People who constantly curse

Strumms

if the worst you can say about someone is they curse too much, it ain’t a bad complaint…

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122492942#Comment_122492942

They just have a different opinion and family background, I think you might have misinterpreted the post.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493160#Comment_122493160

It's not a different opinion. They think people without "good manners" are "gutter" people. Clear bang of snobbery off them.

geographica

Who decided what’s a “curse” word and what isn’t eh? Some rando in the Oxford dictionary department? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122490670#Comment_122490670

You're not the first person on this thread to link cursing with higher intelligence, but a lot of the time when people make this argument, it's to make themselves feel better about their swearing (including the people who do the studies into it!). And I'm not saying that people who curse a lot can't be intelligent. Some of the music I listen to and television/films I watch is full of expletives, and that can be an element of what makes these things good.

I have never used swear words, which is a bit odd because the rest of my family and friends are great at it (to varying degrees). A few people have told me that they try not to swear as much in my presence, (in particular one ex-girlfriend and one male friend) but not because I ever said anything to them about it. They just wanted to curtail their own usage of 'bad language', and were happy to use me as a role model for that, I suppose.

I don't really have to self-police my speech because I never got into the habit of using swear words. If it's okay for some people to swear out of habit, then it should be okay for me to not swear of of habit too. And because I don't use these words, I can use the language other ways to get the same point across, so there's no lack of creativity in what I say.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493387#Comment_122493387

There is good science to show that swearing is positively linked to intelligence and that everyone swears because it is a natural component of language. swearing is linked to wider vocabulary which in turn is a sign of intelligence. It serves a few evolutionary beneficial purposes such as pain surpression.

Beyond that it's a matter of personal preference whether you choose to swear or not.

Nermal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493403#Comment_122493403

The 'science' is really poor.

None of the studies I've found actually measure the frequency with which people curse - they rely on self-reporting.

Perhaps more intelligent people are more self-critical and/or honest when assessing themselves.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493541#Comment_122493541

Then you haven't researched it very well - I found no study which used self reporting.

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493403#Comment_122493403

The extra vocabulary being those swear words? 😉

The overreliance of some people on swear words can make them lazy about using other more accurate adjectives. And I still reckon that some of the 'good science' was prompted by people justifying their own vocabulary.

And I agree that it is probably useful for pain suppression. I personally just don't need to use it, as I'm probably already too dead inside…

Nermal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493560#Comment_122493560

The one you posted is self-reported.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493672#Comment_122493672

If you read the article it covers lab testing of the hypothesis as well.

Will Graham

@Pauliedragon Who decided in the first place that certain words are offensive? 

It was never that any one person who decided. No different from the way you wouldn't be deciding to be offended if someone told you to F off. And even if you weren't, you'd know offense was intended.

When you think about it, it's kind of funny that the f word ended up being chosen for this purpose. I knew that 'fcuk' was a bad word before I knew what it meant. It'd be like if every time I got frustrated I decided to shout out 'sex'.

gigantic09

Think some comedians overdo the cursing to compensate for weak material. Richard Pryor was extremely profane but it worked very well .Chris rock on the other hand I thought used profanity and repetition as filler to draw out a joke .Many modern day u tube/tic toc comics really overdo the cursing imo

Nermal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493686#Comment_122493686

It covers lab testing of the fact that more intelligent people are more capable of naming more swear words, not that they use them habitually in daily life. That's hardly surprising, the same would be true of any other word category.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493797#Comment_122493797

It doesn't just test that it also tested general vocabulary which is a strong indicator of intelligence.

Nermal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493804#Comment_122493804

I genuinely can't work out what your point is now. Mine is simple: facility with swearing is not the same as usage, and self-reporting of usage is not the same as measuring usage.

If you know of a study in which the use of swear words in daily life was measured - not self-reported - and correlated with intelligence, post it.

I don't know of any, so as far as I'm concerned there is exactly zero evidence that swearing is somehow a sign of cleverness. Not surprising and consistent with my experience.

Ray Palmer

It is a complete joke to say that people who curse a lot have a wider vocabulary given they can only use curse words to explain and describe things. Maybe they magically know more words but only choose to use a few. Vocabulary usage shows you have more vocabulary and a lack of use means you have less.

I have extended family that curse a lot and they show a lack of understanding when having conversations. They can't not curse in their conversations and I don't find it offensive but my elderly mother does they know it and can't help themselves. Being tradesmen I guess it is the language they use among themselves and socially acceptable but they can't. One of my cousins was kicked out of a restaurant on his wife birthday because he couldn't behave in a different social environment. He of course said the restaurant was full of snobs and it was all their fault.

