View Full Version : Your language: G-rated?
domestic goddess
3-5-13, 1:18pm
Yesterday, I had to go into my office for training on our new computer charting program. During the course of the training, I made a trivial mistake, and said "Oh, poop." Actually a bit risque for me. The nurse training me, one of the clinical coordinators, looked at me and said "Wow, that was really G-rated." I told her that I realize that, but I work with children (we are a pediatric nursing agency), and I don't want them learning foul language from me. That made me think about speech in general. It is true that I use very few swear words, and those infrequently, because that is the way I was raised. Neither of my parents did; I never even heard my dad say "damn". DD and dsil, and most of their friends could make a sailor blush, and no one turns a hair. On the rare occasions that I do get angry or frustrated enough to swear, it really stops people in their tracks, especially dsil. What about you and the people you associate with? Are you all more free with your language? And what do you feel that accomplishes?
LOL, Domestic Goddess! "Oh- poo", is something I would say, because I'm careful/calculated when I express frustration/anger, so yes, G-Rated language (for me) all the way.
I have a terrible habit of cursing. I have to be careful at work not to do it.
My partner also curses a lot, sometimes to the point where I find it disturbing/annoying.
I'm not sure that it "does anything" for me (or anyone else) at all. A friend of mine once asked, "And do you feel so proud of yourself now?"
The answer is no.
On the rare occasions that I do get angry or frustrated enough to swear, it really stops people in their tracks
That's one reason I don't swear often. When someone hears such a word from me, they know I mean business. To keep it interesting, though, I usually deploy one of a number of "near-miss" swears I learned on "The Simpsons". Completely clean, satisfies my immediate need for an expletive, and life goes on. :)
An occassional "Oh s_ _ t!" but there is always 'baptist guilt' afterward.
Yet my dad, the baptist deacon and more utters it everytime he sneezes. Mom says he's going to mess up one of these days during church.
Gardenarian
3-5-13, 2:27pm
Since we've had dd - yep, G rated. Though now that she's a teen we tend to slip into PG (hell, damn it.)
I used to swear habitually and now find it grating to hear when people continually pepper their conversation with curses. Get a vocabulary!
Tussiemussies
3-5-13, 2:32pm
I never curse and try not to swear sometimes something pops out on a rare occasion, but this is something I consciously do. I think there is so much foul language in our culture it's just demeaning. I dislike when people curse in front of me and everyone is always saying f this and f that. There is no respect.
The Storyteller
3-5-13, 2:38pm
Well, I'm a Marine, so...
No, my language is not G-rated.
OHH RAH Storyteller!!!
Sadly, I am sailor. I TRY my darndest not to swear around my son or at work but on the occasional night out or around my husband, the OTHER sailor...Lord help us. :)
The Storyteller
3-5-13, 3:33pm
OHH RAH Storyteller!!!
Sadly, I am sailor. I TRY my darndest not to swear around my son or at work but on the occasional night out or around my husband, the OTHER sailor...Lord help us. :)
Well, that old expression "curse like a sailor" has to come from somewhere.
Mighty Frugal
3-5-13, 3:47pm
I can curse with the best of them and let it flow when I know it's safe. But at home or in most public situations I turn to my personal made up curse words. I find made up ones are almost as satisfying..such as:
'Holy Schamozels'
'Froocken Zee Doocken'
'sugar ma lugar'
I swear freely and vigorously when I'm alone, occasionally when I'm talking to my SO, and rarely otherwise.
I think it's important to know your audience. :) I do swear, when I feel that it's warranted. Like SteveinMN said, that has a greater impact anyway.
I don't agree with the assumption that people who use what society considers bad language to have limited vocabularies. Seriously, why are "darn" or "poop" truly better or more meaningful expressions than damn or shit? It's all just words. But again, I am aware of of my audience and I don't throw the s- or f-words around lightly, out of respect for other people and situations.
In my experience, certain industries are much more swear-heavy, and it can become contagious, but that doesn't mean the people who work in those industries are less intelligent. Like the military examples previously mentioned, or construction. I used to work in construction with someone who started most sentences with the word, "f**ingsh*tg*ddamn" and yes it was one word. Far from being offensive (it wasn't usually said in anger), it was amusing.
