Swearing on Mumsnet

[Kittyinthewood]

Just a simple and maybe even a silly question - but why do people swear on Mumsnet? It just often makes peoples comments come across as so aggressive.....the swearing could so easily be avoided...and the comments come across as more considerd. I am interested to read what others think.....Thanks loads folks....XXX

Kittyinthewood

Why do you insist on typing with all those full stops between sentences? You do know that you only need one, don't you?

And I've just read the thread that's been linked to on here, and I have to say that I think the way you post and comments that you have made are far more offensive than any swearing.

'Of course now everyone is swearing. That's SO clever and mature'

As is sarcasm, I'm sure.

2yummymummy2 goodness it makes me cringe just typing that

Every company I've ever worked in - and there have been a number, as I've been working for over 30 years - there's never been a problem with people swearing. Naturally, if used threateningly and as a personal attack that's a different matter.

If you find it offensive, then perhaps Mumsnet isn't the place for you? We have a freedom on Mumsnet to write pretty much whatever we like - as long as we follow Talk Guidelines - and as we're adults, we can use adult language should we choose.

2yummymummy2

I'm pretty sure that most of us can communicate without swearing but in the company of fellow adults, in a non professional setting - we don't need to.

You find swearing offensive and think that it shows a lack of class - your choice. Sadly for you, you can't control the behaviour of people around you. Most people are comfortable enough in their own skin to understand that the world won't end if someone says fuck or bugger and just let it go. Like I do when people refer to themselves as Momma Bear or their child as little bear or bean or various other vomit inducing phrases which make my skin crawl but are ultimately nothing to do with me.

I NEVER swear in rl- except things like 'fudge', sugar', 'flip' and softer stuff like that.

in print/online I swear like theres no tomorrow! mainly cos 1-DC cant hear me and 2- its usually torant about things!

id rather let it out this way.

I don't mind swearing in posts.

I loathe swearing in thread titles and user names.

I'm a big swearer too. At the minute my friends toddler says "sit" as "shit". Funniest fucking thing ever. She also say cock for rock but that's not as funny because she shits more than she sees rocks.

I like the freedom to respond here as you can in RL. :)

I have sent a text message containing 9 words of which 5 were "fucking" and it made perfect sense to the recipient. We still mention it 11 years later.

Swearing is almost a form of endearment in this house.

ficbia duly noted. I shall proceed to swear more in my texts. :D

I used to post on MSE a lot. Thanks to their swear filters, you could not type a recipe that required you to prick anything with a fork. You couldn't go to Scunthorpe, either.

Did my fucking head in.

tibba - same here! Have you seen the Mickey Flannagan bit about getting to the casual cunting stage of a relationship? Brilliant!

Where do people grow up that they don't understand that trying to belittle other adults for their own free choice of vocabulary is patronising and calling them idiots is offensive?

Lack of class!

With a name like "yummymummy" because that reeks of class.

Do you know what I think shows lack of class? Lack of punctuation and bad spelling.

oh, OP. what a silly old fuckmuppet you are.

I swear when it's appropriate.

I'm a TA in a Reception class of 34 [reason right there to say 'Fucking Hell, is it home time yet' about 20 times a day]

Of course I don't but i don't mind a sweary person.

f.u.ck .

Oh god ficbia!

I have never seen that song before. I'm actually laughing IRL here. It's fab! Will have to show dh as he will love it too

Oh, and I'm posh and I say fuck. A lot.

Well. This thread's gone well.

OMG I just read the thread about the OPs views on parenting a child with autism. She gets offended by swear words, there simply are not enough of them in the English language to combat just how offensive she is.

You should try Netmums OP.
They fucking love swearing over there. In fact when you sign up it's compulsory to call them all a bunch of cunts on your very first post. Otherwise they won't talk to you.

I don't understand why cunt is so offensive. Half the population have a cunt. Of the other half, a high percentage seem rather fond of Cunts. Yet ... It seems to be the most offensive thing you can call someone.

I am offended on behalf of my cunt.

I love seeing a 'why so much swearing' thread pop up. I try to avoid swearing in front of DD so there's an awful lot of fuck saved up by the end of the day that needs releasing. On a truly horrendous day there may even be a cunt or two waiting to get out.

As for Most posh people never use the f word so it's not even something I hear often in real life, your username would be fairly ludicrous to the truly posh so I suspect your circle isn't so much posh as unsweary. And that's fine. There are plenty of unsweary forums for you and the OP to toddle off to. This one allows swearing though. It's not an office or a crèche. And even people without kids are allowed here.

Loosen the fuck up.

How did the OP not see this coming?

I fucking love MN.

It's like a meeting of lactating sailors.