... to find swearing utterly boring?

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

I'm on a train to work surrounded by six schoolboys about 15. Talking about football and swearing constantly when swearwords aren't needed.

They're all using the F word and even starting sentences with it: "Fucking ... " and then just a normal ordinary sentence. Swearing not required.

It's totally pointless and boring to swear when swearwords aren't needed. If I use swearwords it's in context - extreme anger, shock etc. Otherwise it loses its currency.

And why is the F word the only one people think of? I've heard people say it's a symptom of a lack of vocabulary and always disagreed because of swearing stuffed into a sentence at random. But I'm now inclined to agree as nobody seems to know any other swearwords!

Amazing how most of the replies are being rude to the OP rather than expecting teens to have manners in public.

Because it's a public space and they aren't doing anything wrong, other than "boring" the OP.
Not their job to entertain her

😂😂

"Because it's a public space and they aren't doing anything wrong, other than "boring" the OP.
Not their job to entertain her"

God help is all. No wonder the country is such a state.

Yes the reason the shelves are empty, we have nurses and teachers using food banks, the crumbling NHS, Cost of Living Crisis etc is all in fact because a group of 15 year olds are swearing on a train.

Cracked it

Believe it or not there are countries I the world where people respect public space.

It's a public shared space not a private one. People are expected to behave.

Too moronic

That's what teens do. They're pushing boundaries.

Personally I swear like a trooper. 🤷‍♀️

But I wouldn't swear on a train around other people I don't know. Time and a place etc.

If they're 15 their brains aren't joined up yet and outside their macho little friendship gangs they're probably lovely kids.

I can't stand listening to other people's dull conversations on public transport...from a group of mums discussing what their children had for lunch that day, to another group having a 10min conversation about bread, to a girl talking about the guy she shagged the night before, to kids swearing at each other.

I wouldn't start a whole thread about it though. Just cover your delicate ears.

I’m on board with you, OP. It’s about boundaries and knowing how to behave in public.

Swearing repeatedly and loudly on a train is really poor behaviour - there could be smaller children around who don’t need to be exposed to language like that.

Swearing repeatedly and loudly in your own home - crack on if it’s your thing.

I’d be really disappointed and ashamed if my kids did this. I have spoken up before in similar situations and was thanked for doing so by a fellow mum with small children in a pushchair and an elderly man who agreed that “there’s a time and a place” for such language.

And yes, it’s boring, too. It shows a poverty of language when used repeatedly.

PS I blame Gordon Ramsey for the normalisation of loud, repetitive public swearing. What a tedious moron he is, unable to form a sentence without cramming in a few “fucks”. Embarrassing, overall.

I think swearing is boring and makes you wonder why it has to be used so much. It’s even on the tv a lot now, especially with comedians, and I find it so dull. My daughter is 14 and swears, but she does have a filter. It’s about having respect for others. I agree op

I'm with you OP. Swearing seems to have crept into every day language, it is boring, tedious, annoying to hear.
Those that say to not listen - it's everywhere! On public transport, in shops, on the street. I'm just back from walking my dog, a man was walking close to me, talking on his phone at length about something being "fucking brilliant, fucking mental". I couldn't not listen, he was right there, speaking loudly.
It's lazy language and a general drop in society standards. If thinking that makes me a pearl clutcher I'm happy to embrace it.

It’s done by people who haven’t got a very good vocabulary.

I swear a lot and I have a fucking massive vocabulary across five languages 😁.

Amazing how most of the replies are being rude to the OP rather than expecting teens to have manners in public.

Isn't it just. It kind of goes to proving OP's point, with which I completely agree. But many people on MN seem curiously fond and protective of their swearing. Just because MN doesn't condescend and allows adults to express themselves, that seems to cause a lot of folk to feel that they have to swear as often as possible.

Swearing full-stop isn't a sign of limited vocabulary at all, but using it as punctuation very clearly is. Endlessly using any word/few words is. If somebody repeatedly used the word 'sausage' or 'giraffe' or 'trousers' in the same way, a dozen times in every single sentence, nobody would ever disagree with how ridiculous they sound (Tourettes or similar aside). That doesn't mean there's anything wrong or low-brow with ever using those words at all either - it's just about context.

The most tiresome of all are those who don't even know what they want to say (if anything), so will just start with a random swear word before a long pause as they then think about it. I'm not talking about responding to something significant that takes you aback, but just ordinary mundane chat. Nobody can convince me that that is not a sign of seriously stunted vocabulary.

I don't accept that we can brush it off as OK for teenagers, when they're doing it in public. Fine if they want to speak like that in private and in messages to each other, but they're old enough to understand that it's not appropriate language to subject other people to out in public.

I especially wince when people - whether teenagers or adults - swear in front of small children. MN threads on the matter usually seem to converge on 'well, they'll hear worse when they get to school, so it's fine'.

It's amazing to think that people on a parenting website not only don't seem to understand that we treat young children as the young children that they currently are and not as the older children and adults that they will eventually become; but also that it's seen as a race to the bottom, whereby those with the lowest standards should be allowed to dictate and nullify everybody else's.

As for those saying 'not to listen', don't they understand the basics of how ears actually work?!

Nobody would insist that it was the fault of somebody hearing it in the high street if it were other offensive and/or inappropriate language or subjects. Just like no right-minded person blames the victim of a flasher and tells them they 'shouldn't have been looking'.

Very well articulated WeBuilt ... I really don't like the casual swearing on Mumsnet (yes, I know other chat forums are available). Years ago it seemed 'cool' to introduce the occasional swear word but now so many threads contain swearing where it's doesn't add anything to the discussion.
As a mother to a teenager I would have been disappointed if he had sworn in public.

Exactly.

It isn't boring, it just shows how poor their vocabulary is - they probably copy their parents.

Same.

I am actually put off watching a lot of things on Tv etc now because people seem to add swear words just for the sake of it. It’s so unimaginative.

TLDR, yawn

I love swearing! I'd never swear at someone as that seems nasty and rude, but I do love a good swear word when, for example, I've dropped something, I'm late, I've forgotten something!

Oh 'f*k!' is exactly the right sound when something goes tits up! I love the sounds of swear words!

I think people are way too precious about swearing. They are just words.

There are a few people saying or implying this. Personally I just think that's intellectual snobbery :) My vocabulary is perfectly good. I have several degrees and a PhD which was awarded a 'pass no revisions'. It didn't contain any swear words if I recall correctly!! But that doesn't mean I'm going to walk around talking in thesis language or as if I'm reciting shakespeare in my day to day interactions.

Words are great. I love words of all forms and all types. There is a time and a place to sound like a walking dictionary! 15 year olds with their mates probably don't think that is the time or place and on this occasion it sounds like swearing was their way of communicating.

We can be offended by whatever we choose to be.

Personally I think swear words would be used a lot less if people didn't bat an eye lid and weren't bothered by them. Teenagers love to rebel and do what not they are not meant to do (so do lots of mumsnetters! Hence the swearing on this forum! Especially on reaction to people saying 'dont do it'!) If the country embraced swear words and didn't care, teenagers wouldn't use them! If Shakespearean terms and language were deemed offensive and banned, I'm pretty sure the youth of today would find a way to incorporate them in their group chat!

Words are words! Use them to give meaning and context to your speech and stop getting all her up about them 😉

@Snoopinator
Oh dear - bit too long for you, was it?