I find language, the way it changes and evolves, fascinating. Check out the documentary F**k for some humorous linguistic and cultural discussions.
Kara
G-rated. I accomplish what I need to say without profanity and I don't see what using stronger language adds to a conversation or point being made.
Additionally, I find this an interesting topic. I'm trying very hard to think before I speak, consider what I am going to say and how my words are received, i.e. uplifting and encouaging or critical, judgemental, stupid, etc.. It says in Proverbs that 'even a fool sounds wise if he holds his tongue' and I want to appear wise even if most times I am not.
Definitely G-rated. Although I've noticed some "R" words are becoming "PG-13" in the media.
G-rated. I accomplish what I need to say without profanity and I don't see what using stronger language adds to a conversation or point being made.
This is starting to remind me of the spicy food thread. I see many similarities.
This is starting to remind me of the spicy food thread. I see many similarities.
Well, spicy food, spicy language. I see the similarities. :) Too much of either is highly subjective.
Kara
Oh good lord, I can put sailors to shame. I swear all the time, it's tacky. But oh well.
My mom's side of the family swears. My mom relates a story about how my brother's school principle talked to her about his language. She said that she nodded and looked contrite, but in reality, she couldn't discipline my brother because how could she for something that she herself did every day?
My brother doesn't swear, Neither did our dad. I think that is one example of a good male role model.
I enjoy strong language in moderation and in the right context.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s480x480/295524_10151364125629615_1790632554_n.jpg
I didn't swear when my kids were little. I began to swear some when they were teenagers. Now that they're grown and gone, DH and I swear all the time, just because we can!! ;)
domestic goddess
3-6-13, 11:09am
Alan, thanks for the laugh. My db just sent me that cartoon, and I really enjoyed it.
Once in a while, I have to fight back the urge to say to those who use "f***" every other word, "Here's a dictionary; find a new word". To me, using foul language repeatedly, just because you can, smacks of either a poor vocabulary or a limited imagination. Except for an old friend of dh's and mine. He swore prodigiously, but made up such colorful combinations, it was kind of fun to see what he would come up with. They sometimes come to mind to this very day, even though I haven't seen him for well more than a decade. I might be more inclined to really let loose, except that I work with children, and I have to believe that their parents wouldn't want me teaching them some of that vocabulary. And I'm afraid that if I let myself get into the habit of being freer with my speech, then it will come out at the wrong time. Alone in the car, I can really let it fly, because I'm not a real patient driver at the best of times. But I have to be careful there, too, because sometimes I have my granddaughters in the car, and I really would not like them to say "but grandma says it". Grandma can get into enough trouble as it is, thank you. It's interesting to me the different takes we all have on language.
On the rare occasions that I do get angry or frustrated enough to swear, it really stops people in their tracks...
My parents didn't swear. On the single occasion that I heard my Dad drop an f-bomb it was in the context of telling the teenaged me to "get off my f-ing high horse". It obviously made an impression because I remember his exact words almost 40 years later.
Now that my kids are basically grown I don't worry much about the more PG damns and hells slipping out, but they were infrequent when the kids were younger. F-bombs are infrequent even today. They are, however, extremely common for DS. It is too the point that when he comes home for a visit I tell him to stop using the word every time it slips. The word doesn't really bother me, but it does irritate his Mom and totally offends his Grandma. Plus, the overuse just makes him sound ignorant. As much as anything I ride him about his language so there is at least one scenario in which he needs to exercise some self-control. That skill could come in handy some day.
The Storyteller
3-6-13, 1:14pm
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s480x480/295524_10151364125629615_1790632554_n.jpg
My thoughts exactly.
I don't swear much if at all. I'm more a stone faced silent glarer type if I'm ticked at others (yeah I'm lookin' at you) or just throw or pound on something if I'm mad at myself. Hard to believe since I'm an salty sea dog but I don't really like it much. Don't like it around me either but am OK with the occasional swearing by other's if kids and/or older or old fashioned people are around. Can't stand to see kids drop the f-bomb around granny and grandpa or out in public. Very disrespectful. However I do love to hear sci-fi swearing. Cracks me up. I use it occasionally myself when I fracked up and get peeved at myself.
