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Swearing is becoming more widely acceptable, linguistics experts claim (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 10 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/interestingshare@lemmy.zip

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Swearwords increasingly used for emphasis and to build social bonds, rather than to insult, say academics

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[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 49 points 10 months ago (8 children)

I still think swearing should be used sparingly! Otherwise its effect gets diluted! It!d be like replacing every bit of punctuation with an exclamation point! Eventually it just loses its original meaning! and people stop even registering it! Treat swearing as sacred! use it to accentuate a point! and people will appreciate its importance when you do use it!

[–] Chobbes@lemmy.world 40 points 10 months ago

Fuck that!

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It should be diluted. Language should not have that power over our emotions. Swearing becoming an extension of a purely descriptive lexicon is a good thing IMO.

Poetic language and rich prose should be the standard for emotional conveyance. That makes it special and rare. Allowing simple crass or boorish language to hold emotional power is what cheapens the concept of language having power.

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

You can still pack a punch with swearing, you just gotta get creative about it.

Swearing is to language what capsaicin is to food. It's not required, in some circumstances it makes things worse, but in many other it would be a real shame to deprive oneself of it, especially for a reason as stupid as "but I'm going to increase my tolerance". So fucking what? It's not heroin, shit's not going to put you into cardiac arrest if you take too much.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Uncle Ruckus: "You got to rotate your slurs."

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yes I use profanity sparingly! And when I use it, I really mean it!!!!!!

(Exclamation points added for emphasis and dilution of the entire point I'm trying to make!!!)

[–] 0ops@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Eh, they're just words. I agree that using them too much "dilutes" them, but is that really anything to do with them being swearwords? Or because they're the same word I used 20 times in a two minute conversation? Literally, when I literally use the same word in literally every other sentence, you'll literally start to doubt that I even know what the word "literally" literally means.

Personally, I think that most swearwords are pretty versatile. Especially fuck. Fuck can be serious. Fuck can be fun. Fuck can be casual or intense. Fuck isn't a monolith, it's all in the context, tone, and delivery.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 0 points 10 months ago

Absolutely, keep your powder dry until you need it. Swears are sentence enhancers, they carry weight, but if you throw them around in every sentence then they lose that weight and have no real meaning anymore. But if you hold off so people aren't expecting it and then throw in a choice word then it carries a lot more weight. That's the fucking point!