I found it quite quaint that on a thread about swearing my post got removed- presumably for swearing.
CT - I deleted your post because it called JWM that horrible attribute - Thatcherite! I know it was posted in jest and received in similar fashion by JWM! If, however, I had left it, Guru and Hampy would have accused me of double standards, so blame them!
Quite Thai. Why do humans grunt, moan, cry and laugh? It's partly language of course but more than words. It is expressive. I sometimes type 'argh!' or or in a text message so I don't think just because it's written and not verbal you can't use words to express yourself on paper or on screen.
If it is a sign of a persons humanity, why do lots of people not feel the need to do it? I can promise you that in Asia, the vast, vast majority of people have no need to, what makes them so different? I am not sure you can answer that, and neither can I with any authority. I suspect though that family values in Asia are far different to that of much of the rest of the world where there is a far higher degree of respect not only to their families but everyone else around them. Respect is a seriously big word out here. Where I may differ quite radically from you is that I had a very old fashioned up-bringing and those values taught by my parents (who do not swear - ever) have been upheld by me, although I will not deny that I do occasionally "let one out" so to speak and that is perhaps why I find living here so agreeable.
What is swearing? There is nothing in the Bible that says you must not say f*** or c*** - all the Bible says is that you should not take the Lords name in vain(Blasphemy). Everything else is a man made word. My eldest Daughter is very religious and has had sufficient training to be a Vicar if she wanted to. She would never say ' oh God ' as that is blasphemy but uses the F word all the time as it is a man made word. Somebody a long time ago came up with the words intercourse and vagina. Sometime later other people, presumably for abbreviation or slang, came up with f*** and c***. Which self appointed turd decided which words were acceptable and which weren't? After all they are just different words for the same thing. Is ferk or feck swearing? If a Geordie says ' Far Canal ' the outcome in sound is the same as me saying ' f****** Hell ' - why does one offend and the other doesn't? None of it makes sense to me.
When I was an angelic ickle boy I do not recall anyone at Sunday school telling me about God made words? I was always under the impression that all words were man made, hence the cavemen grunted as they had no vocabulary, which kind of diminishes that argument as far as I can make out but I don't want an argument on religious beliefs thrown in to the mix.
I think the whole thing is linked to social conformity. When I was a youth, swearing in front of adults was very much frowned upon( My Mum absolutly hates it). Consequently if you swore there was the touch of rebelion in the air and it gave you play ground kudos. (I remember on a field trip hearing a joke with the punchline of " A duck for a ****, a **** for a duck and 2 pounds for a ****ed up duck " Well at the time it was a revalation of extreme naughtiness and everyone laughed, but was some out of nervousness to conform? Throughout highschool as we all grew older we swore more. I was not a potty mouth in chief but I took part. Did I wish to be tarred as one of the sit at front geeks who seemed to have a lot less fun and took a good deal of flack?(bare in mind here I have a chemistry degree and so could easily have fallen into either camp) Did I want to conform with the cooler kids (by the way I'm not saying its cool to swear), team mates in the football team those who had girlfriends and the odd drink (i'm a niave country boy, so nothing harder than weed was ever offered [and declined] before my final year) Thats the thing with school you can tend to be the abused or the abuser, I have been in both camps and would wish neither were so prevalent. Anyway the abusers, the cooler kids, the rebels tended to use what ever was to hand and the conformists would follow. Some to seem cooler, some just not to be abused. And once a taboo is outed it very rarely becomes so again. So it is in our youth once again that things slide and it is no coincidence that with less hands on parenting with duel income families that supervision is less rebelion is harder and more extreme to achieve and you have trouser round bottom miscrients running amok! It used to be that the joke above was told about an 18 year old virgin being sent on his 18th birthday to trade a duck for his cherry, well these days that should probably read 14 yr old such has been the slide in modern society. I will continue to swear as is my want, free speech and all, it is a useful tool even when written to emphasis a point, is it a good reflection on me, you, british society in general? Sadly ****ing not! Bah!
Thai - I value hard work, invention, equality, creativity and passion far more than pre-60s subservient English values but then again my forefathers were aristocrats so I doubt they played by the rules that you were taught constituted dignity.
It won't show until he has made 50 posts, but all received during that time are stored ready to add when he comes of age! Nearly there!
dave can you give me a quick run-down of rep, how to give/receive it, and where you see it? Is it the little green bars or what is it? Sorry I'm still a noob at heart
If you want to rep someone, click on the black asterisk at the bottom of the post and a pop up box appears you can approve or disapprove the post. If you approve, 10% of your rep power will be added to their reputation, if you disapprove, 5% of your rep power will be deducted from theirs! To see who has repped you, click on control panel, top right and the last 5 people to have repped you will be listed!
I didn't realise you could give negative rep... Thai, Dave, Beef, KIO, treacle and JWM I'm coming for you That reminds me, how is Carra these days? He has long been absent from our board.
Good question BHW I had wondered about the reps and the bars when I first joined up and just assumed they would accumulate as I became more active on here.
I believe when I last spoke to Carra he was pretty fed up of this board (much as many of us are or have been). Good lad though and always up for a chat on twitter.
