Profanity furnishes relief denied even to prayer

[HannahBanana]

So, then it is worng for me to make such absolute claims- however, yours are free from the same criteria.

Alrighty then- in anycase- you remain responsible for your decisions.

G

Did you miss the qualifier "to me" in my first sentence? If not, then how was I making an absolute claim at all?

And I know I'm responsible for my decisions. Just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean that I'm irresponsible.

 

[Gusoceros]

Did you miss the qualifier "to me" in my first sentence? If not, then how was I making an absolute claim at all?

And I know I'm responsible for my decisions. Just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean that I'm irresponsible.

Im glad you are responsible for your choices. THat has been my position here.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Profanity is disrespectful- with all the fruits of coarse culture. Sow as you wish.

This is true. Profanity detracts dignity from the person who uses it when they are seen doing it. That is why politicians don't like to get caught doing it.

 

[David Brider]

Personally, swearing is one of the few things I get really prudish about - hearing friends and family use certain of the stronger swear words still has the power to shock (and, if I'm honest, upset) me, and I seldom swear myself (although there are very odd occasions when I do so...)

David.

 

[TooCurious]

This is true. Profanity detracts dignity from the person who uses it when they are seen doing it. That is why politicians don't like to get caught doing it.

This is true in precisely the same way (and for precisely the same reason) that wearing white after Labor Day detracts from the dignity of the person wearing it. We have arbitrary social taboos surrounding these activities, and the people who support and credit these taboos judge poorly those people who break them. There is nothing inherent in the act of wearing white after Labor Day -- or in the act of using profanity -- that damages or degrades the person doing it. It is only in the eyes of those individuals who find it important to care about such things and judge people for them, that anyone's dignity suffers.

 

[Allegory]

Growing up they were known as "useful" words. I, for one, ****ing love swearing

 

[Dogbean]

I think profanity makes you sound crude and angry and less intelligent. It just adds filler to your speech. In some cases, it slips out because you're angry. But take the people who put the f-bomb as every other word in a sentence, when in a good mood. What purpose does that serve? It's not adding spice to the conversation. Yes I understand most people are not bothered by it, but I think most of us respect a person with clean, articulate speech at least slightly more than one who speaks so crudely with obscene language.

"Get that book out of my face!"
"Get that f-in book out of my face!"

Does the extra word in there really add that much impact? Does it change the meaning of the sentence? It's just filler. I submit that some people think it makes them sound cool. When I was a teen, before I was saved (and even a bit after I was saved before I matured in Christ and gave it up) I used it too...and I was able to turn it on and off....I did it around my friends and coworkers but never around my parents or church-going friends. And then I read some Scripture about it, about how obscene language shows a corrupt heart, and thought that if I'm telling people I'm a Christian and using that language I'm just wrecking my testimony. So I quit. Now it bothers me tremendously when people I love us it, and when people overuse it. You can definly identify a bad screenwriter because their films are filled with one f-bomb after another, and when there's like 5 of them in one sentence, you know this writer does not have much constructive to say.

 

[Exhausted]

This is true in precisely the same way (and for precisely the same reason) that wearing white after Labor Day detracts from the dignity of the person wearing it. We have arbitrary social taboos surrounding these activities, and the people who support and credit these taboos judge poorly those people who break them. There is nothing inherent in the act of wearing white after Labor Day -- or in the act of using profanity -- that damages or degrades the person doing it. It is only in the eyes of those individuals who find it important to care about such things and judge people for them, that anyone's dignity suffers.

Quoted for ****ing truth.

 

[stan1980]

You can definly identify a bad screenwriter because their films are filled with one f-bomb after another, and when there's like 5 of them in one sentence, you know this writer does not have much constructive to say.

I disagree completely. Pulp Fiction dropped the f-bomb 300 times or something, but I would say the dialogue and the writing in that film is probably unsurpassed by any other film in at least the last 15 years.

 

[Dogbean]

I disagree completely. Pulp Fiction dropped the f-bomb 300 times or something, but I would say the dialogue and the writing in that film is probably unsurpassed by any other film in at least the last 15 years.

Pulp Fiction is a rare gem...I like that movie too.
Let me try to reword, because what I'm trying to say is oversimplified in my broad attack on films with lots of bad language.

It is more challenging to say what you want to say with clean language, not adding f-bombs as filler. In today's vulgar and sexually-obsessed society, these types of films sell, so it makes writing such a film rather easy, and usually can take a less-skilled writer.

 

[Washington]

You can definly identify a bad screenwriter because their films are filled with one f-bomb after another, and when there's like 5 of them in one sentence, you know this writer does not have much constructive to say.

Really!?!

Here's a bit of dialog from the movie Full Metal Jacket from the book by Gustav Hasford.

