Is there hypocrisy about cussing?
OK the Hollywood is over, time to get back to business. If Obama got up to deliver a Town Hall message he got up and said, “I don’t have to tell you things are f***** up, jobs are going overseas and we have to get our s*** together or we will all be a** out…” People would have a cow. They bleep it out on network TV. It can get you tossed from a competition; http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Pole-vaulter-8217-s-curse-word-costs-team-state?urn=highschool-wp2611. I don’t use it and often don’t want my air space polluted with cussing because I feel if you have a strong command of the English language you can say what you need forcefully and eloquently without cussing. That dose not happen, so I get use to the fact that when I am out of my home people will be cussing. It isn’t like kids do not know what it is, I have heard parent cuss at their kids; ”You better sit your fast a** down!”, ”Are you some f****** fool? Come in out of the f****** rain”, You better clean this s*** up or you ain’t going to the ball field, etc. So why bleep it out, disallow it in sport competitions are think public officials don’t use it?
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Many people are offended by it, so better to not do it, unless you know it is ok with all of the people in earshot. I certainly think it should not be said in front of children in a public forum or on tv shows aimed towards children. I don’t think I would consider it hypocritical.
As a side note, I looked up cuss, because I always thought it was slang, but I guess it is in the dictionary as a word. It says it is “informal” as opposed to nonstandard, which is what a word like ain’t is considered. I am not sure what other words are informal?
It’s not hypocrisy. It’s just that cussing is not appropriate in any kind of formal setting. Just like you won’t see television broadcasts of naked people, yet there’s nothing wrong with being naked itself. It’s just about context.
Just like you won’t see television broadcasts of naked people, yet there’s nothing wrong with being naked itself. You might be naked or worse in your home but people don’t check their profanity at the front door on their way out, they use it on the BART train, the restaurant, shopping for shoes, at McDonalds, etc. If they use it profusely anyhow, why get coy when its black tie affair?
@Hypocrisy_Central Because it’s inappropriate and impolite. I do not like it when I hear people swearing in public places either ..for those very reasons. I would hope that most of us have the common decency to keep it clean whilst out in public.
Because by holding the line, it is not a part of everyday discourse. it should be jarring to the ear and mind.
It is too easy to swear when there are much more eloquent ways of expressing oneself.
I think it’s bullshit that people care more about the wordage than what’s actually fucking said. I also think its bullshit to think fuck, shit, ass, and the like are any less valid words. Sometimes they’re the appropriate words for the situation, particularly fucked up situations. Using swear words correctly signifies good use of the English language, to me.
And swears are mostly considered inappropriate because of Medieval classism. They’re the Anglo-Saxon terms for “base” things, where the French/Latin based ones are considered appropriate.
@incendiary_dan What do you mean by correctly? I’m not disagreeing or trying to prove any points. Just trying to understand what you meant. :)
@PluckyDog Using them in a way that gets the message across clearly and perhaps vividly/with emotional force. It of course depends on what sort of message is being conveyed.
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