Which is worse: profane language, or taking the Lord's name in vain? NSFW?
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SQUEEKY2 (
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January 14th, 2024
Like using the words ,fuck, shit, mother fucker , compared to Goddam, Jesus Christ in vain, neither is classy but in your opinion which is worse?
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40 Answers
Taking the lord’s name in vain is worse. The other words are just words. IMHO.
profain is a misspelling
Lords is wrong punctuation
The examples are reversed, with the profane examples having typos in the punctuation, and the invocation having the misspelling.
Misspelling and punctuation errors are about equivalent, to me.
As for what they refer to, profane words tend to be offenses against polite society, while the other are violations of a Christian religious rule. From my perspective, the profanity offends a much larger/wider group, while the Christian rule only offends a group whose doctrines I tend not to share and often to disagree with. So I tend not to care at all about people invoking “Gawd” etc, and am more bothered by the rudeness of some who use profanity in some circumstances – and usually then because of some other behavior it’s going along with.
Depends if you believe in the whole “lord god” schtick. I don’t.
And honestly, if there is an all-powerful god, then:
1) why is his ego so frail as to be bothered by some nasty words and insults?
2) why did he create us in the first place if he disapproves of how we speak?
God has to be some sorry of a wussie snowflake to be bothered by our words.
Being an atheist, I see God as the personification of our ignorance. Saying we don’t understand or can’t predict something is equivalent to saying that God is responsible. From this point of view, taking the Lord’s name in vain is meaningless.
“Worse” to me, is all about intent. Casually using expletives or profanity is null, just expressive. Using expletives or profanity to deliberately offend, upset, or hurt someone is all bad.
^Only the power you give them.
Words are a human construct.
Additionally. The OP is just talking about “fowl” language.
Not the Constitution ma’am.
You mean like, “God fucking dammit?” When I stub my toe? Or “your religion is fucking idiotic god damn bullshit?”
It’s all the same to me.
^Now THOSE words, have power.
Well said.
Oh, @MrGrimm888, I don’t know what species you are, but most of us using any words are human, so, yes, they are a “human construct”. I have seen you get upset on this
forum when you have felt attacked.
I know you have trouble rethinking your statements, but maybe give it a try.
I hate the F word most of all. Guttural. Gross
Ha! @Dutchess_III, I love it because it is sharp and expressive! I also love that when I, as a small, older, chubby, silver-haired lady, say it, it gets the attention of the people who have been ignoring me. Usually much younger boys working in hardware stores that don’t want to acknowledge my requests for help or information. One good, staccato, F bomb and they are suddenly shocked into awareness. “Omigod, granny said ‘fuck’!”.
It’s very effective. :-)
I once was so upset I used the F word in a text to one of my (grown) kids. The other two called me in shock, wanting to know if it was true!
I am a firm believer that it is good for grown children to be shocked by their mothers on occasion!
I agree! And embarrassed.
One time at the hardware store I got in the queue at checknout. There was a very tall, slender young man in front of me…in a PINK Tshirt !!”
I said, rather loudly “What is wrong with you kid?? REAL men don’t wear pink! Everybody will think you’re gay!”
The young man kind of cocked his head, then turned around and looked me straight in the eye and said “Hi Ma!”
For some reason, I never fully trust someone until I hear them swear. When I heard my parents swear it was never in an argument it was always some other vulnerable position they were in that served to remind me that they’re human and fallible.
I think there is a difference between targeted swearing and promiscuous swearing.
Targeted swearing is where there is some specific event or person that has caused the swear to occur. You stub your toe. Someone robs you at gunpoint. Your ex-wife tells you that you’re a jerk.
“Promiscuous swearing* is when people just swear for the heck of it, because it’s in their nature to be rude. We all know people who curse and swear just because they can – it’s in their personality – and there is no reason or event for it. It’s just how they are.
Targeted swearing, in my opinion, is OK. Promiscuous swearing, because is so diffuse, is not. Promiscuous swearing loses all the ‘value’ of a curse because it is so frequently heard.
and it’s foul language, not fowl
There are swear words which make me cringe more than others, but overall, I don’t have a problem with any of them used in any context.
I am the Neighborhood Easy Girl of swearing, promiscuous to the max!
@canidmajor .
May your god grant you the wisdom to follow your own advice.
@MrGrimm888 Thanks for proving my point with your “rubber/glue” taunt. :-)
They each show signs of a lack of intelligence and weak knowledge of words to use.
@elbanditoroso it was interesting reading your definition of the different types of swearing. When I worked in a classroom at a school for kids with behavior issues, I always saw what I called targeted swearing as worse, where the student is saying F-you to somebody or some such thing, because then they are disrespecting the other person. But let’s say a spider dropped on their desk from the ceiling and they suddenly let out an f-bomb. To me that would be much less worse because that’s just a reactionary swear. We still encouraged the kids not to use that kind of language but to me that would be a lot more understandable.
There was one instance in the class, by the way, where a spider was coming down on a web right above a student’s head. She didn’t even realize until somebody drew it to her attention and then she freaked out, but we were able to deal with the situation. (I’m not a spider fan, in case you can’t tell.)
@Forever_Free People who swear generally tend to be smarter on average.
@Blackwater_Park Can you enlighten us? Oh wait, Can you give us a G% D&% reference to your statement? Pretty Please.
I think it is more a sign of aggressive personality.
True dat. Sometimes a particular swear word is the only thing that will do.
But to just casually cuss with every other word is slimy.
@canidmajor do you ever realize that you are the only person in an argument?
The cursing to mediate pain thing is interesting too.
Yes, that’s a thing.
@Forever_Free I, along with many others here, have a very full and knowledgeable vocabulary and we swear. If you don’t like swearing, then just own up to it. Don’t try to put down those who use those words. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with swearing in the right company or lack thereof. I suspect that many of those who swear have a very nice IQ. That has nothing to do with it whatsoever.
Your last post was very passive aggressive and juvenile.
@smudges Let’s not forget that wonderful Scrabble word…. puerile.
Curse words evolved, for me.
Dumb, and stupid, were words I would get scolded for saying, when I was younger than 7 years-old.
Then I became aware of WAY worse, words.
Some words, are racist.
And. It evolved, as I got oder.
Now. It’s my choice, as far as dialect.
Almost everything has to do with context, and intent.
Ambiguity, can make words have a different meaning, to those who read it. Or hear it.
So many words have multiple meanings, and “Street lingo,” can add many more meanings.
It ultimately comes down to the receiver of the words one uses, as far as taboos or stigmas go.
If I say it right, I can make ANY word sound like a bad word. Or funny. Or a reaction.
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