I thought this might be best in this section because it would spark some debate, if the Mods feel it should go in GD, then by all means move.

I wonder if anyone else feels this way. I think we as a society take what is a rather arbitrary approach to what is generally regarded as "bad language". As the old saying goes -- stick and stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me. They're really just words, why do they matter as the do? Because simply we've decided this is the case. If and when I have kids, I don't really think I'll take a hard line on the language they use. I'm not saying my household will be like the Osbournes, but I just really don't see the big deal.

Two weeks ago on an episode of "30 Rock", a character screamed out "What the frack?!" That's literally just a hair's difference away from saying what the fuck. But it's perfectly okay to say "frack", not fuck. That frankly seems retarded. We put way too much emphasis and worry on these words, that's all they are.

Just out of curiousity, do you use a lot of profanity, and if you do, will you try to control your use of it when you have children?

While I agree with you fundamentally, nevertheless I still think there is a lesson to be drawn on the concept of using appropriate words for appropriate situations. There are obviously times where casual language (this doesn't have to include vulgarity) must be foregone in favor of more proper parsing. Other times, casual language may in fact be preferred. That's the goal I'd try to convey to kids when this sticky subject comes up.

My son and all his friends know not to use profanity around me or they're stuck with G rated movies. I have a boy, so I tell him no girl's gonna want a guy who swears all the time. I think that got his attention.

I used to use a constant stream of what my mother would consider foul language, well, not around her. But when I had my kids, it seemed that it was inappropriate since the words that I tended to rely on were not fully understandable by small children. So I found that I needed to develop the ability to describe my frustrations much more precisely rather than falling back on a steady stream of expletives. I think that the children and I benefitted.

Frack was a Battlestar Galactica reference, I'm guessing.

I'm an avid fan of cuss words, and a liberal user. Fuck is, after all, the most elastic and varied word in the English language...and the only word I can think of that maintains both heavy usage and heavy emotional resonance, when needed. Also, I like pointing out that the word vomit was considered too obscene to even include in a dictionary, around the beginning of the 20th century.

Around my son, I'm careful what words I use, but only because he's not old enough yet to distinguish when it's safe to use them. That has to do with other people's reactions only...wouldn't phase me if he ran around the house shouting "FUCK! FUCK!!!" Eventually, he'll be old enough to learn that those words are appreciated around the house but not in other locations.

I'm trying to control my swearing around my kids, and not doing a particularly good job.

if we started using "curse" words in "inappropriate" situations, they would, i suppose, become less inappropriate, and eventually OK. would we then invent new "curse" words?

i feel obliged to post the "dirty seven", so here goes:
shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.

i think i have to agree with george carlin that there are bad thoughts and bad intentions, but that words are words. however, all parties in audible distance have to be under the understanding that no harm is meant from using "cuss" words. you never know how some people will react to certain words and so in some situations you have to be considerate of others unless you want to look like a jerk with a foul mouth or just be completely misunderstood.

i curse like a mofo i hate the stigma on using curse words. just because someone was raised to not feel comfortable with certain words and not be able to make up their own minds about it, i have to be careful how i express myself around them?

it's a way to express anger, how adults express anger, as lewis black says, "to prevent them from taking a tire iron to someone's head".

my best friend has a 3 year old who picked up on her mom's saying fuck and she does use it appropriately, when distressed. her father doesn't like it though so they have ground rules about when she can use it. only when she is with her mom or me she follows the rules; she's a bright kid

I think that there is a certain directness to "curse" words that many people may be uncomfortable with. This extends to other type of direct language in specific situations. For instance, I believe that the word "fuck" has lost much of its power as a result of overuse, unless it's used specifically to describe the act of "fucking." I think that the statement, "Let's fuck," remains more powerful than, "Fuck you." On the other hand, in scientific seminars, many scientists are very uncomfortable with the word "kill." In studies in which animals are killed, the word is seldom used, instead words like, "sacrifice" or other words that refer specifically to the mode of killing are used,i. e. "exsanguinate."

