Should people 'mind their language' in pubs?

[User135644]

Was in the pub yesterday (only a wetherspoons) and someone uttered a swear word (shit) and the table in front had a child with I guess their mum and dad. The dad turned around and said (mind your language will you?). The man apologised to him and then to the kid.

Now I think you should mind your language in front of children, but if you're in an adult setting, should parents expect only clean language? Pubs are supposed to be adult places. And Wetherspoons are always full of people drinking cheap lager at all hours of the day.

It'd be one thing if he was repeatedly swearing or used a stronger word, but it is a pub ultimately.

I don’t swear in work and I don’t swear in front of children but in a pub I swear as much as I fucking like😁

I draw the line at Cunt , Wanker , the F word in front of kids . I don't like hearing people deliberately swearing in front of kids . I accept we all have a hiccup occasionally.

I think you should always mind your language in front of children, regardless of where you are . Even if it's a setting child shouldn't be be in, when they are present would it hurt you to mind your language? You could say don't take your kids there if you don't want them to hear it, but if you apply that rule you'd never take your children anywhere, swearing isn't restricted to pubs is it, filthy language can be heard everywhere unfortunately.

My 13 yo swears, it's part of the rich culture of language. That said he's to limit his knowledge to his equally foul mouthed friends. I think it does help you in life to learn when certain language is appropriate.

The dad was being ridiculous. One swear word, pretty mild and in a pub setting is fine.
We don't take our children to the pub much and only at lunchtime and they hear bad language but so what?
Older two don't sweat (at least not Infront of me, they are teenagers so probably do with their friends) so it's obviously not affected them.
The dad was lucky he didn't get a mouthful of abuse or worse. He needs to stick to soft play.

Memories of being on a channel ferry coming back to the UK for Christmas, we hadn't been able to afford cabins so we were settling the children in a so called quiet area, with another family whose children were our children's friends. There was a party of noisy soldiers not far away and the two eldest children suddenly sat up and walked over to them 'We're trying to sleep over there, could you be a bit less noisy please!'. Oh hell we thought but the soldiers were very apologetic and were almost silent for the rest of the trip.

It’s parents’ responsibility to make sure their child isn’t exposed to things they don’t want them to be.

If I’m in an adult environment like a pub talking to friends, no children in our party, I’m not going to “mind my language” or choose child-friendly discussion topics, I actually don’t swear much, but if a parent chooses to sit next to a group of adults in an adult-focussed space they either need to accept their children may hear something they’re not going to like or move!

If I was anywhere with a child at my table I would be wary of my language, in the same way some topics are off limits.
But if someone has a child nearby, in a predominantly adult setting, then that's their problem.

Yes, I would mind my language in front of kids even in the pub. A slip of the tongue is not a big deal though and it sounds like it was all handled very politely. Seems fine all round to me.

People who swear too much around kids, and even swear more to make a point are so tiresome.

Pubs are supposed to be adult places.

Pubs traditionally were for the working man, with lounges for when they took the little women out.

You might not have noticed but things have moved on quite a bit since then and a lot of pubs, including Weatherspoons, are firmly family friendly places during the day.

Anyone who cannot, or will not, control their language in an environment where there are families and young children should be pulled up for it. If anyone wants to swear like a trooper there are plenty of "traditional" pubs still around where families are not welcomed.

The language in schools is appalling. I have to tell the children to stop swearing many times a day. They just don't realise they are swearing most of the time.

I hate it when you are in a pub and you get a group of men (its usually men) who have to interject fucking into every sentence. I don't have young children any more but I don't want to listen to them. Where I used to live one of the pub landlords banned swearing, people got one warning and were then chucked out. I think complaining about one "shit" is a bit OTT.

Yes it was Wanda, great film.

A pub is an adult space and if you choose to take your children in you should expect them to hear a bit of swearing.

I’ve worked in a lot of pubs and bars. During the day, in most pubs I’ve worked in, if a group was being OTT with language - loudly shouting the F or C words, or loudly talking about something sexually explicit, or generally being deliberately obnoxious and antisocial - we would ask them to keep it down out of consideration for other people who had popped in for a quiet pint or a bite to eat. But we wouldn’t have expected people not to drop the odd F bomb in normal conversation, regardless of whether kids were present.

Depends on the pub: a Wetherspoons at lunchtime full of families eating - yes, a rowdy pub in the evening full of adults drinking - definitely not.

Our local one closed down. Can't think why.

The landlord at my local will give you a warning for bad language. Than a throwing out. Than a ban. And by bad language I mean repeated fuck, cunt, etc. As a result it has a lovely friendly atmosphere as a family pub.
The other pub in my village tolerates any language, especially on Saturday nights, and so I don’t go there. I’m not a prude, but just think foul language is unnecessary and says something about the user.

If people are eating then no. If it's a boozer, then they can swear all they like.

People who say Wetherspoon pubs are family friendly because they do kids meals and crayons.

Nope it is still a adult place where kids are accepted in. Don't want to hear it go to a cafe, take your kids to a park, there are plenty of places you can take the kids other than a pub.

It certainly is.

People that think they’re being really edgy and authentic because they swear are so tedious.
Surely these types can wait to demonstrate they know some swear words when there are no kids around.

I used to work in a Wetherspoons for my first job.

A group of about 5 lads were sitting at one table in a little alcove in the pub. It was around 9pm on a Saturday night and they were normal men in their early 20s. Not too boisterous, not pissed, not rough.

An older couple then decided to sit at the table next to them.

Later that night, I heard the old man was yapping on about disgusting language and how he hadn’t come out to listen to filth. The lads weren’t too happy and one of them started mouthing off to him - I had to break it up and the old man was still chuntering on about language etc, no self awareness and was doing nothing to help the situation. If the lads were from another part of town, he’d have probably been knocked out!

It’s always stuck with me because what exactly did he expect? He was in a pub on a Saturday night, next to a group of lads who were out for a few drinks!

So I think swearing in pubs is largely fine, though I would temper my language (somewhat) if kids were around.

Years ago I saw a Geordie Shore twat in Newcastle swearing and using repulsive language at the top of his voice where loads of kids were, at around 12 noon on a Saturday in Northumberland Street. That’s something I don’t agree with, and the parents at that time looked like they wanted to hit him.

I'm glad they said sorry, I thought it was going to lead into a big horrible argument! To be honest I think we could all do with watching our language , bad language just makes everything a bit less friendly or something (sitting watching a reality tv show on YouTube with the teenagers last night and every second word was the f word and after a while it started to really bug me!!) It's just not necessary (form an ex curser that's trying to get fully rid!!!)

Or just don’t take your kids somewhere you know there’s likely to be swearing if that bothers you? Plenty of parks and coffee shops around.

Or people can watch what’s coming out of there gobs when there are kids, or other adults that don’t want to listen to their dull attempts at being expressive.