Swearing only devalues opinions if one assumes that folk who curse are of low maturity or limited cognititive capacity.  Such assumptions are the mark of persons with superiority complexs and other ego-sating type personality quirks.

In any case, prudishness in speech indicates clinging to tradition and little else.  To purport otherwise is to be hypersensitive to the point of laughability.  Insert the work of George Carlin here.

You cannot convince me that the F bomb is the best verb/adjective/noun/adverb/interjection for any situation.

I disagree; to quote a very serious intellectual analysis of the word,

"Perhaps one of the most interesting words in the English language, 'F' is the one word that by it's magical sound can describe pleasure, pain, hate, and love."

"It falls into many grammatical categories: transitive verb, intransitive verb, adjective, adverb, adverb enhancing an adjective, a noun, a part of a word, and as almost every word in a sentence."

"As you must realize, there aren't many words with the versatility of 'F'."

This link will teach you the veritable power of this word.

With all these versatile applications, how can anyone be offended by its use? Say it loudly and proudly!

Yes, it's true it can be used, but it really should not be used. I'm not devaluing the words, but does one really need to talk about sex anyways?

That's the beautiful thing about the 'F' word! It's not just for sex anymore! It's used for everything!

Another good article Erathoniel.

Swearing is certainly commonplace. Non stop expletives are present on casual conversation, on cable TV, award shows, in movies, in student's reading books, music, etc. Cursing and swearing used to be associated with the "low" class, but not any more.  In today's culture , it's across the board,  everyone, all ages, swear.   

I was taught that using swear words was using "vulgarity ". As a girl, I used to get my mouth washed out with soup if I swore and I did the same with my children. Bad language is one of those place where I draw the line. Personally, I think anyone who swears repeatedly shows lack of self respect and dignity.

 

 

 

 

I've never really sworn, so that I never had any problems with punishment. I've been crude sometimes, and come really close, but I never actually explicitly swear.

 

I disagree.

Bad language against an other person carries moral and spriritual significance.

Using bad language aganist someone is essentially a violation of the obligation to love one another. "Cursing" is a type of language that calls down harm on someone. To ask God to condemn someone to everlasting Hell is an act of cruelty..no matter what the passion that might have given rise to it.

We are supposed to be in control of our actions, including what comes from out our mouth.

The moral problem lies not just in the words but even how they are used to abuse others. You should read St.James chapter 3 which is about the evils of the tongue.  With it,  we bless our Lord and Father, and by it, we curse people who are made after  the likeness of God." The tongue should be used to bless, not to hurt our neighbor.

Profanity violates what is sacred. "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" says the commandment, adding "For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes the name of the Lord his God in vain." Ex. 20:7.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wow, so forming certain sounds deserves potential ingestion of cleansing products.




So, if a person is just swearing, but not doing so "against" another person, is it still a sin? Let's say I stub my toe and shout out something horribly obscene. Is it "sinful" then?

I personally do not believe that if you are in an environment where swearing is the norm you should try to change, but it does slip out.

The only swearing I believe is a sin (and most people consider it normal), is taking God's name in vain. It's for prayer and theological uses only.

Why shout out obscenity for any reason? What's the point? It certainly doesn't make the pain or problem go away...it just shows how one handles difficulties and if this happens in front of others, especially youngsters, then it gives them a model to emulate. Not good.

For sure. OK, good, so now you see that swearing, at least taking God's name in vain, is a sin.

The reason the name of God is to be taken reverently is that to call upon Him is to invoke His presence. We are to call upon Him in prayer, in thanksgiving, in worship and in time of need. But to use His name otherwise is blashpemous. He is Holy and so is His name and words about Him.

... just as you cannot convince me that it's the worst.  You find the f-word offensive because you were taught that it's offensive, just as x_ethnicity is taught that y_slur is offensive or d_religion is taught that e_activity is blasphemous.  Words in and of themselves only offend if you let them offend — sensible people understand that the intent behind words is what matters.

Do you sincerely believe that intelligence or maturity are related to breadth of vocabulary?  If so, there is no point in discussing the matter further, as your fundamental misunderstanding of the human creature would make it a futile effort.  I could, for example, say something like, "Folks with IQs and social maturity levels many standard deviations off the norm in both directions use profanities, as do those everywhere in between," but it would be fruitless.

Regardless, a proclivity to devalue the opinion of those who swear indicates a manner of prudish intolerance which modern society needs to lose.  Insert the work of George Carlin again.  The point of all his "dirty words" skits is that taking offense to any word in and of itself is as nonsensical as any other human habit which has evolved into tradition (traditions being the root of many if not most of mankind's major conflicts, as it were).

I never said it was the worst word, I simply believe it's one of those cases where you don't know the correct adjectives or adverbs to correctly describe the situation. There are times when certain words are the only words that can be used to describe certain things. Mind you, I consider that using "God" in a casual sense is swearing. In the correct context, it is not swearing, but if you use them in everyday conversation, it highlights your inablility to correctly use the English language (or whatever language you're using).

Jesus Christ. You are totally fucking right. I never thought of it that way. God damn.

I dunno. I think swear words make great punctuation. They definately play a role in communication. They are not just used for communicating anger.

I could say "I sincerely believe that you have sexual relations with your mother" in a very angry way, and that would be worse than saying, "what's up, motha' fucka'?" But then, I guess it also depends on your social group.