Swearing has always been around. No doubt cave men swore when faced with a Mammoth.
I swore as a kid but I wasn't a career swearer. I never swore at home - my parents would have gone nuts! Maybe the odd bloody hell or bugger slipped out at home but that was it.
I didn't swear much at school either. There was a real taboo surrounding some high-value swear words, the C word especially. I wasn't a great effer and jeffer. I was more drawn to insults like pillock, prannock and dimmock and phrases like get stretched and the universal get stuffed. I never swore in public spaces.
Nowadays, with my time in education, I hear every swear word under the sun all day long every day and there are no taboos about using any of them at any time, in class or out, or in any type of sentence. It has become common currency in school despite the best efforts of the grown-ups there. I'm not going to effing Maths so you can F off is the rallying cry of the modern secondary schoolkid.
It is also a facet of life in general. I hear swearing everywhere from adults nowadays too; in the cinema, in cafes, in shops and in the street.
Kids are pretty much reflecting back what they hear themselves and sadly some of it will be in the home.
It all feels like its part of a wider rise in aggression in society, of aggressive language and posturing, of hostility toward each other in general, although this could be my age getting in the way there!
Is gaming making kids hostile? I dunno. I've never played a computer game in my life but its all modern kids do. Our generation had toys. We still talk about them here on this blog. We don't seem particularly aggressive. Did toys keep us happy and calm as kids?
Don't get me wrong about swearing though. I do swear - but its a private cursing that I do. Nothing in public.
But it seems that I'm old-fashioned in this regard. Having Grandkids has made me sensitive to public cursing, as I don't think small youngsters still shouldn't have to hear it.
What do you think?
I agree 100%. There was very little swearing when I was little, nothing beyond Bloody or Hell, and they were rare. Now, it seems nearly everyone swears all the time. Even sitting on the bus you can not escape it. Some movies are unwatchable because of the language. Sometimes it feels as though I am the last hold-out, the only one not swearing in public, all day long. It is also very hard to take the swearers, and anything they have to say, seriously if that is the kind of language they have to use.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting aside Paul is the acceptance of two words now, which when I was a kid were considered crude, fart and pee. These are now the accepted words on TV and in school for both actions! My Mum and Dad will be turning in their graves!
DeleteMy real education into the world of profanities was when I became a professional broadcaster, and particularly when I moved to Ireland.
ReplyDeleteAs was explained to me, "these words are essentially Anglo Saxon words. But the national language of Ireland is Irish Gaelic. So these words are essentially nonsense. However, I did learn some quite innocent sounding almost nonsense words which are actually highly derogatory. This of course has come in handy when I've been so annoyed by someone I wanted to swear at them. So I usually call them something pretty unpleasant but in Gaelic!
It's a real de-stressing and cathartic experience. Especially if it's phrased as if you are paying them a compliment!
Sounds great Bill. Are the Gaelic swear words understandable in Welsh?
DeleteNot really, as Welsh is a different branch of Celtic. Although the spellings appear similar, they mean completely different things, and many of the pronunciations are different too.
DeleteGrrr! My phone just ate my lengthy and considered reply! I'll try again on my laptop...
ReplyDeleteYep, I can hear you swearing from here Looey!
DeleteGrowing up in London in the 50's and 60's I didn't swear and indeed the general feeling of the time was that swearing was something only the lower orders of society did. Since I grew up in a working class family, going to a local council school of kids of similar background, swearing was something only for adults.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 60's much fuss was made in the media about 'Bloody' being used on stage and screen as it possibly foretold the end of civilization.
From the 70's on, living in NYC, swearing in regular conversation was something only noticeable when on visits to the UK.
In recent years probably due to the stress for everyone of living with Covid restrictions, tempers are short, which here in NYC shows more in aggressive driving than use of poor language.
The constant use of swear words by school kids as mentioned by Woodsy shows the poor education the kids have as the shock effect of swear words are lost if in constant use. Language teachers in the UK should be training kids in the correct use of language, and therefore how to swear effectively.
ha ha. A local expression I hear kids saying a lot, which I didn't grow up with on account of being from elsewhere, is "I swear down". Knowing when they say it I reckon it means something like For Gods Sake or I'm telling the Truth. Maybe its biblical, a hand going down on the Bible?
DeleteYou know what I think!
ReplyDeletehttps://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2022/11/w-is-for-well-ill-be-fucked.html
More generally; our society is falling part (it's had a good run but nothing lasts forever) and increased swearing is more of a symptom than a cause, and more prevalent because of technology's ability to report it, rather than affect it.
H
In the society that comes next Hugh are we allowed to possess toys or will I have to start swearing about keeping hold of them?
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