This is starting to remind me of the spicy food thread. I see many similarities.
LOL
PG-13 I'm afraid, here. I have been called a creative swearer. To borrow from A Christmas Story, I work in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It's my true medium. But I do use a GREAT deal of discretion around children or around those whose sensitivities are known -- or unknown.
My mother used the phrase G*d D*mm*t, every other sentence when I was growing up, but was horrified at the use of the F-word or Sh-word. As a religious teenager, I found her favorite swear word offensive. Asking her to stop saying it had no effect. So I started saying, "F**k" every time she said, "G*d D*mm*t" in my presence and that stopped her quickly.
I do not swear a lot now, but over the years the occasional "Sh*t" has escaped after a near-miss in the car, often when it was full of youngings. I told them that they could start using that word when they started driving. ;)
Ha ha ha, I loved that, Alan! As for myself, well, I married a sailor. Who was a son of a sailor, and of the worst kind for decorum: a submariner. Yet, I truly started learning to swear long before that by listening to my mom as she drove. She has made my sailor/submariner husband *blush* in the car. So yeah, it doesn't flap any feathers when I curse around parents and such. We don't have kids and the dogs don't care. This is occasionally a problem when we are around little kids or older, easily offended folk, because DH is sure to accidently drop an F bomb around them. It's funniest when he claps his hand over his mouth right after, like a kid who suddenly realizes he's said something bad. Makes me laugh, anyway. :D
My language has toned down significantly over the years. Any more I put routine swearing in a similar category as wearing sweat pants with holes to the grocery store. My exceptions are incidents of sudden extreme pain, such as stubbing one's toe when barefoot. I also have wondered about the legality of using extreme profanity to unwanted professional phone solicitors begging for money.
I have calmed down over the years....now the profanity is most rampant as I drive down the roads in central jersey....it is justified and warranted!
I have to admit I do curse on occasion...many times it is light hearted...Why that S.O.B., etc. When I drop something, especially in the kitchen, I often will say, Oh, S--t but am very proud of myself when I don't. :)
I am very careful at work, because most of my co-workers have no trouble dropping F-bombs and being their boss I have told them bad language is not acceptable in the work place.
goldensmom
3-13-13, 3:30am
I've identified myself as G-rated. I was in a family restaurant last week and the young men in the booth behind us were f-ing every 3rd word (not exaggerting). For those 'sailors' and others, a question.....is that okay?
I've identified myself as G-rated. I was in a family restaurant last week and the young men in the booth behind us were f-ing every 3rd word (not exaggerting). For those 'sailors' and others, a question.....is that okay?
For this old sailor it ISN'T OK. I really hate to hear people cussing continuously - especially if older people or families and kids are present. I don't cuss myself for the most part, and don't really like hearing others do it. I am not prudish or squeamish in any way but just think it shows lack of respect for other's who may be within hearing range. I also won't date a guy who cusses a lot. If he swears occasionally and then apologises that's OK, but no continual cussing or they are out! Well... they are out AFTER they take me to dinner :-)!
The Storyteller
3-23-13, 4:42pm
I've identified myself as G-rated. I was in a family restaurant last week and the young men in the booth behind us were f-ing every 3rd word (not exaggerting). For those 'sailors' and others, a question.....is that okay?
I think that is a matter of manners rather than bad language. I am always cognizant of my language depending on my company. I'm also careful not to burp or fart in the company of strangers or those I suspect might be embarrassed or offended.
When I am with those I'm closest to, though, my language is much more free and relaxed. I have to wonder if these young men were even aware of their surroundings or volume during their conversation. If not, it can be forgiven, and I have been known to point out to strangers when their language might offend, whether it offends me or not. Almost universally they are apologetic and either drop their tone or alter their language.
If they were aware but just didn't care, however, I would suggest they were just rude little sh**s.
(Self-censored so as not to offend delicate sensibilities.)
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