A lot of people who curse have reverse snobbery when they have to deal with people who don't curse

Potential-Monke

I always laugh at people who get upset over the use of a combination of letters which match the current "curse" category of the times. They're just words, same as all the ones I've just typed. But some people attach strong meanings to them and just accept that as the only way it would be used. Yeah, the current crop of curse words are used by certain sections of society who are ne'er do wells, but the ones who are truly fvucking us over don't curse in public and smile at the camera.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493285#Comment_122493285

Dictionary compilers record language usage. Oxford records all the Bad words in use now and historically. Some dictionaries have recorded Rando in recent times. The protectors of Proper English would hate you for using it.

Rando: A person one does not know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or engaging in socially inappropriate behaviour.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493961#Comment_122493961

So you have no problems with somebody describing something revolting while you are eating? Just letters and words in combination. You have no problems with children cursing all the time? Go into a shop or restaurant it wouldn't bother you if the staff were cursing all the time?

Appropriate language is a thing and writing it off as only bothering some pearl clutching is really not true. It is a sign of respect and self respect to use appropriate lanugage

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493961#Comment_122493961

Words have power. That power may wax and wane over time, or change ownership, or disappear altogether eventually, but to claim that they're "just words" is naive at best and disingenuous at worst.

Try using the N-word in polite company while claiming with a straight face that it's just "a combination of letters" and let us know how you get on.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493961#Comment_122493961

All that tells us is that you don't have much self respect, if you allow people to abuse and disrespect you in that manner…..

dulpit

I'm all for cursing, provided it's not targeted at someone. I like how our broadcasters don't make a fuss if someone inadvertently swears on TV or radio (I think we've had interviews in Olympics and after some GAA games recently where an athlete swore but it wasn't offensive). The UK channels have to be very quick to apologise due to their licensing laws which I always find odd.

Even at work some of my colleagues will swear a lot, some will never. But it's always passive, never pointed at somebody. The second somebody swears AT somebody is when they have stepped over the line. But as long as they don't, no worries here.

Ubbquittious

Ah shur phuket why wouldn't you just throw a few phucks into every sentence like every other phucker out there?

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058363886/people-who-constantly-curse

We're Irish. We use curse words like adjectives and nouns and we don't have the weird aversion to, so called, "bad" words that other societies do. Some Americans, for example, would be utterly appalled by someone saying "cunt", but would offer a load of sham "thoughts and prayers" when a bunch of kids get killed in a school by some weirdo with an AR-15 while they hide behind 2nd amendment gibberish. I know which is much, much, worse.

Personally, I've never understood some people's startled reaction to another person cursing and when you look into the origin of most "curse" words, they're fairly benign. The word "cunt" for example, that your colleague used, was a commonly accepted word at one stage and can be dated back to Chaucer and a word like "bastard" originated from a basic descriptor. "Fuck" has a more shrouded origin, but is probably the most used curse word on the planet as it's so flexible.

If you look at it like that, so called "pejoratives" lose all their power and they become something to be interested in as opposed to being hurt by.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494137#Comment_122494137

A curse should be targeted at someone. "Damn your soul to hell" as an example. Bad language is not a curse.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494069#Comment_122494069

Saying the word "nigger" depends entirely on the context. While I don't believe anyone should be or, indeed, needs to be saying it in general conversation (and certainly not as verbal weapon against somebody) it is entirely possible to have a perfectly academic discussion about the word, while using the word. Frankly, I despise the use of "N word" more than I do the word it's standing in for, if I'm honest. It's such a mealy mouthed, white, middle class, Americanism.

Of course, one chooses when to employ any word and such an historically loaded word as "nigger" is no different. Using "N word", however, tends to really ruffle my feathers for some odd reason. Probably because I know what the word is that that person REALLY wants to say.

That last sentence isn't aimed at you Dial.

Kilteragh

I think Stephen Fry's quote may be relevant to this discussion:

“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fcking what."

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494369#Comment_122494369

It's odd that you chose to use that word here multiple times in your post though. I find anybody who goes out of their way to use that word is doing it to shock or make a point.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494570#Comment_122494570

I don't care about trying to "shock" anyone. But I do want people to know which word I'm using at a given time and since this discussion is about "curse" words, it's better to be clear on which word is being discussed.

**** for every censored word obscures everything.