"What the f***!" These days, most of our sentences contain "bleep sounds" to express our level of emotion. This "swear words" trend is making me think we are losing command over the language and I wonder if we are gradually becoming less intelligent and lazier.
Do I swear?
Well, guilty as charged, but definitely non-audibly. Perhaps all of us do it when we are mad at someone and we tend to mutter some not-so-civilized words under our breath.
Is cussing publicly in a workplace or a public forum ever proper behavior?
For some, using curse words is trendy as well as tough. I suppose the shock value is extremely exciting. For others, perhaps cussing is a way to reduce stress. Some just find it fun.
To me, public swearing demonstrates one's poor vocabulary, low intelligence and lack of class. Using swear words is disrespectful and shows lack of sensitivity towards the audience.
These days, swearing is prevalent anywhere regardless of language, location and gender. I am surprised to see the liberal use of swearing in Facebook and other public forums. Cussing even gains support from forum members in the name of free speech.
In a survey conducted by American Demographics -- 72% of men and 55% women swear in public -- that survey also said swearing in public was more common with the young (18-34). Do older people tend to feel young by swearing?
I am not sure about any such research on Indian demographics, but having a quick look around me, I can easily say we are not far behind.
Cussing is also common in the area of sports. If you've ever been around soccer or cricket players, you would want to wash out their mouths with toilet-cleaner while washing out your own ears!
We claim to be a part of a civilized and developing society, but I fail to understand why we have adapted such a lackadaisical attitude towards the language we use. It's sad to wait for the day when an entire conversation will wholly consist of only "bleep sounds."
Great article, Katha!
I, too, have seen this degradation of language.
On some message boards the "S" word was never allowed and now all forms of it are allowed to appear.
What changed? Outcry from the forum members who demanded their cuss words appear "as is" without the censoring red dots? Ridiculous!
It saddens me to see how far the English language has been degraded with the use of expletives. There are at least two million words in the English language - why not use a non-expletive? Reminds me of a shirt that showed all the uses of one four letter word. Sad.
Thanks David!
I don't even understand the use of the typical dots because when I say "S***", the rest of the world understands my intention clearly, why make the fuss?
Why say it in the first place? Is controlling our mouth that tough?
Right Gordon!
The trend is irrespective of language...truely sad.
Hi David,
As we were discussing, I found the following link which discussed about the causes of sports violence, verbal abuse being one of the causes.
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Violence_in_sports/id/1981466