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It seems like almost everyone (a lot that I see or overhear in person) has incorporated cursing into their regular vocabulary. Cursing was kinda naughty and cool to me when I was around the guys in say middle school, but theirs something about it that makes me cringe when I see so many people including adults doing it regularly. F this…F that…S…MF…blah blah blah. As a guy I was never a fan of women who proudly proclaimed to have a potty mouth. I never thought it was cute, edgy, counterculture or anything like that.
Is it part of something larger like a general dumbing down of society? We’ve lost some of our ability or will to communicate to we use profanity to make our points? Shortened attention span maybe?
Seems a national trend, don't know about other areas of the world. It is not just speech--it is cultural, in movies, books, shirts, comedians, etc. and is increasing because younger people want to push and break the boundaries of etiquette and common sense and good taste. Young people decide what is cool and what isn't...cursing and four letter words are "cool" to them.
In polite venues, classrooms and offices, it is still discourteous and very rude. On the street anything goes, but it depends where you live, work and your acquaintances. Has nothing to do with dumbing down. But it is part of the loosening of proper conduct in society, that has been trending for many decades now-- casual sloppy clothes, apathetic attitudes and coarse manners.
This is a huge generalization because most use profanity only when it feels needed.
The ideals of being a "gentleman" and "lady" are rapidly diminshing, a relic of days gone by.
But it is part of the loosening of proper conduct in society, that has been trending for many decades now-- casual sloppy clothes, apathetic attitudes and coarse manners.
This is a huge generalization because most use profanity only when it feels needed.
The ideals of being a "gentleman" and "lady" are rapidly diminshing, a relic of days gone by.
I think there is a pushback about "proper" conduct, because a lot of what is considered "proper" is based on elitism, classism, and even racism. I'm not saying that there isn't a time and place for salty language or that treating others with respect and kindness is unimportant, but that much of what has historically been "proper" behavior is judgmental gatekeeping.
It seems like almost everyone (a lot that I see or overhear in person) has incorporated cursing into their regular vocabulary. Cursing was kinda naughty and cool to me when I was around the guys in say middle school, but theirs something about it that makes me cringe when I see so many people including adults doing it regularly. F this…F that…S…MF…blah blah blah. As a guy I was never a fan of women who proudly proclaimed to have a potty mouth. I never thought it was cute, edgy, counterculture or anything like that.
Is it part of something larger like a general dumbing down of society? We’ve lost some of our ability or will to communicate to we use profanity to make our points? Shortened attention span maybe?
Well, a few things.
First, we are probably taught it. As what Tom Smothers said, "[11/28/02, interview in Chicago Tribune] I'm watching television and I'm not seeing anything. I watch all the cable shows where you should see some looseness and you're not hearing anything . . . There's a general dumbing down of everybody in this country . . . It just kept going and going until it's gotten to the point where it's all mean-spirited and vulgar. It not only affects comedy, it affects film. It affects literature. It's pervasive on radio. There's that guy Howard Stern and all that smart ass, vulgar, sexual pretending like they're expanding freedom of speech. They ought to put an amendment to the First Amendment that says there shall also be freedom of hearing." (from imdb)
Secondly, I do believe we are more tense, be it the affairs of the world, our media, our food, or whatever.
Third, I think it takes a conscious effort not to be that. The other day, my older boy cat spring boarded atop a media shelf, bringing down things with a crash, and I cursed the Lord for it......in the future, I must not do that but replace it with, "Oh, my eternal stars!". Further, I should not curse my cats at all but instead, "Oh, Arthur, must you?".
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When I hear someone cursing, I go in the opposite direction and throw out words like eunoia, redamancy, querencia, psithurism and novaturient.
That is my way of showing them how to be edgy.
cool, I don't know ANY of those words! off to google.
I participate in a monthly stitchalong, and have recently embroidered the phrases "Maybe SWEARING will help" and "F***" (that was my response to getting Covid).
I like the juxtaposition of old-fashioned hand-crafted flowers with modern sentiments.
I think next month, I'll stitch a leafy tree branch with the word psithurism.
I read that when people suffer head or other trauma that does damage to the language centers, the word they recover first is "F***".
Last edited by steiconi; 08-11-2022 at 11:36 AM..
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