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Comment by white_devil | Hacker News Reader

It's alright to say "fuck". We're all adults here.

Expletives just aren't fun to hear every now and then. It's probably not because there's anything intrinsically bad about them (it's just a sound), but we've been trained since we are young that they are "bad" words. And to some extent this is true, many expletives do ave "bad" dictionary definitions, but in the context they're used the meaning is never (or rarely ) implied.

I can see here that many people want to change this, and make expletives a common part of daily usage; but I don't see being a good thing overall. A lot of people hold to former way of thinking (that they're bad), and if you get into the habit of using such words it might affect you ability of form relationships with the majority of people who think they're bad.

In addition I think, even internally, it's hard to get that idea from years-of-training (and one that's held by the majority of society) out of your head. I know I'm probably going to be criticized for this, but using myself expletives gives me a "dirty" or "uncivilized" feeling. Finally, I also don't think they really add to a conversation in any significant way. There are much better words ou there (and more eloquent sounding ones, too) to imply emphasis (I presume this is the primary use-case of expletives), and a conversation does sound more "intelligent" and "cultured" like so.

using "fsck" is worse.

Using 'f_ck' is worse. Using 'fsck' is a *nix nerd joke.

(Edit: couldn't type an asterisk without it wanting to italicise the rest of the line!)

I've always like this quote: "Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly." - Spencer W. Kimball

Cursing is like salt: judicious use can improve a well-made dish, but overuse doesn't make bad food into good.

While the quotes are nice, at the same time ignoring curse words entirely is basically cutting off a significant portion of expression. While I'm not saying you should litter all of your sentences with them, they do get the point across much better than not.

A (long) view on the subject by Stephen Fry that basically points out we shouldn't lament language change and other ways of expressing ourselves. http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/11/04/dont-mind-your-language...

I have a related quote: "People who try to say profanity indicates stupidity can go fuck themselves" -- me.

Not stupidity, necessarily. Just laziness.

In my opinion swearing is less an indication of stupidity and more an indication of being cliche. You can swear all you want but you won't say anything inventive. Take for example the best f-bomb ever: YIPPIE KI-YI-YA MOTHER FUCKER. I'm pretty sure that only meant `fuck you` with some country-style rebelliousness thrown in. Awesome yes, deep it was not.

Proverbs then are exactly like profanity :)

I agree, and there are numerous times when I why away from using expletives because I don't want to use them. However, when I don't want to say "fuck", I don't write "fsck" instead, I just rephrase the sentence.

Louis CK sums this up very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ

Essentially, when you say 'fsck', I interpret that as 'fuck'. If you want me to think the word 'fuck', then take the responsibility and say it.

In my honest and not-so-humble opinion, that's a load of motherfucking bullshit. I don't give a rat's ass how intelligent or uncultured I sound; my arguments and opinions stand on their fucking merits, not some lame-ass attempt to suck the collective cock of so-called "civilized society". I think if you were able to take a look at who, throughout history, actually built our civilization, you'd find a lot of people who say "fuck" (or its local equivalent) a lot.

Sometimes I curse like a fucking sailor, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of not cursing when necessary/appropriate.

I bet most of us here on HN use expletives quite a lot in their everyday conversations among friends. It's just part of expressing yourself and your feelings.

Besides, the most vocal opponents of expletives tend to be religious. It's kind of sad when even the word "cursing" is so horrifying that you have to call it "cussing" instead.

Cursing is just another difference between the ways you speak in different situations. Imagine you're discussing the global recession with one of your friends. Which one of these sounds more natural:

  - "Those rather reprehensible individuals at Wall Street
    bear the brunt of the blame for this rather dreadful
    economic predicament we're in."

vs.

  - "Those fucking scumbags on Wall Street caused this mess."

Something like the first one is necessary here on HN, because we're all civilized and shit, but the second example is how you'll speak among friends. At least if you're not some kind of prissy weirdo.

It's a *nix joke, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck#Use_as_profanity

Of course theunixbeard would be the only one to get it.

> It's alright to say "fuck". We're all adults here

How do you know? There might be kids reading here...

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