To not care about moderate swearing

[Selfimproved]

Just had a message from mum in class asking how we feel about our kids (f9) being shown a clip in music where the singer sings/ mumbles 'fuck' once.
I asked my son and when he explained it, it was two examples of the same song. One original blues version, one nirvana version.
I know the kids see and hear worse at home / in music videos. I can't get worked up about this. I know this mum will kick up a fuss.

Spot on sentia re maintaining the taboo.

All the comments saying that swearing is a sign of low intelligence make me laugh - such nonsense. In my experience it's those of average intelligence that tend to get worked up most about swearing - it's an easy thing for them to feel "right" about.

Also, the obsession with not swearing only holds only among the middle classes. Any time spent with proper poshos will counter the belief that swearing is a signifier of social low standing. Bit like dining etiquette. Beloved of the worlds' hyacinth bouquets, not so much your aristocrats.

It's as much social identifier as anything else.

I must be so upper class.. Need to trade in the Focus for something shabbier, quick!

'In the Pines/Where did you sleep last night?'

It's a murder ballad. The 'fuck' is the last thing I'd be precious about.

Oh, and engineersthumb meant 'imply' not 'infer'.

cake, vocabulary word, stored in vocabulary area of the brain

fuck, word recognised as implying aggression, stored in the area of the brain associated with aggression, not a vocabulary word.
Longlost what absolute nonsense, and I have not seen any peer reviewed research regarding this, perhaps you could post some.

It isn't unheard of for stroke victims, depending on what area of the brain is damaged, to either lose the use of all vocabulary words and retain the use of swear words, or lose the use of all swear words, and retain the use of vocabulary words, because they are stored completely separately in the brain.
It is common for stroke victims to remember the 'taboo' words from their vocabulary, partly because they are emphatic, ergo often easier to articulate. They still come from the same part of the brain they are not stored seperately.

My experience is certainly contrary to that American study. I would suggest that if you wish to be considered reasonably intelligent and erudite then you should avoid profanity... a lot easier than carrying around dubious "research" articles!
My experience would dictate that I would avoid you like the plague, Engineer, I would consider you to be neither reasonably intelligent nor erudite were you to be offended by profanity. It really is rather a juvenile stance, don't you think?

I tend to avoid pearl-clutchers like the plague as much as I can, dawndonna.

I just don't get this prissy attitude towards swearing. As I've mentioned upthread, I'm from Holland, and we are a lot more sweary than the Brits. We also appear to have a fully functioning society and our collective IQ is not noticeably lower than that in the UK. And we are a shitload better at languages - most of us have good or very good English.

I also have no time for people who think their 'personal experience' (i.e. anecdote') trumps actual research.

I also avoid pearl-clutchers like the plague as I find them very tiresome and irritating.

I think the reason some people are like this is because they don't understand the adult world properly and therefore fear it - as they can't cope with it - and they need to shut it out.

"My experience is certainly contrary to that American study. I would suggest that if you wish to be considered reasonably intelligent and erudite then you should avoid profanity."

Whereas my advice would be: 'try not to post as though you are running every sentence through a thesaurus, in a desperate attempt to appear more articulate than you actually are; the result is incredibly awkward.'

PS - it's 'practised', by the way.

multivac I absolutely love your pointed use of the semicolon. Bravo!

Part of me thinks'it's just a word so who cares' but the other part of me does not want to see strong swear words 'normalised' in an educational setting especially with children as young as 9. I teach 16 pluses but i still am expected to pick them up on the use of bad language in class although it does not offend me personally (unless aimed at me personally).

They're Y9, not aged 9

Ah thanks multi. In that case not a biggy then.