Swearing?

[CJF]

LOL
last time I nearly got in a fight was with an old man at Fed-Ex around Christmastime
There was no swearing though.

I didn't know you could drop of Fed-Ex packages at Home Depot. Cool.

[SoCalCoug]

If you got your butt kicked, it was me. If you didn't, it wasn't.

But if he farted in the elevator with you, it was him.

[FN Phat]

In my line of work, people communicate through swearing. If you do not swear people will not take you serious.

[FN Phat]

When me and FN Phat worked together building homes there was another LDS superintendent who was a good friend of ours that could paint the sky blue with his language and often did. A few of our subs approached us when they found out that he was LDS and asked us why he talked the way he did. That was kind of embarrassing.

He can hang with the best of 'em. You have been known to drop a few choice words* to get your point across in the field.



*Swearing is still swearing even if it is in a foreign language.

[BoylenOver]

As a rule of thumb, I don't support swearing in the workplace. I'm not sure I would want it banned, but even outside the "Utah context" (where swearing in the workplace is mostly a non-issue) I don't find it to be professional.

That said, the woman I've worked with over the last year swears, and it fits her personality perfectly.

[Surfah]

He can hang with the best of 'em. You have been known to drop a few choice words* to get your point across in the field.



*Swearing is still swearing even if it is in a foreign language.

I dropped the mother of them all when our sales lady pissed me off that one day.

I hardly swear in Spanish. If I am going to be profane, I want people to understand it.

[Pheidippides]

As a rule, I do not swear at work. Houston is much different than NYC in that the level of profanity is much less (FN, I'll match a partner I used to work with up against your best, and we'll see who wins).

In casual speech with close friends or family (not kids - wife or brothers) I'm mildly profane. Only mildly, though. I usually don't drop the F bomb but the rest are useful.

[happyone]

I personally think it is unprofessional. I rarely hear the f-bomb here at work. Also if it used in regular conversation it loses its effect. An example from my Army days. My driver and I got back from down range and I told him after he had put the F***ing jeep away to come and see me. When he came to my office I mentioned that I really need to stop swearing. He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face and said "Sir, you don't swear". That is when I knew that I really had to stop swearing. I'm still working on it
When I swear now, it normally to make a point or to release tension.

[Indy Coug]

Swearing really doesn't have a place at work, IMO -- at least in meetings and interfacing with clients. Using milder expletives while venting with co-workers may be OK, depending on your audience.

[Surfah]

On this topic of swearing I work in a secured facility and my office is right next to an entry door and I usually keep my door open. Anyway, to get out there is a motion sensor that trips that allows the magnetic catch to release to get out. But this motion sensor isn't very sensitive and I watch people walk right into this glass door all day. Or people will sit there and wave or move about to trip the sensor. Visitors are the best because they don't know about the sensor and sit there and push and push. Then they'll stand there, look around and push again. It's pretty amusing. One of the guys here on my floor cusses that door out every single time he approaches it. It cracks me up.

[beefytee]

English swears aren't really very "colorful". The are all one syllable. I'm not a big fan.

[RobinFinderson]

For the other end of the spectrum, I work with a guy whose every other word is the F word. I dont think he's expressing himself very well, though. He's a real sweet guy and I dont think he realizes he uses it so much. Every time I talk to him I feel like I'm in Dublin.

Dubliners' use of the word 'focking' cracks me up. It gets to the point where there is no sting left in the word.

[Indy Coug]

English swears aren't really very "colorful". The are all one syllable. I'm not a big fan.

Hyphenate 'em

[Jacob]

On Facebook tonight, my aunt (who is about seven years older than me) posted:



The response I want to post but have not and likely will not:


What do you think? Should we ban swearing in the work place? Does it make you a less intelligent person to swear? Some of the most intelligent people I know swear a lot. Swearing has a certain oomph, a ringing exclamation point that mere ordinary language does not. Gratuitous swearing in comedy usually doesn't bother me (see e.g. Mitch Hedberg, Louis C.K., and Eddie Izzard).

Eh?

First, I agree with your aunt that swearing is offensive and should not be used in good company. It's bad manners.

Second, her quote about lowering her opinion of cussers is not an original thought. I have heard it many many times and attributed to various sources. No reason to get upset about her having used that little thought.

Third, I find your proposed response more offensive than her saying and mostly irrelevant to what she said. She said nothing of the first amendment or the right to swear. She just finds it rude. So do I. So do several of the justices who wrote the opinion to which you refer, I'd guess. Why would that be a good response unless you were trying to simply be rude and argumentative with a friend/relative?

[marsupial]

Sometimes, a swear word says more than 100 regular words.

I agree with this. I occasionally drop a swear word for emotional or comic impact but otherwise, I am pretty clean in my language. I agree with Jacob though. I see no point in arguing with your aunt.