No More Cursing!

posted by mihow on April 24th, 2006

I am trying to give up swearing. I have decided that it sounds awful. (No offense to anyone who swears, I do too.) It really sounds awful especially to those who overhear it. This morning there was a teenage boy on the L Train letting them rip like audible face farts. It was early. He was trying to impress a lady friend. He sounded like a moron. All I wanted to do was grab his fat lips and ring them out.

It’s really hard to stop swearing. I’m hopeful, however. The question is, if I can finally stop swearing out loud, will the words eventually appearing in my head as well. Does anyone know if that’s possible?

25 Responses to “No More Cursing!”

  1. Amanda B. Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:10 AM

    That’s fucking whack man. I hate it when assholes like that don’t have a fucking internal filter. What a twat.

    Good luck with the stopping the cursing. Seriously though.

  2. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:16 AM

    Ok, then.

  3. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:20 AM

    If I don’t start now, any child of mine will sound like this teenage kid. We throw them out without even thinking. :/

  4. Sarahlicious Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:20 AM

    LOL at Amanda!

    I hear you, Michele…I’ve had the same thoughts, but I love cursing so much, I really do. I just can’t bring myself to stop. I do try not to let it rip in front of strangers or children, though my daughter of course has heard them all at some point. Eeep.

  5. sian Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:23 AM

    There are so few simple pleasures in life. I won’t be giving up my fucks anytime soon. Though, it is something to be conscious of. I have let a stream of profanity rip and then realized I was talking to someone I didn’t know very well. However, I am perfectly capable of saying ridiculous things to almost strangers without a single curse word so…...

  6. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:24 AM

    I had a feeling that this post wouldn’t make me very popular. :]

  7. sian Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:25 AM

    I think you should give it your best. I just know that in terms of sounding like an idiot/freak, cursing is the least of my worries.

  8. Charlie Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:33 AM

    For the most part, I agree with you about cursing. Too often we resort to coarse and foul language to communicate frustration, contempt, anger, or extremity/exclamation. Its use betrays a loss of composure, refinement or sophistication.

    However, I believe that cursing could be undertaken with flair and creativity at rhetorically appropriate and meaningful times. Like during sex or any George W. Bush speech. Something like “Sweet, sweating mother of humping Jesus, that feels fucking great!” or “Holy motherfucking Christ, are we or are we not a nation of inbred hillbillies?”

  9. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 09:58 AM

    I don’t use them while writing generally. But I think and speak them without a second thought. I barely even think about using them anymore. Is that bad? I don’t know. But it’s very odd when I hear others use them, people I don’t know, complete strangers, it seems very odd and thoughtless. Yet, I am that person a lot of the time, you know?

    Here in the city, you will find that you’re near children nearly every time you commute. I guess that’s why I’m thinking about it so much lately.

  10. Jonathan Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 10:00 AM

    Sure you can give up the currently foul word’ , but then you’ll just create new foul words to express yourself and herald in a new era of cursing (remember, a lot of curses today weren’t curses yesterday, and a lot of ok words yesterday are curses today)

    I think you’d be better off with a focus on moderation and striving to use them less in general. Completely abstaining from them will just make you a christian fundamentalist.

  11. Charlie Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 10:30 AM

    If I don’t curse, how the hell are my kids going to learn how to do it properly?

  12. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 10:31 AM

    I guess if everyone does it, it’s not bad, right?

  13. jonathan Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 12:19 PM

    Its only bad if you want it to be. Good/Bad is entirely relative, and subject to whatever norms you want to judge something by.

  14. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 12:26 PM

    And here I thought whatever I thought was good for everyone in the world was good and whatever I thought was bad for everyone in the entire world was bad. I am God, after all.

  15. athena Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 01:00 PM

    you could always learn it in another language and say it to your heart’s delight and no-one will ever know that you’re cursing. haha.

  16. mihow Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 01:06 PM

    I like the way you think! I know really bad words in ASL.

  17. Missy Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 01:47 PM

    Either I am completely immune to hearing swear words (except in extreme examples), or I really think that you are not a heavy cusser, Michele.

  18. jenny Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 04:35 PM

    I think it’s admirable – I’ve made a few concerted efforts to swear less, particularly when I start to hear myself dropping the F bomb like a sailor. It’s especially bad when I’m around my nephews because they try to trick me into swearing: “You can say shoot, but you can’t say that other word, right Aunt Jenny? What is that other word? Is it shiii-?” ANDREW!!

  19. closet metro Says:
    April 24th, 2006 at 06:52 PM

    Amanda took the (dirty) words right out of my mouth.

    Fucker.

  20. Jonathan Says:
    April 25th, 2006 at 07:58 AM

    without curse words, the funniest line in my friend’s senior film would never exist:

    bitch, cunt , whore . fuckity fuck fuck. fart fag, dick smacklepuss.

  21. mihow Says:
    April 25th, 2006 at 07:59 AM

    See, that just sounds really, really stupid to me—not funny at all.

    But maybe it’s a contextual thing. I have no idea.

  22. Jonathan Says:
    April 25th, 2006 at 11:14 AM

    its mindlessly stupid , thats what makes it funny.

    but there was a whole bunch of context.

    have you ever seen bad santa? imagine a world without that movie??

  23. mihow Says:
    April 25th, 2006 at 11:15 AM

    That movie was very, very funny. You are very right about that, my friend.

  24. Annejelynn Says:
    April 28th, 2006 at 11:36 PM

    the primary problem with constant and/or daily swearing is that the words lose their affect… and your words become meaningless… I agree. Whenever I’m getting strung out via stress, the swearing (inability to communicate) rises in frequency… and then I too overhear someone cussin’ up a storm and I can only think “idiot, where are your REAL words?” and I tame it down. When I was in H.S. and an undergrad, my friends always told my any effort on my part to swear couldn’t be taken seriously – that it was ridiculous, hysterical, pointless, silly = couldn’t be taken seriously, even if I was “fucking furious” – - I try to use real words as often as I can.

  25. Annejelynn Says:
    April 28th, 2006 at 11:39 PM

    and yes, being within earshot of children makes (or should) a difference – - of course they’ll swear someday, but I’d like them to learn to express themselves with real words – it’s difficult enough to feel and communicate; why set them up? swearing isn’t the only resort, to vent anger and frustration or disappointment. Real words are often more effective anyhow – to say what we REALLLLLLY mean, ya know?

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