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01 December, 2011

Why is it wrong to swear ?

The English language consists of more than 200,000 words  and for some reason some of these have been declared vulgar or obscene.
The use of swear words is part of life and some people use them more than others. Some people will say oh darn or blast when they swear when the rest will be happy to use F***

I have always sworn and frequently use the 'F' word when I am seriously annoyed but usually have tried to keep its use to appropriate company.

When someone complained to me about my swearing I got to thinking why are people offended with me saying one word when it is simply a word. Why should F*** be seen as more offensive than for example shouting oh "CRUNCH" . No matter what I shout no word will actually hurt anyone or damage anything.

I went to see a well known comedian and throughout his performance he used a variety of swear words and everyone was killing themselves with laughter, yet if he had walked into a church and told the same dialogue people would have been upset. It makes not sense why the use of words in different locations should provoke different reactions.

My mother is forever quoting some unknown teacher I am supposed to have had when I swear, "Swearing shows a poor command of the English Language" , what twaddle. It does no such thing and I am thankful to Stephen Fry who corroborates that people with the greatest vocabulary often swear the most.

So what is it about swearing that is supposed to be so wrong, why has it been accepted that saying certain words is wrong.
If a loved one was in a coma and after months of no movement suddenly sat up and shouted F*** would you still be offended and tell them its not nice to swear?

My mother's other stock phrase is "it's not necessary to swear",  again Mr Fry points out that many millions of things in life aren't necessary but we still have them. How very true, the internet isn't necessary for a start.

So if swearing is not a poor command of language and it doesn't matter if its necessary or not why do some people get so upset with it and others are quite happy to get on with life worrying about more important matters.     I'm F***** if I know.

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