My mother doesn't swear. She'll tell you that if you ask her. Ask my nephew and he'll give you a different answer. When he was 6 years old he declared that "My gramma, smokes, drinks and swears a lot" to his Kindergarten teacher.
In his defence, the teacher did ask what his grandmother was like. The photo above is my mother's "I'm in public so I can't swear face." Notice the pinched smile and hands gripping her knees.
Of course my mother was mortified when she heard about what my nephew said to his teacher. He hadn't even mentioned her sassy fashion sense.
So I get my love of clothing, my migraines and my colourful language from my mother.
Unless you ask her. In which case she'll say she doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about.
Of my two sisters, one swears and one does not. As in, I have never heard her swear a word in my entire life. Ever. Not once. Not even in secret I bet. She also doesn't drink, smoke or lie and has natural blindingly blonde hair. She's no fun at all.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
My OTHER sister? She's lots of fun.
I first published this post asking if you swear, TEN years ago and haven't looked at it since. I cannot wait to start scrolling through the comments. I have noticed in that time I've adopted a very weird habit.
Instead of swearing, sometimes out of the blue I say "Darn it all to heck". Mainly in place of one of the lower grade swear words like shit. For instance if my toast burns it might get a Darn it all to heck, whereas a few years ago it definitely would have elicited a SHIT.
I maybe just don't care as much about toast as I used to.
So tell me my little assheads. Do you swear? And before you answer no, think of the second thing that would pop out of your mouth if you were to smash your shin on a glass table. (I'm assuming the first thing would some sort of grunt or cry)
I'll go first. Yes. I swear. And it isn't because I have a poverty of vocabulary. I'm simply a fan.
Betsy
Mark Twain said “Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." I agree, though I am not sure that it doesn't just increase the rage sometimes.
I have cussed since junior high school, where I discovered it made me feel much stronger and braver (Junior high school is a very stressful time and I was not much good at it). Oddly enough, my 1st child does not usually cuss, and my 2nd child really doesn't cuss much either (both adults now).
I grew up in Kentucky, just for the geography survey. After a 10 year stint in St. Louis, I now live in Massachusetts outside Boston. I taught in a law school here for a while, and I cussed in my lectures. Kept the students alert.
Karen R
Yep I swear, but my 3-yo has only repeated, “damnit!” So far.
I’ve started using ‘heck’ as a euphemism for the f-word.
‘Heck my life.’
‘oh heck it’
‘heck that. not happening.’
I miss the satisfaction of the fricative, combined with the from-your-gut exhalation you get to build up behind that fricative and let rip with the f-word. The physical process of saying “f*ck!” is as satisfying as hitting a softball or firing a gun - it’s a transfer of energy. It’s basically exercise, a sport, and sometimes, a declaration of war.
Karen
Heck ya! ~ karen
dave
**** Yeah
Kootenay Kat
well....sonofabiscuitmaker!
all the time!
too much!
but I'm over 65 now... so I can do whatever the %^#$@% I want!
Carolyn
My vocabulary has changed over the years.... many moons ago when I was about 20 I was listening to my darling little 18 month old daughter saying "sit" "sit" vehemently as she toddled around the house. I realized at that moment that every time something went wrong, my go to expletive was SHIT! I modified it to S O A B! which she never picked up on thankfully. I've been a grandma for almost 17 years now... SHIT! is back in my vocabulary... as are a few others.
DONELLA JENKINS
I'm really not interested in people who don't swear. They are boring and prudish!
Judith
Yep, swearing is life saving!
I swear at things that refuse to cooperate or when I smack my toes, etc. Very rarely do I swear at a person who behaved menacing.
And even though I live in Saskatchew for 18 years, I always swear in German. Germans have a preference for poop or pee swear words.
A passionately yelled “SCHEISSE” is so much more satisfying than the somewhat restrained “shit” or “fuck”. Put SCHEISSE into Google translate and listen and then yell it !D
Leslie
I've had a "potty mouth" since 3rd grade. I swear when I'm alone and around my friends. Motherfucker is a personal favorite.
Terie
Oh HEYLL yes! I was born and raised in New Jersey...need I say more?!?!? But now that I live in North Carolina, I have tried to tone it down some; however, sometimes there's no better way to describe a situation than with a fully emphasized F-BOMB!
Karen
Poeple in North Carolina swear too. They just don't want you to think they do, lol. ~ karen!
Pat
Yes, I swear, but not as much as I used to. I also blame my mother whose favourite word was 'shit'. Now, it is mine! It just doesn't do it for me to say 'darn' or 'shoot'. I need to have that feeling of getting it all out. It's healthy!!
Lonelle
No, not a big curser at all. Maybe an occasional small one but I really dislike the "F" bomb. However, I married a sailor assigned to the Marine Corps, so there was a lot of it going around when my kids were growing up lol Now my kids are adults, and they call curse, except for the F word in front of me hahahaha
Annie
After getting into some poison ivy in June of 2020, my doc put me on a mild steroid. But the poison ivy wouldn't go away, so the steroids didn't either. This unleased a raging, foul mouth that never went away to this day. I teach little kids, and therefore tried to almost never swear so that I wouldn't accidentally let it slip in class. But since the 'roids, there is no stopping me. I am awful!
Kasia
Yep, I swear. A lot. Maybe too much. Sometimes at work…but I’ve been told more than once that it makes me “refreshing”, ha! I too have a decent vocabulary, but sometimes (ok, often) it’s just so much more satisfying and gets the emotion out.
Chris Contri
I am foul-mouthed and proud of it! One of my proudest moments was my 18-month old proclaiming "F*ck it" as she chucked 2 Duplos across the room that she couldn't separate. Proper usage is everything!! And one of my favorite things to do is sprinkle F-bombs liberally around my father-in-law, who finds it unladylike behavior.
Buddy Love
Yep. My husband asked me to tone the cussin’ down. So I am actively cultivating the “Johnny Dangerously”
style. “fargin stinky bastages.” He still gets my meaning.
Jeanie
I instruct sailors in things they've never heard. It began at the age of six, when my pony stomped on my right instep and refused to budge. That fucking pony is DEAD now. HA!
Denise
Oh, I swear. I lot. Mostly when I'm driving. My 12 year old says that I swear more than his dad (my husband) however, my husband's first choice of swear works starts with F and ends with K and he's pretty good at keeping that from our son's ears. My swear words are a little more benign and plus I'm in the car with my son more than my husband. I've also noticed while living in NYC for 10 years that most people there swear pretty freely. But after living in Asheville, NC for 10 years, I've noticed that most people here don't swear much...maybe they are nice southerners. I'm usually the potty-mouth in the group.
Michele
Guck yeah Karen!!!!!
Barb
My friends and I had to clean things up when their kids increasingly became little pitchers with big ears ( the daughter of a friend who was very vocal when driving home one day turned off the car in the driveway only to hear her happily singing "shit, shit, shit, you're just an effing shit" and wondering how to explain THAT one to her mother!) so we starting using "poop happens", 'making puppies' and such.