These days swearing is not that big of a deal. It’s rare that you can walk down the street without hearing someone going off on a tourettes-like rant about something as inoffensive as Lorraine Kelly.
So I’m pretty sure most of you, like me don’t mind unleashing the odd profanity here and there. But is it ok for kids to swear? I personally avoid swearing in front of young kids and grandparents… I can’t imagine the guilt I would feel if a friend’s child started saying “shit face” as a direct result of me calling said child a “shit face”, so I avoid it.
When I was a young child I don’t know how strict my parents were if I swore, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have been that bothered. My girlfriends mum let her swear whenever she wanted “as long as she did it creatively and not for the sake of swearing”.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Not “whenever she wanted.” I wasn’t allowed to use swear words to be offensive to people like teachers and dinner ladies. You know my view but I’ll post it later when my mind’s working. I’ve just got up.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
My mum used to threaten to wash our mouths out with soap if we swore and one day she actually did, lets just say I learnt my lesson that day!
Where I live has a high chav population so you see quite a few young kids wondering round swearing and it always seems so wrong to me now. I do think though that strictly enforcing the no swearing rules can backfire badly in some cases.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I don’t like seeing kids swear. It’s terrible though, as I have a horrible mouth on me!
April 17th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I walked past a kid who must’ve been 7 or 8 hitting his friend who was giving him a hard time screaming ‘fuck off’!
My Dad still ain’t a fan of me saying ‘fuck’.. I get the stern, ‘Now I didn’t raise you that way’ look. Meanwhile my mum will be screaming to ‘get in the fucking kitchen and help serve dinner’. Put me in a right kafuffle when I was in primary school.
I don’t see a problem with it as long as it’s not directed AT someone. They’re highly descriptive words and I only think they’re bad when used like “you’re a fucking gimp now fuck off before I bash the living shit out of your mum’s c…” - but good when used like “that was a fuckin’ good steak”.
I always seem to ramble when I come here. I don’t know what it is. I think it’s those evil questions in pink. They really get me going.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
hmm… swearing can be quite vulgar if said unnecessarily by anyone - not just kids. A girl can sound very bogan if she drops ‘fucks’ and ‘fuckin’ every two seconds. if you have reason i think it’s alright. really it doesn’t bother me too much…but i may have issues with a six year old telling me to fuck off.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Well I swear from time to time but I dont like my children or hear any child swear especially for unknown reasons.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I have a similar view to Paddy here. I see swear words as being as descriptive, as another way of expressing yourself.
There are certain situations where I think swearing can be useful, for example If I hit my leg on a the corner of a table (as I did yesterday), if I say “fucking bollocks bastard shitting table” it makes me feel a bit better.
I think I would allow my children to swear, but, like I did, there would be boundaries.I would certainly not encourage my child to swear AT people, unless of course they really deserved it.
I think it’s a bit hypocritical otherwise-to say, “I can do this but you can’t because I’m an adult and you’re not” when there’s no real reason for it, other than that it looks bad.
End of rant.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
I don’t like to swear in front of little kids or old people.. but sometimes I forget and it just.. comes out x)
I was never allowed to swear when I was younger and to this day if my parents hear me swear.. all hell cuts loose haha. So I usually only swear when I need to get some anger or.. if I hurt myself.