I can empathize with people who take offense to blasphemy because, subjectively, blasphemy is no different from hearing someone insulting a loved one. Blasphemy is not cool. In addition, I must also distinguish between hate speech (ie. racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic etc language) and swear words. It goes without saying that people who use hate speech are innately imbecilic, and no amount of university degrees, eloquent vocabulary, scientific knowledge or mathematical genius can change that fact.

What I am talking about are regular cuss words. Basically the seven dirty words that George Carlin once ranted about:. Why do people take offense to regular swear words? Swear words mean EXACTLY the same thing as their socially accepted synonyms! Let me illustrate what I mean:

*poo/do-do - a cute word used by little children
* crap - a slightly dirtier word used by teens or older
* turd - a word used by "cool" people
* excrement - a word used by proper, fancy people
* stool - a word often used by doctors
* farces - a "scientific" word used by eggheads
* shit - oh no! That's a swear word!

THESE SEVEN WORDS MEAN EXACTLY THE SAME THING!!!! Regardless of which of the seven words one uses, you get the EXACT SAME mental picture, therefore either all seven words are acceptable or all seven are unacceptable. The same principle can be applied to the other dirty words

Each of these words has its "socially acceptable" equivalents, but the funny thing is that these words mean the same thing, so regardless of whether a person uses the dirty word or the clean one, you get the SAME mental picture. It's not as if when some says “poo” you imagine a turd with rose petals and ribbons, yet when someone says “shit” you imagine a dirty, bearded pirate turd. I, for one, think it should be okay for a three-year-old to say, "Mommy, I need to go take a shit." Amen.

[–] TheMan18 (13015) 2 years ago

I myself am not exactly "offended" by swear words but I for one can be a little discomforted by them for one reason or another. And I also grew up in times when it was at best highly not encouraged, and they don't sound nice too.

Also, even IF people ARE offended, or upset or discomforted etc by them, is it really such a bad thing after all?

After all, many people are raised to be polite, nice, cultured individuals and to them swearing is somewhat of a mental and aural disruption of an order.

[–] TheMan18 (13015) 2 years ago

On second thought, I kinda like to think I shouldn't care or think about it all too much. But the OP judging by his thread etc thinks otherwise and even goes on a tour of moral lecture of "Hey, its OK to say etc and think this" but "Hey, its never OK to think etc" this.

Also, and apparently, people who have university degrees indulge in HATE SPEECH? Not saying I disagree but whoo-ah...

So intelligence in humanity then isn't everything and certainly not everything GOOD?

[–] damocci (1514) 2 years ago

I genuinely believe that people who discriminate against others on the basis of some physical attribute like race, sex, age etc are fundamentally stupid. An example I often resort to is: imagine you really want a Playstation and I buy one for you, but I gift wrap it in pink wrapping paper. You'd have to be an absolute idiot to reject my gift on account of you disliking the pink wrapping paper. Is it not what's under the wrapping paper that truly matters? That's precisely how I feel about all bigots, including educated bigots. You can have academic intelligence whilst being bereft of common sense.

[–] wheelin176 (2050) 2 years ago

I'm not offended. I just don't like them,esp. when my son goes on an f rant.

[–] GlenEllyn (21526) 2 years ago

Same here. I'm not offended. I just find the widespread use of expletives completely unnecessary. Show some class. There are plenty of other words in any language that would actually better describe how one feels. I agree completely with my dad, who used to say anyone who continually uses the f bomb shows they have a very limited vocabulary. If you insist on using it, save the f bomb for something really serious. I think the f bomb is similar to those who use "like" instead of a more appropriate word. E.g. - He like said, can't you like, call instead of like, just showing up. And as in, "I'm like," when what you really mean is, I said, or I thought...

My brother uses the f bomb a lot, and I really wish he'd show some respect to others who prefer not to hear "f" every other word.