Swearing Is Dumb

Social dynamics are so much more complex than this childish analysis. Misses the most important reason for swearing completely: to fine-tune the tone of the conversation. And there’s nothing special about swearing here, all words and gestures can be deployed effectively for this purpose. And there is absolutely no need to avoid swearing between adults, grow the fuck up. I get the feeling this guy doesn’t have too many close friends.

The real problem with swearing is that it is ambiguous, it can mean anything and is often combined with other words which are just as ambiguous, it assumes a certain amount of prior knowledge, the same goes for slang in general.

  I fucking hate that guy.

This can mean literal hate or a general dislike or even a complicated form of admiration, knowing what was meant largely depends on knowing the speaker and the context that provides. Sometimes it is spoken in a way which makes it obvious what is meant to anyone but most of the time not. "fucking" becomes a meaningless adjective to a word that is just as meaningless, 99% of the time people use "hate" they mean something else other than literal consuming hatred, that emotion which is so close to love and in many ways indistinguishable. So what was meant?

The utility of such words is difficult to deny and a great deal can be conveyed very efficiently with them, the chances of misunderstanding are strong but how many are going to sit through a soliloquy when a well chosen swear word will do? I mean, fuck, we don't go out to the bar for dear Abby, we go there to get shitfaced and forget the complexities of life. There is a time for concision and a time for emotion, they generally do not overlap.

I feel like this article has an interesting point to illustrate, but it is very long-winded and exhaustive. It is impossible to avoid skimming over parts, as it feels indigestible.

While it seems agreeable that we should seek to expand our vocabulary instead of relying on curse words, I really dislike the sense of superiority to those who use curse words.

I'm not offended to hear others curse. There are situations where I will be annoyed, yes. But there are so many others in which it can be a perfectly fine expression of one's personality. What is acceptable is not clearly written out, but is determined by one's context: the people you're around, what they express to you, your history, what's happening, the emotional intensity of the situation. It could show that you're in tune with another's emotions.

You've trivialized all of these situations by suggesting that everyone should always be worried about offending others nearby, instead of expressing themselves when they need to.

While you may be so certain that you've logically concluded you never need to or want to swear, it's distasteful to turn this topic into moral grandstanding and dilutes your message.

I rarely swear, but I am also never offended by swearing: I find that dumb. It's like being offended by impossible ill wishes ("I'll get you a one way ticket to the dark side of the moon").

I am offended if you are trying to say how I am eg. stupid, whether you use swearwords or not. I am usually more offended if you are attempting to use a "polite" language than if you are just swearing at me: it significates a bigger effort.

As such, I don't think swearing itself is dumb: it is language, a way of expressing oneself.

While it's true that swearing might offend a certain group of people (you mention older than 85 or religious people, though I'd certainly challenge that it's majority of them that are easily offended), I personally care more about the opinion of people who care about actions and message rather than the form. I am obviously not a politician looking for majority approval.

Also, it's nicer if children don't use swearing regularly, because it's only about challenging the authority with them, and not thinking through all the nuances of communication.

There are two sides to everything. Scientists say that swearing is a sign of intelligence:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/health/swearing-benefits-well...

He makes a convincing point in favor of swearing in this section:

The Motives for Swearing

Swearing is a hammer used to drive many nails. Different types are used by different people for different reasons. People swear:

    In imitation, because those around them swore when they were growing up, and humans learn by mimicry.
    To fit in among peers (or people they admire) who swear.
    To stick out in a culture that proscribes swearing; to sound edgy and contemporary, feel like they’re ‘living dangerously’, and experience the thrill of breaking taboos. (A subset of this: people who like to perform and play the clown often combine swearing with overstatement or ridiculousness for comedic shock value.)
    To blow off steam (especially as a single-word expletive when something goes wrong).
    To pack an emotional punch and vent feelings about a particular person or thing, either directly at the target of the feelings, or to a third party.
    To buy time. Swear words can be used as filler (the way people use “um”, “uh”, and “like”), buying extra time while also sounding edgy.
    By habit, because by now they’ve been swearing for so long it’s become ingrained.

I've found in my experience in in life that those whom comment are others use of swear words are often lacking individuals whom attempt to use their felt'superior language' to demean others. Particularly to demean others of a different cultural background than them.

This is perhaps the only HN post where I can say this and maybe not be downvoted:

Fuck that bullshit.

Actual "swearing" is dumb. Like swearing by the moon, and the stars, and the sky.

This essay didn't really get to what I was hoping it would. As someone who swears a lot, I catch myself all the time and apologize. Why? What is the social contract making me do that? That's what wasn't explored. I get that it's a personal essay and not meant to be a deep analysis, though.

Either way, I'd still like to have read anything about what people have to say about how they swear, when they swear, and how frequently they swear. More importantly perhaps would be their responses to "why" they swear. These anecdotes are more valuable to me personally.

Well I remember a lot of the opposite conclusion: "swearing is good for you". Just Google for it, there's lots of entries.

Reading the OP's list, "to fit in", "to stick out" ... this doesn't apply at all to the very common situation of swearing when all alone. I personally swear and curse a lot in the privacy of my home using horrible constructs in a language way more expressive than English in this regard. English has like what? Funk and consarn it?

Swearing makes me feel better over situations I've little control otherwise.

This essay is remarkably content-free, with the exception of this:

> So, until more maledictology research is conducted, all we have is the irrefutable logic of random bloggers on the internet:

Swearing might be dumb if used to express harsh, negative opinions among people you don't know. Somehow essay (at least the parts I could be bothered attempt read) is confused this must be the general case.

What's dumb about a "fuck yeah" among friends? What is the actual difference to other general modifiers? "Not as versatile" perhaps. Language use changes with context.

>Note: if you swear and aren’t interested in re-considering the habit, there’s no point in reading this post. It’ll probably just annoy you.

So you're only trying to convince those that are already convinced?

Perhaps the author should read up on code-switching before writing an article about it. This could be reworked as 'Dialects are Dumb' with a little bit of search and replace.