To think that people who pearl clutch about swearing…

[TheRealSlimShandy]

Are often a bit dim.

I’m not suggesting that someone saying “can you pass the c*ing salt is ideal either (starred for those pearl clutches amongst us).

BUT ime - people who seems to want to cry over a slipped out “fuck” tend to be erm.. not that bright.

You can dislike swearing in certain contexts without being a "pearl-clutcher".(there's a discussion to be had about the intelligence of people who use that expression, but maybe another time!) I personally don't allow misogynist language in my house and never have. I didn't allow my children to swear when they were at a controllable age because I wanted them not to risk upsetting people. And I personally like to save swearing for times when I really need it!

Modifying your language in different contexts is pretty normal and natural - just typical speech not necessarily swearing.

There’s a stack of evidence which shows swearing is related to intelligence and creativity. Give it a Google search.

Well said @Nanny0gg
I found the film Wicked Little Lies hilarious and love Billy Connolly, but don't generally swear as rule as it isn't a habit I have acquired (except when I am driving ).

Not being able to adjust your language in different contexts shows a lack of intelligence and social awareness.

I think @TheRealSlimShandy's statement says more about them than people who dislike swearing.

Nobody ‘needs’ to swear, people swear because they want to. I love swearing, I like the words and how they sound, I like how expressive they are (and yes I know there are other words but they’re not quite right).

I adapt because it’s not professional to swear but in some settings it builds a bridge and connects people. As soon as I hear someone swear - in general conversation not at people - I warm to them a bit more.

…..and yet, I find it quite the reverse.

I had to take my very ill Dad into hospital just over a week ago before he later died (at home thank God). He was put into a bed next to a bloke being visited by his wife/girlfriend. They had a lovely loud conversation along the lines of "so she got up, called him a cunt and slapped him round the face". Which was great to hear while sat stressed out of your mind with an 81 year old dying man and his devastated wife. Swearing in those surroundings, yeah, thick as mince I'm afraid.

The most amusing thing I saw relating to disapproval of swearing was seeing Brian Blessed. I think Blessed is very funny, and he can’t be accused of lack of vocabulary or intelligence. A lady sat next to us shook her head angrily each time Brian swore. Of course the C bomb was dropped and then she had a massive go at her husband for taking her there (seemingly looking at her against her will). It really made the whole performance for us. The ultimate pearl clutcher.

I personally love a creative swear, it’s a thing of beauty. Dress it up with lots of other rich language and it’s perfect.

I really can’t work out on what basis you are correlating not liking swearing with being not very bright.

To me, it sounds like the kind of argument that might be made by someone who (a) swears a lot and (b) suspects they themselves aren’t very bright so are trying to make themselves feel better 🤔

Yes, misogynist language is where I have a problem, my teenage son is allowed to swear but he gets a bollocking for ‘bitch’ and if he dares use the word ‘slag’.

I love swearing and so does everyone I know. I work in higher education with some very eminent professors and they all swear as well. There's no correlation between swearing and intelligence or the ability to express oneself. However, they don't swear during lectures in front of students! Or in meetings!

rubbish - they are probably brighter than people who don't understand the implications.

Swear words are not regular language, and are not stored in the same language area of the brain. They are an act of aggression, and are stored in the same area of the brain that acts on aggressive instincts and processes aggression directed towards the individual.

Swearing is a displacement activity which has a crucial role in social interactions. It is the first step towards an interaction becoming aggressive. It is necessary that we have a first step which is recognised as such, and this is not "dumbed down" into acceptable language.

99.9% of aggressive escalations don't go any further than swearing, but if swearing is not kept as offensive and aggressive, then what would those interactions look like? There would be some other form of aggression applied.

You should be offended by swearing, it needs to be offensive.

If you spend any time with people who have lost language through brain damage, you will meet people who can only swear, and not use any other form of language - this is because swearing is stored in a separate area of the brain, and sometimes this area survives when a language area is destroyed, by a stroke, or alcohol, for example.

I find this kind of post by @TheRealSlimShandy so tiresome on here.

It's essentially an identification post.

It's a rallying call to anyone who has a middle-class or higher background, who has never had to escape the gravity well of accent, class or money in the UK, to proudly proclaim that , yes, they too can string together a bunch of epithets and curse words in a tinkly way, and show everyone how 'free' they are as a result.