Also, I think that people are generally uncomfortable with words that describe specific sexual acts or situtations. For example, I don't think that the word "fellatio" is considered a curse word, but most people are uncomfortable using it. It's generally confined to written language.

I think fuck isn't really as shocking as it once was. Cunt, however, still has a while to go. I have 2 friends who absolutely hate me saying it.

Are they men or women? Do your friends have difficulty with some words even in the context of literature? My grandmother definitely has a problem with poems like this.

Like a Flower in the Rain

I cut the middle fingernail of the middle
finger
right hand
real short
and I began rubbing along her cunt
as she sat upright in bed
spreading lotion over her arms
face
and breasts
after bathing.
then she lit a cigarette:
"don't let this put you off,"
an smoked and continued to rub
the lotion on.
I continued to rub the cunt.
"You want an apple?" I asked.
"sure, she said, "you got one?"
but I got to her-
she began to twist
then she rolled on her side,
she was getting wet and open
like a flower in the rain.
then she rolled on her stomach
and her most beautiful ass
looked up at me
and I reached under and got the
cunt again.
she reached around and got my
cock, she rolled and twisted,
I mounted
my face falling into the mass
of red hair that overflowed
from her head
and my flattened cock entered
into the miracle.
later we joked about the lotion
and the cigarette and the apple.
then I went out and got some chicken
and shrimp and french fries and buns
and mashed potatoes and gravy and
cole slaw,and we ate.she told me
how good she felt and I told her
how good I felt and we
ate the chicken and the shrimp and the
french fries and the buns and the
mashed potatoes and the gravy and
the cole slaw too.

Having been raised with a mother who probably has never sworn and a father who swears when angry (or not around said mother), the "traditional" swear words are these:
ass, damn, hell, shit, fuck, bitch, and maybe dick and bastard
Most of those are now allowed on TV, so I think times are changing, no?

I always wonder why some words become profanities and others don't, though. "Sucks" is certainly more graphic and sexually explicit than most words that are considered profanities, but you can say that word in church now and nobody minds (although my mother did protest when we first started saying it ).

Has piss really ever been considered a swear word? I've always used that one and nobody's said anything.

you know what word people are really uncomfortable with? Died. they like to say someone passed away, passed on, we lost them. with animals, we say they were "put to sleep".

i really don't like this. i think someone mentioned before that people are uncomfortable with such direct language; it's the only language i am comfortable with.

when people dance around issues, i want to scream

There are probably some words we should avoid using out of respect for others, but words like 'fuck' and 'shit' have become so pedestrian.

I agree with the boarder that said something about 'fuck' losing it's force. 'Cunt' has to be my favorite. (thanks in part to Paddy)

My kids talk like I did when I was their age. It doesn't bother me. They're (usually) smart enough to know when not to use teh salty language.

there are life course path models for children, with use of profanity being one indicator... not that any kid using profanity is going to automatically relegate himself to a blue-collar job, but in regards to schools and education systems, kids who get in trouble for similar reasons also have tendencies to befriend each other and engage in other punishable but innocent mischievious things.... your reflexive attitude about it reflects you're a thinking man, but not all profanity users are, and frequent association with children whose parents can't/don't hold the same values and aspirations as your own for your progeny may actually create a bit of cognitive dissonance in your own children... they may only start adhering to evaluation standards which are permissible for their friends, but not your own... I feel the way you do about profanity, but until my children understand that 1) there are times and places profanity is okay and is not okay and 2) most of the people around you will never prefer you to use profanity socially despite using it themselves privately, I'm going to request they jog their heads for a better word in their vocabulary to express whatever they're feeling (unless of course it entails their thoughts about keely hazell, in which case, only profanity would be appropriate )

German fairy tales are awesome. Instead of ending with, "And they lived happily every after", they end with, "And if they did not die they still live today".

Really, I don't see whats so bad about nigger, kike, and spic.