Cursing!!!

[FloridaRob]

How times have changed. I remember my brother and I practicing curse words when we were young, my mother hearing us and then actually doing the wash mouth out with soap routine. Pretty much learned my lesson until I became an adult. Still, I would never curse out in public or out even with friends. It is pretty much a response word or phrase I use if something happens that startles me, frustrates me, or just pisses me off. But other than my wife, no one ever hears me.

Now however, there is absolutely no respect anymore. Walking through the Mall, to the movie, at the car wash at the grocery store, etc, there are no boundaries. Kids, adults, kids talking to adults, adults talking to kids, it never ceases to amaze me. Any word is an option. No sentence can be completed without a slew of curse words to punctuate the sentence. No hesitation in their vocabulary with even little kids in the area.

I just don't get it. Curse words are part of the vocabulary now just like the, and, but, and are. I was scared to go to church with my daughters ex-boyfriend because I half expected him to drop the F Bomb on the usher while he is taking the offering. I remember talking to him about it and he just shrugs it off like, that is just the way he talks. He doesn't think it is rude. I just shake my head.

What happened? Yearning for the old days again I guess!!!

 

[casmith07]

World's changing. National IQ average is falling. The idiocracy is coming!

 

[WV Cowboy]

In before someone blasts you and tells you it is no big deal.

I agree.

I remember a big sign in our football lockerroom that said, "Profanity shows a lack of Vocabulary"

That stuck with me.

In my world, I seldom if ever hear curse words, .. which is great. To the point that when I do hear them it sounds really bad to me.

I work in a professional environment, and that type of language is not tolerated.
I coach youth sports, .. not tolerated.
Spend a lot of time at church, .. frowned upon there. LOL

I wish people would increase their vocabulary and find better words than slang curse words.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

World's changing. National IQ average is falling. The idiocracy is coming!

You sir just nailed it..............

 

[casmith07]

Being in the Army, there's always a time and place for a very well-placed F Bomb. But I use curse words very sparingly in my day to day speech.

 

[Future]

World's changing. National IQ average is falling. The idiocracy is coming!

This isn't serious right. Saying that cursing has anything to do with intelligence is silly. Adjusting to taboo is a sign of growth, not the dumbing down of society. I'm sure there were people who used to say that being friends with people of a different race was "stupid." The idea of cursing being a sign of a lack of development or lower levels of intelligence is an antiquated approach and the notion that being articulate has anything to do with being smart is unbelievably outdated. Swear words can be offensive, sure, but Rock 'N Roll used to offend people. Hip hop still does in some circles. Accepting them as part of life is what has allowed the world to become as developed as it is. Dispactching them as something for the folks with lower IQ would leave us stuck in the 1800s.

You could actually make the argument that using a curse word is more intelligent because its a stronger way to share an emotion. Saying I am "cursing" mad is a lot more effective than "I'm really mad!" Plus, swearing elicits a response, which is generally the reason for saying something anyways. Cursing is far more efficient than a lot of other words, though people take that in the wrong way.

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

 

[WV Cowboy]

I have nothing scientific to back this up, just from experience, ... but it seems the higher level of intelligence or education, the less I hear swearing.

Conversely, the lesser amount of education/intelligence seems to bring out more swearing.

When I hear swearing, I notice, .. and it alters my opinion of that person, ... whether that is right or wrong.

But like I mentioned earlier, I actually don't hear it much.

Just cause Mark Twain said it does not make it truth.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

This isn't serious right. Saying that cursing has anything to do with intelligence is silly. Adjusting to taboo is a sign of growth, not the dumbing down of society. I'm sure there were people who used to say that being friends with people of a different race was "stupid." The idea of cursing being a sign of a lack of development or lower levels of intelligence is an antiquated approach and the notion that being articulate has anything to do with being smart is unbelievably outdated. Swear words can be offensive, sure, but Rock 'N Roll used to offend people. Hip hop still does in some circles. Accepting them as part of life is what has allowed the world to become as developed as it is. Dispactching them as something for the folks with lower IQ would leave us stuck in the 1800s.

You could actually make the argument that using a curse word is more intelligent because its a stronger way to share an emotion. Saying I am "cursing" mad is a lot more effective than "I'm really mad!" Plus, swearing elicits a response, which is generally the reason for saying something anyways. Cursing is far more efficient than a lot of other words, though people take that in the wrong way.

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

Without getting into too much detail, obviously there's a difference between natural intellectual ability and an acquired wealth of knowledge. Each is self explanatory. The former is just an ability to comprehend things more easily than most people, and the latter is what you've actually learned in life. You can be a natural and a dropout, and you can have a PhD and not have any amazing natural ability. Now, there have been debates about what exactly counts as intelligence. Is it natural? Is it acquired? Is it a bit of both?

And obviously there are different types of abilities. A math/physics person may have little respect for an English/literature person, but they both have a wealth of knowledge, just in different areas. Some pieces of knowledge are less respected today in the workplace. For example, math and computer skills are looked at more highly than reading comprehension and writing skills.

Anyway, so (there's a point to all of this) having a high vocabulary is a type of knowledge and it may be considered a form of intelligence, depending on how you want to define intelligence. But I don't really see what curse words have to do with one's vocabulary. A vocabulary is just a mental bank of words. It's finite and numerical. Bob might know 10,000 words; John might know 50,000 words; therefore, John has a larger vocabulary. And there are high-level vocabulary words, so two people might know the same number of words but that doesn't mean their vocabularies are equal.

