Social rules regarding swearing / foul language

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I was listening to a program on the radio where they were talking about swearing, and what children are taught about it. What the expert being interviewed was saying was that most parents teach their children that swearing is bad, and you should never swear. But then, they proceed to swear in front of their children.

What the expert was saying was that there is a time and a place where swearing is appropriate. If done correctly, it can add humour to a conversation, or express emphasis where it is appropriate to do so. If done incorrectly, it can result in negative tension between people.

When toilet training children, parents don't teach that pooping is bad; they teach that there is a time and a place for pooping. In the same way, parents shouldn't teach that swearing is bad, but that there is a time and a place for swearing. Generally, since parents don't teach the social etiquette for swearing, children instead learn it from their peers.

It got me thinking, though, is what about people whose brains aren't wired to intuitively learn social rules, and have to instead learn them by rote (ie. those with ASD)? I can tell you that, in my case, I simply don't swear in front of other people at all. If I do, I actually get a funny feeling from doing it.

I guess I've learned what my parents told me, and not what I would have learned intuitively from my peers. I don't think any less of people who do swear (unless they're swearing at people or they do it way way way too much), but I simply don't do it myself at all.

How about other people? Do you swear? Does swearing in front of people give you a funny feeling? Any other thoughts about this?

Do you swear? f**k yeah

Does swearing in front of people give you a funny feeling? yes , especially my mum & grandfather ( it just doesn't sound right to me so I rarely swear in front of them)

I basically just try not to swear around my parents and especially kids.

Swearing is creepy. I never swear.

Well my parents will both shame and chastise me for the use of profanity and while I never did use profanity in their presence I know they would do this due to their religious convictions on that subject.

I used to never swear. When I was in high school, I was disgusted by how much the other kids swore.

Now I do swear sometimes, though not around everyone. I think I've learned when it can be considered appropriate. And I don't mind when other people swear, except when every second word is the F word or some such thing.

I occasionally use it for emphasis but try to avoid it as much as possible. I have a number of work colleagues who cannot seem to get through a single sentence without swearing multiple times which sounds horrible.

I seem to restrict my swearing to Twitter.

Verbally, it's just not me.

Even though swearing isn't only common in a particular age group, I think it is more prevalent among younger people. I "swore like a sailor" when I was young, as did my friends when we'd communicate with each other.

I don't think "growing out of it" is the best way to put it, but the older a person gets, typically the less they swear. Certainly there are exceptions. I work with the public and with age groups ranging from young adult to the elderly in an office setting. Occasionally I'll speak with an elderly person who will swear in general conversation. They're always male, by the way. It just sounds crass and out of place.

I only swear if I get hurt.

At other times I'll say things like:

Son of a biscuit!
What the blue blazes was that?

Or ones that I've made up like:

"Holy crapenstance!"
"Rang it, son of a...!"
"What the who ha?!"

I really hate swearing.
I feel it makes people sound stupid, rude, and it seems gross somehow. I can put up with it, and have done it myself before at this point, but the rule should be to just never swear. No conditions on it.

I don't like profanity at all. There's really no need for it. I hardly ever swear.

I started swearing alot 1ce my cable company started carrying Comedy Central & I was able to watch South Park. However I knew not to really swear in some situations like at skewl unless it was just me & my friends & no adult around.

George Carlin's monologue, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words> ended up getting reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_v._Pacifica_Foundation>, which upheld the FCC action in 1978, by a vote of 5 to 4, ruling that the routine was "indecent but not obscene". So, while Carlin won a moral victory, it didn't do much to change the political climate surrounding the matter of expressed "obscenity," which is still vaguely defined in the United States.