I feel this way, I don't swear because I pesonally find it of no use to use such language, and much of it is what I consider to be coarse and vulgar in nature.

However if I did, I would still not do so in public where I might make others uncomfortable, or feel offended by it. In my world this is called good manners.

I have friends and family who do use such words, but not around me. Not because I have complained, but because they know I don't use swearing myself. (I simply ignore those words when I do hear them.)

Our language is an expression of what we have in our minds. Of how we live. And, yes. even what we do believe in. Or do not believe in.

In the end, we choose to use these words or not.
It is a personal choice made for several reasons.

We all have morals, just not the same ones. So?

I don't have to defend my beliefs to anyone, I just have to live them in order to be true to them. I'm also not overly concerned with those who do not agree with my choices.

This should be the attitude of everyone. You truly believe you are correct, or you don't. If you do, why do you care what I think?
If you don't, this is when a person feels they must justify their actions, or beliefs. It's just human nature. And commonsense.

In the end each of us will express ourselves the way we want to. Swearing is one way. Not swearing is another. But being respectful to each other is never out of style. And this, too, speaks to who we are and what we our cultures are.

Morals are simply a set of principles, religious or secular, that each of us lives by. We can respect this, or be at odds with each other.

We each choose how to live, where to live, who our friends are, what words to speak. It's nice we can talk about the differences and not mean to be offensive, nor to take offense where none was meant.
Well that's how I see it anyway.

I'm going to have to follow KTC's lead on this one. To be quite honest, Amaranthia is the only forum I don't swear on, mainly due to the fact that it's kind of against the rules. Elsewhere, where there is no limits, I tend to swear quite a bit.

As for real life, I swear more than I should. I'm not sure why, it's just something I do. For example, whenever I'm angry, I'll throw the F-bomb around like it's nothing without even thinking about it. And yes, I do swear in front of my parents, and no, they don't care.

Now, do I care if other people swear? Not really, but I do know when someone is overusing them. There's a difference between swearing and swearing properly, dost sayeth Lord Aedious.

Er, honestly, I swear in real life, although I SERIOUSLY try to stop. I have this friend who's a saint compared to me, and we had a deal once - if I swear in her presence, I get to treat her with snacks. It didn't really happen, and I think she forgot about it, but I took that deal to heart. Since I only swear whenever I'm seriously surprised or dismayed, and it seems that I MUST say something when that happens, I substituted other words instead. I say 'Popcorn!' when I get surprised. XD Of course, when I blow my fuse...well, I make a caesar salad out of English swear words and the ones in our vernacular XD

Curiously, while I was studying in this religious private school, I was more inclined to swear badly. I changed for the better during college (said university is a public one known for its liberal ideas) XP.

I think swearing is something born out of habit and upbringing. I don't mind other people swearing - since I do it myself at times - but like what Aedious said above, overuse is abuse to the ears. XD

Online swearing...goodness...sometimes I come to these sites with their chat boxes, and I wonder how they ever get to understand each other with the repetitive use of 'f-words' and such. Trollish grammar is bad enough, but swearing every two words?

XP

honestly speaking, i don't swear but i don't mind if anyone says anything to me.

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"Curiously, while I was studying in this religious private school, I was more inclined to swear badly. I changed for the better during college (said university is a public one known for its liberal ideas)"
@smirk: when we are restricted like in religious school we are more vulnerable to do that thing like swearing! thats the human behaviour!

@smirk: I agree with ujwal. It's like reverse psychology...or it's called something else..
Anyways, it is like being a rebel

@eveleny/ujwal: Yeah, I suppose that's the reason why. Of course, we never swear in front of our teachers in that school...although once I heard a "With all due respect ma'am, that's bull****." You get the word.

Or maybe it's because here in my university, it's considered crude to swear too much. 'Intellectual grace', I suppose.

@smirk: though it really depends on the teacher lol. Some of my teachers at my university (or heck, my highschool) swears during class session and most are totally cool if we do swear. (hey, some of them lets us call them by their name, how's that for open? I can swear in front of my teachers sometimes, but i can never call them by their name. It's always professor so-and-so. ) lol.

In one of my classes right now, a swearword phrase has sorta became our unofficial class motto rofl.

@KTC: Swearword for an unofficial class motto? Oh yeah Sniffles, our class doesn't have one (a motto, that is).

University is generally more 'relaxed' than high school, so I guess it's not that much of a big thing for teachers to swear (and to use those other words which are, while technically not swearwords, would still make your average, conventional person to gape). I think it's a given that since we're more or less an 'adult' in college, we can choose to be affected or not. For me though, persons in authority (especially those who are overseeing the really young ones) shouldn't swear in front of children. Perhaps it's my conventional self talking. XD

I often swear, but I never say it out loud.
A classmate of mine ever swore while in the toilet, and the principal hears- and gives a speech about profanity (to the whole class) for... more or less an hour.
Another time, I was not in the mood to work seriously in a class and wrote swear words all over the worksheet, and got into trouble for a week.
Anyways, some of my classmates swear and sometimes the teacher ignores them.