Anyway, so what I want to say is, there are intelligent people in this world who have giant vocabularies. And it should be respected. However, the only people I've ever heard who make the argument that using curse words is a sign of a small vocabulary are typically uneducated (high school doesn't count) people with limited vocabularies. I've never once heard an English professor use that argument. It's always Billy Joe, the religious mechanic from small town Arkansas.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I agree with the OP. Cursing and the acceptance of such behavior, is not a sign of growth IMO. It is interesting to me how things are viewed. For example, if you use certain words in different racial settings, those things can be viewed as prejudicial or worse. They are words that offend certain people and as such, are not accepted. However, curse words are not viewed in that manner, even though certain parts of our society also view curse words as offensive. I don't understand why we could be sensitive to certain words because they are offensive to certain segments of our society but accept other words that basically offend other segments of our population.

It's very odd to me.

 

[Nova]

My parents are older and I was kind of raised more conservatively, as far as manners go.

They never swore around me, and I still won't swear around them today in my mid-late twenties. I find it extremely strange that my girlfriend will drop F bombs around her parents and they're totally cool with it.

I also try to keep the swearing to a minimum in public, unless I'm at a bar or something. And really, if a word can't be said on Network TV, I generally won't see it in the presence of women.

 

[Nova]

I see the intelligence thing is getting a lot of traction here, so let's just debunk that really quick with the Flynn Effect.

IQs on the average are consistently rising.

And I never heard more swearing than I did when I was in college among thousands of highly educated people. The filthiest mouthed guy I know just got through travelling the country, giving lectures on a possible cure for cancer.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

My parents are older and I was kind of raised more conservatively, as far as manners go.

They never swore around me, and I still won't swear around them today in my mid-late twenties. I find it extremely strange that my girlfriend will drop F bombs around her parents and they're totally cool with it.

I also try to keep the swearing to a minimum in public, unless I'm at a bar or something. And really, if a word can't be said on Network TV, I generally won't see it in the presence of women.

Oh you're one of those types? A gentleman in front of his mother and a sailor in the bar? For some reason, that's considered masculine these days. I was at a bar last night. It was a seafood sports bar in a nice neighborhood. It was right before closing time so there were just a few older guys (40's-50's) having a few drinks after a long day of work. Anyway, some of these guys got pretty sauced and turned into the most obnoxious meat-head douce-bags. But apparently that's cool. Whatever happened to a man who just got a drink, minded his own business, and showed some self respect? But I'm sure these guys were church-going family men who love their mothers. So that's good.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I see the intelligence thing is getting a lot of traction here, so let's just debunk that really quick with the Flynn Effect.

IQs on the average are consistently rising.

And I never heard more swearing than I did when I was in college among thousands of highly educated people. The filthiest mouthed guy I know just got through travelling the country, giving lectures on a possible cure for cancer.

Yes, IQs are not necessarily an accurate indicator of intelligence. Flynn's studies point that out.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Oh you're one of those types? A gentleman in front of his mother and a sailor in the bar? For some reason, that's considered masculine these days. I was at a bar last night. It was a seafood sports bar in a nice neighborhood. It was right before closing time so there were just a few older guys (40's-50's) having a few drinks after a long day of work. Anyway, some of these guys got pretty sauced and turned into the most obnoxious meat-head douce-bags. But apparently that's cool. Whatever happened to a man who just got a drink, minded his own business, and showed some self respect? But I'm sure these guys were church-going family men who love their mothers. So that's good.

A lot of Sailors in those Sea Food Sports Bars?

LOL......

 

[Nova]

Without getting into too much detail, obviously there's a difference between natural intellectual ability and an acquired wealth of knowledge. Each is self explanatory. The former is just an ability to comprehend things more easily than most people, and the latter is what you've actually learned in life. You can be a natural and a dropout, and you can have a PhD and not have any amazing natural ability. Now, there have been debates about what exactly counts as intelligence. Is it natural? Is it acquired? Is it a bit of both?

I think the best explanation I ever received was from a high-school Physics teacher who said something along the lines of 'intelligence is the ability to understand and to what capacity'.

I like to think of it that way.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I think the best explanation I ever received was from a high-school Physics teacher who said something along the lines of 'intelligence is the ability to understand and to what capacity'.

I like to think of it that way.

As good an explanation of such a nebulous subject as I've heard. Not to shabby.

 

[Nova]

Oh you're one of those types? A gentleman in front of his mother and a sailor in the bar? For some reason, that's considered masculine these days. I was at a bar last night. It was a seafood sports bar in a nice neighborhood. It was right before closing time so there were just a few older guys (40's-50's) having a few drinks after a long day of work. Anyway, some of these guys got pretty sauced and turned into the most obnoxious meat-head douce-bags. But apparently that's cool. Whatever happened to a man who just got a drink, minded his own business, and showed some self respect? But I'm sure these guys were church-going family men who love their mothers. So that's good.

Not so sure you could classify me as a 'type' based on a single sentence. But sure, whatever floats your boat...?

 

[Denim Chicken]

****

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I have nothing scientific to back this up, just from experience, ... but it seems the higher level of intelligence or education, the less I hear swearing.

Conversely, the lesser amount of education/intelligence seems to bring out more swearing.

When I hear swearing, I notice, .. and it alters my opinion of that person, ... whether that is right or wrong.

But like I mentioned earlier, I actually don't hear it much.

Just cause Mark Twain said it does not make it truth.

Not in my office.

All lawyers have at least two degrees and usually are above average intelligence wise, most of us are like sailors

 

[casmith07]

Not in my office.

All lawyers have at least two degrees and usually are above average intelligence wise, most of us are like sailors

You have to be a little crass as a lawyer to deal with the BS that we deal with on a regular basis.