How sad life would be without swearing by Seumas Miller & Rebecca Roache

 

The problem, though, is that not all swears are the same.      

In the 1960s, the philosopher J.L. Austin gave us the concept of “speech acts.” A word or sentence doesn’t only describe the world; they are jammed with nuance. When we speak, we not only have the content of the word but also the various, complicated, and often opaque background hues to try and understand. Swear words, for instance, are hardly ever about what the word represents: Telling someone to “fuck off,” for example, is literally hard to do (even though calling someone a “wanker” is likely accurate). …Swear words represent feelings.   

Sometimes, a swear word might express anger. In those cases, we might object to swearing around kids in the same way as we would having kids watch violent movies. It can be traumatic for a young child to witness anger, vitriol, and aggression. But not all swear words express anger. Sometimes, they might be for emphasis (“I’m so fucking tired”), sympathy (“That’s so shit”), disapprobation (“What a dickhead!”), or even affection. I’m British, and even the “worst” swear word, the C-word, can get repurposed as an endearment…

Swearing is permissible only in certain contexts. It might even be permissible around children. We can still agree with the “convention” argument and want society to be polite and respectful, but we can also accept that not all swearing is rude or disrespectful. Bad swearing is bad. Other swearing is okay.

Don’t be a dick!

…And yet, I find that difficult. I, personally, don’t swear in any way around kids, and that’s because there is another dimension at play here. That’s the fact that most modern societies give parents generous leeway in how they raise their own children. Bottle or breast milk? Sugar or limited sugar? TV or no TV? And swearing or not swearing? These are all acceptable, if hotly debated, ways to raise children. When we swear around children, we are essentially taking away a parent’s choice. We’re forcing them to be “pro-swear” people…

-bigthink.com