SWEARING

[Terry]

Morning All,
Swearing is so ingrained in some people that, as Ross has mentioned, certain blokes would be left more or less speechless if it were removed from their normal vocabulary. The bloke called 'Foul-mouth' in the poem is a point in question, in fact we actually call him something or other Bill because of his constant use of one of the crudest swear words. In a normal sentence out it comes on several occasions.
But as I said before swearing is contagious, spend enough time with a group of experts and try as you may most will at least let the odd word creep in to their speech.

Cheers Terry

[Leonie]

I have a friend who occasionally drops the ‘f’ word into perfectly normal sentences. It is hilarious when she does it because she has this beautifully modulated voice and is definitely not vocabulary challenged, more like one of the most eloquent people I know, yet out comes that word when you least expect it. It’s like hearing swear words from Stephen Fry. I love the look on the faces of people who haven’t encountered it from her before.

[David J Delaney]

G'day Terry, enjoyed this one mate, I must admit 25 odd years in the transport game & I could swear with the best of them, but, in saying that I will not swear around a woman even if she is swearing like a drunken sailor, must be from the backhanders (even into my mid teens) I copped from dad if he caught any of us boys swearing around any woman, in my later teens & 20's, around other men or down the pub was ok, but still, not in front of women at any time or one would still cop a backhand, imagine doing that to these kids today.

[Zondrae]

G'day Martyboy,

I guess it must be an environment thing. I think my children were well into their teens before they ever heard their father swear. It was in a near miss of a MV accident and for the rest of the journey, you could have whispered and been heard, in the car. Talk about the elephant in the room!

I can't remember any occasion that swearing has been an automatic thing with me. It just doesn't come to mind. And I have (after hearing an act where swearing is used very liberally) often thought.. a good act spoiled.

With all the hundred of thousand of words available to we speakers of English, why use those two. There are just two by which I am, no exactly offended, more disappointed. I don't find it necessary to use them but to each his own. If it was an act I was watching, I could always leave.

[Heather]

I totally agree Marty. There is nothing funny in using swearing continuously like some young comedians do- to my mind it means they haven't got enough vocabulary to think of a suitable word. However, I remember seeing the movie Shirley Valentine years ago and there is one use of the f word that is hilarious because it was well placed and not expected. I also remember hearing a friend describe her bushfire escape and she used the word over and over until we were hysterical with laughter. Again it was funny because we didn't expect her to talk like that. You had to be there. The odd drink or two may have helped.

[Terry]

Hi David, Leonie, and Marty,
Quite a few good points raised there there.

Leonie,
Most of us at some time or another have let the odd word slip, fortunately in this age it usually passes almost unnoticed, and one of the big changes in our behavior is that women are often as accomplished swearers as the blokes these days, and being a bit old fashioned I always feel a bit sad about this.

David,
I'm a bit like you mate I really do try to not swear in front of women, or even strangers. Probably shows our age mate, we come from a different era.

Marty,
I agree with what you say, it used to be mildly funny in some comedy, but it's been so done to death in recent times it has lost it's impact. and as you say so many comedians think that using the big word will get a laugh, there's still a few who can do it, but most are about as subtle as a sledge hammer.

Thanks for the comments - Terry

[Terry]

Hi Zondrae and Heather,
I just replied to the last lot and up popped these two, it'd good to see the interest this provokes.

Like most blokes I've done my share of swearing but as mentioned have tried to not swear at home or in front of women - or strangers. As I said to David It probably shows the era we were brought up in.

Cheers Terry

[Zondrae]

By the way,

Does anyone know how many words there are in the English language? I understand this must be a ever changing number but to the closest 1000 will do.

[Neville Briggs]

G'day Zondrae,

My copy of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary ( 100,000 entries )tells me that the full Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 615,000 entries, and that does not include every specialized technical term, slang or dialect expression.

Even Maureen couldn't use that many.


Neville

[Heather]

Is that close to 1000 Zondrae?