My family (for what it's worth) - mother, grandmother etc - are religious, working class from council housing in north west London. Never had money, never owned property, never went to university, I was the first to get a degree, first to buy a house, first to work in a job in professional services and have a recognised "profession" etc outside of a trade.

You might say "what has this got to do with swearing?".

It has everything to do with it. If you know, you know.

If you grow up in an area where very bad people say those words with a frightening frequency, to intimidate women and men... If you grew up in a house where your permanently drunk dad used to use those words when smashing up the sideboard..

if you grew up in a world where your job isn't a supply chain and procurement officer, or an investment analyst, or chief council, or People & Culture , all jobs where there's an implied freedom in "we're all civilised folk, so let's get sweary and tinkly when we're in All Bar one, and hyper clipped tones and strategic in public"...

I know my post will get rubbished by the very people who can't see beyond the end of their permanently upturned noses, and who think every woman in 2024 is magically free , with the ability to earn six figure salaries and be WHOEVER SHE WANTS TO BE

However some of us have had to work really, really hard to escape the gravity vortex of that culture where swearing pulls you down into the shit.

I have no problem saying "fuck". Or any other word. I just roll my eyes (not pearl-clutch, but roll my eyes) when I see certain women on here doing it to make others nod and go "yep, she is My People".

For your statistical interest, I am at the brighter end of things and don't usually swear. Not much of what I say is enriched by a swear word, although I might try dropping an f-bomb when I go to the opticians later today to see what happens...

Go on op, tell us who in your own real life this is actually about instead of starting some torturous online poll scenario.

Get it off your chest and move on. Is it your aunty?

@JacquesHarlow Exactly.

Reading the current thread about TAs being sworn at by children at school, I wonder if that abuse is linked to swearing being so free and easy amongst adults now. Surely hearing swearing all day long at home, on the street, in the shops etc is linked to children thinking it is ok to swear at their teachers.
I know I swear probably too much, so I’m as guilty as anyone.

Maybe @TheRealSlimShandy wants everyone to recognise how "cool" s/he is.

@JacquesHarlow I am of the tinkly class myself and recognise your characterisation. They are very tedious.

Agree with those saying it's dim to think as simplisticly as thinking those who don't like swearing are dim.

I suspect that most of us think that people who swear all the time are dim, and people who recognise when it is inappropriate to swear are not.

Table next to us at dinner were funny. Quite loud, so we had no choice but to hear everything they said. Fun moment where the young mum said to her partner, “I’ve got no issue with how we speak and that, like, but I wonder sometimes if we should try and be different in front of her…!”.

Followed seconds later by, “Fuck’s sake, stopping mucking around!”, to the preschooler say with them.

I’d been quietly interested already in how confident and assertive the women at the table were in comparison with their rather sullen menfolk.

Swearing unnecessarily is common as muck. The occasional well timed swear shouldn’t be overheard by those not involved so shouldn’t be able to offend.

If other people can hear you swearing, you’re doing it wrong and most probably sound aggressive and ignorant.

Hmmm. I dont mind swearing and do swear on occasion. However, I try to express myself using better words as constant swearing to me, makes a person look quite unintelligent and stupid and I think most people would assume this. Its kind of a lazy type of self expression.

I also think when you swear a lot, that it takes the effect out of those words that is the entire reason you are using them in the first place. I'd be more likely to think someone who rarely swears is upset about something when they do swear because its not usual for them so it comes across as more effective.

My mum hated swearing so I never did it in her presence. I find that the older I get the more I swear, usually at the dog or inanimate objects , BUT I don’t swear in public . Despite the various studies I do think it shows a lack of imagination. I hate people swearing at me but I have worked in areas where it is just part of the language and not intended as an insult .

If you grow up in an area where very bad people say those words with a frightening frequency, to intimidate women and men... If you grew up in a house where your permanently drunk dad used to use those words when smashing up the sideboard

Very valid point and 100% agree. There could be lots of genuine reasons why someone doesnt like swearing and it's nothing to do with intelligence or thinking they are above people. Words have power and for many of us, those words are associated with aggression and violence.