The screen play was written by Stanley Kubrick (ever hear of him?), Michael Herr (also wrote the screen play for Apocalypse Now and The Rainmaker), and Gustav Hasford

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey): I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be sir. Do you maggots understand that?
Recruits: Sir, yes sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: B***s*** I can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair.
Recruits: SIR, YES SIR!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human f****** beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian s***. Because I am hard you will not like me. But the more you hate me the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on n******, k****, w***, or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?
Recruits: Sir, yes sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: B***s*** I can't hear you.
Recruits: SIR, YES SIR!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Who said that? Who the f*** said that? Who's the slimy little communist s***, twinkle-toed c***s***** down here who just signed his own death warrant? Nobody, huh? The fairy f****** godmother said it. Out-f******-standing. I will PT you all until you f****** die. I'll PT you until your a**h**** are sucking buttermilk.

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: H***, I like you. You can come over to my house and f*** my sister.

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: [after hitting Private Joker] You little scumbag. I got your name, I got your a**. You will not laugh, you will not cry, you will learn by the numbers I will teach you. Now get up, get on your feet. You had best un-f*** yourself or I will unscrew your head and s*** down your neck.

​

Think these are bad writers because they used the f-bomb? In 1987 the movie was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

​

 

[Aeris]

I think that profanity can be useful to put emphasis on something you are saying (such as the previously mentioned example, "that was an effing good movie") or a feeling you are experiencing (such as pain or anger), however I think its usefulness is lost when it is over used.

 

[cantata]

I think that profanity is absolutely necessary in films if they are to accurately depict real life. People swear.

As the inimitable critic Peter Bradshaw said in his Guardian review of The Incredible Hulk, "Basic problem ... critic not believe Hulk angry. Hulk just roar. It not look convincing. Not truly seem angry. Critic think about this. Critic decide why. It because Hulk not swear. Hulk just say: "Hulk. Smash" etc. If Hulk shout C-word ... different matter. Then Hulk look angry. Sound angry. Not here. Hulk genteel."

 

[Dogbean]

I think that profanity can be useful to put emphasis on something you are saying (such as the previously mentioned example, "that was an effing good movie") or a feeling you are experiencing (such as pain or anger), however I think its usefulness is lost when it is over used.

I disagree here. I strongly think that there is absolutly no difference between "that was a good movie" and "that was a good f-in movie." Except that the latter just makes you sound crude. Instead of thinking of cuss words to put in your speech for emphasis, why not try to speak more intelligently? Why not dig through the English language for more descriptive words that are clean to modify what you're saying?

That's just my thoughts.

 

[stan1980]

I disagree here. I strongly think that there is absolutly no difference between "that was a good movie" and "that was a good f-in movie." Except that the latter just makes you sound crude. Instead of thinking of cuss words to put in your speech for emphasis, why not try to speak more intelligently? Why not dig through the English language for more descriptive words that are clean to modify what you're saying?

That's just my thoughts.

Why are some words 'better' than others though? And, actually, I think there is a difference between "that was a good movie" and "that was an effing good movie". The former sounds like a 7/10 sorta film, and the latter sounds like a 9 or 10/10 film. I agree, you could choose other words to replace the F word in that sentence, but as along as you are not repeating the word in every sentence I don't see a problem.

If someone ends every sentence with the term "mother effer", then they can start to sound stupid, but no more stupid than when someone ends every sentence with "you get me?" or "know what what I mean?" or "init" as some do in England.

 

[TooCurious]

I disagree here. I strongly think that there is absolutly no difference between "that was a good movie" and "that was a good f-in movie." Except that the latter just makes you sound crude. Instead of thinking of cuss words to put in your speech for emphasis, why not try to speak more intelligently? Why not dig through the English language for more descriptive words that are clean to modify what you're saying?

That's just my thoughts.

Please explain why you juxtapose using swear words and "speaking intelligently," as if these were somehow mutually-exclusive, because this claim has not been substantiated.

I think one should use the words that most precisely reflect one's meaning in the minds of one's audience. Sometimes, the words that most precisely reflect one's meaning for one's listener will be swear words. There is no reason to conclude that this is a bad thing, unless one starts with the presupposition that swear words are inherently "crude" or "stupid" or "bad."

All words are completely artificial constructs, strings of phonemes to which we, collectively as a culture, have assigned semantic meaning. There is nothing inherently good or bad about any particular series of phonemes. It is only the meaning we assign to that collection of noises that has value, whether positive, negative, or neutral. I think it's far worse to call someone "stupid" (which is not a swear-word by any reasonable definition) than it is to use the f-word as an intensifier when describing how awesome you thought a movie was.

Besides which, as Stan and others have said, cusswords aren't just empty placeholders; they have semantic meaning in the minds of our listeners, and specific convey nuances that other words would not. As another simple example, the phrases, "making love," "having sex," and "f*ing" describe three entirely different acts, though those acts have some elements in common.

I guess in summary, swear words do have a practical purpose, and there's only something wrong with swear words if you presuppose something wrong with them.

 

[cantata]

I disagree here. I strongly think that there is absolutly no difference between "that was a good movie" and "that was a good f-in movie."

There's definitely a difference between an effing good movie and a good effing movie.

 

[stan1980]

There's definitely a difference between an effing good movie and a good effing movie.

Yes, the latter sounds like something a Goodfellas character would say.

 

[Dogbean]

There's definitely a difference between an effing good movie and a good effing movie.

Yes, but it could be stated in a more classy way.

 

[stan1980]

I've yet to see a classy good effing movie.