Lol that is funny because when I first came here that is the exact same thing I said in a post.It is a beautiful website really.Everyone is friendly and noone is rude or just plain mean.Other forums seem to have adults that just curse because they think it makes them look tough.This forum has some kids that are WAY more mature then the adults on the other forums.This place just seems homey to me

i don't like it when ppl swear. i understand if ur mad n just need 2 vent out that anger (i've sworn b4 when i was mad) but if they r swearing at each other purposefully to hurt them then i think its wrong

I think all the people here are pretty nice! My theory behind swearing or "cyberbulling" (being mean to people on the net) is complicated so here is an example story:
R.B (a girl) is rejected at school and people are always mean to her and online she sees a girl called S.I. who is very nice and so forth and R.B. insults S.I and trashes everything she does because it makes her feel better because she can take out her anger on S.I. without anyone knowing who she is.
About the whole swearing thing, I think a lot of pre-teens & teens hear adults swearing and cussing when they are frustrated and they just grow with everyone talking like that, thinking that it is acceptable, even though it is rude - especially to do so on the Net where "minors" would be exposed to this, which continues the cycle. I think, if you are frustrated, you should TRY to calm down as best as you can because you don't want to cuss or swear and set an example for younger children.

Quote:

Says who? Swear words are just words. Remember, what you think is rude, doesn't always mean everyone thinks it's rude. I, personally, don't think swear words are rude at all. They are just words that have a taboo on them. If they didn't have the taboo, they wouldn't be that big of a deal.

@allets: I don't think many ppl will agree that purposely swearing to insult/hurt/put down someone is acceptable. This is just verbal abusing which is against several laws of various countries.

@trendy: I do not understand where you're going with cyberbullying and its relation with swearing. Swear does not equate to cyberbullying. Swearing is swearing. Cyberbullying is just another lousy form of bullying.
Also, I agree with mopiece that swearing doesn't mean someone is being rude. 'Rude' is based off ones' environment/personality/one's learned 'rules' of etiquette which aren't universal/etc.

i once had a classmate who swore like...like...horribly!

i am quite an anti-swear person and i tried to kill him (well, no i didnt, but you can get the idea) and he stopped swearing so badly in front of me, but still swore.

at the end of the year, i was totally immune to it and i began to actually be able to say "what the heck" without feeling guilty.

i actually thing that swearing is sort of an addiction, once you star, its hard to stop. once you begin to say a bad word, you find the word coming to your lips automatically and its hard to stop.

thats my opinion

Well I must admit than in the last year,I learnt a few...ok lots of ugly words in different languages,and started to use them. But one day,I threw them at a classmate,and she felt so bad,she started to cry. Since that day I do not swear people,because I got sweared 2 and I know how it feels. *straight face* And of course,sometimes when I am very mad,I take it from the beggining,but my friends tell me what happened when I used them. So,I am ok now And I hate those people who still swear,because I know I was in the same pot

@dat: You're confusing swearing with verbal abuse. I can easily hurt people's feelings *without using* swear words. Swear words are just words. By themselves, they are rather harmless.

But if you're gonna insult someone, you don't need swear words to do that.

People swear for different reasons besides insulting/hurting people, the most obvious is to release anger. If we prohibit every single word that can be used to hurt people, well every language would be extremely limited as most words can be used to hurt people.

Hate/died/fat/pig for example. "I hate you", "I wish you were dead", "you're a fat pig"

Just because one doesn't use swear words doesn't mean you can't hurt people verbally.

Yes,I released my anger on that girl because she was spreading rumors about me. And believe me,in my language the swear words and not harmless at all :|

@dat: You were intentionally insulting her. When I mean 'release anger', i mean using words *not at people*. Like if I get frustrated, I will swear to get momentary release.

If you read the other pages, I make the argument that words by themselves before humans put any power in them are harmless.

This is what I mean by 'they are rather harmless'. Humans give words power, especially swear words by giving them a taboo nature.

Taboo words are quite interesting to study. They get double the power by usually having a negative connotation and by being forbidden in general word usage. But, the more the taboo word is use, the less its regarded as "OMGZ SO BAD" and more like "meh".

So if YOU and a whole bunch of people regard the swear words you used as "OMGZ SO BAD", than those formerly harmeless words gain a bunch of power over you and that bunch of people.

And I'm rambling now. ^__^

Hey lol,yes you are rambling Everyone has it's own opinnion,that you cant deny or change. Plus,too bad I am still learning,cause many words or sentences I have not understood ^^'''
And yes,swear words have a taboo nature,thats why so many people get affected if someone is using them. >.< Anyway,great conversation ^^