How much do you curse and why?
Anyone who’s heard me outside the classroom will know that I’m a pretty big curser. I wouldn’t say I’m ever excessive or awkwardly interjecting expletives but it’s certainly a noticeable part of my vocabulary. Then again, that’s what most people would say anyway isn't it?
Like all of y’all I was starting to get onto the internet right at the tail end of what I would call “The Wild Web-st” era. Sites like YouTube were far more lax in their regulation of what sort of content they wouldn’t allow, for most sites it was usually just no nudity, no copyright infringement, etc.. However, unlike some of you I’m what I would call a 1.5 generation immigrant, I came to this country instead of being born in it, but I was also like 18 months old so it doesn’t really count as first generation in my opinion. One problem this created was when, say, a 6 year old got onto a site like YouTube, and heard a word, then started saying it, the parent wouldn’t know that anything bad was actually being said. This made first grader me quite the swearer, until my parents finally figured out what was going on and put a stop to it, how my teachers didn’t stop it first, I guess we’ll never know. Anyway after that formative experience swearing has been something I’ve done when no adults are present mainly to represent anger.
This brings me to the main reason I curse, non-profane anger and exclamation kind of just sucks. The worst you can call someone without sounding goofy is, like, dumb, or stupid, and the worst thing you can say when you're upset or surprised is just “darn” or “oh my god”. Swearing, though, adds a whole new horizon of niceties for all of your various needs, including using them seriously for further effect.This isn’t to mention the various other niches where swearing is useful for adding a little bit of emotion to what you're saying.
Now, are there any downsides to all this cursing? Maybe. The biggest issue is if you curse with people with whom you’re not really supposed to, like teachers. Granted, the relation between how much a teacher cares about cursing and how lame they are, is basically a direct correlation. However, I do concede that there definitely are some areas of life where you would be better off just not cursing. Between friends, or even just peers though I really don’t see the problem in expressing your dissatisfaction at being unable to do a physics worksheet. Also this probably needn't be said, but, there are definitely lines in regards to what curses someone should and shouldn’t be using regardless of the situation. Other than that I really don’t see the problems with swearing beyond maybe religious or moral convictions but I don’t really care about those.
To me, swearing is just another way of adding emotion to what you are speaking whether it be positive or negative. My history with it goes back quite a ways and at this point it’d be kind of hard to fully clean my vocabulary.Regardless if I could though, I wouldn’t have it any other way as I think swearing fulfills an important niche within the English language.
Like all of y’all I was starting to get onto the internet right at the tail end of what I would call “The Wild Web-st” era. Sites like YouTube were far more lax in their regulation of what sort of content they wouldn’t allow, for most sites it was usually just no nudity, no copyright infringement, etc.. However, unlike some of you I’m what I would call a 1.5 generation immigrant, I came to this country instead of being born in it, but I was also like 18 months old so it doesn’t really count as first generation in my opinion. One problem this created was when, say, a 6 year old got onto a site like YouTube, and heard a word, then started saying it, the parent wouldn’t know that anything bad was actually being said. This made first grader me quite the swearer, until my parents finally figured out what was going on and put a stop to it, how my teachers didn’t stop it first, I guess we’ll never know. Anyway after that formative experience swearing has been something I’ve done when no adults are present mainly to represent anger.
This brings me to the main reason I curse, non-profane anger and exclamation kind of just sucks. The worst you can call someone without sounding goofy is, like, dumb, or stupid, and the worst thing you can say when you're upset or surprised is just “darn” or “oh my god”. Swearing, though, adds a whole new horizon of niceties for all of your various needs, including using them seriously for further effect.This isn’t to mention the various other niches where swearing is useful for adding a little bit of emotion to what you're saying.
Now, are there any downsides to all this cursing? Maybe. The biggest issue is if you curse with people with whom you’re not really supposed to, like teachers. Granted, the relation between how much a teacher cares about cursing and how lame they are, is basically a direct correlation. However, I do concede that there definitely are some areas of life where you would be better off just not cursing. Between friends, or even just peers though I really don’t see the problem in expressing your dissatisfaction at being unable to do a physics worksheet. Also this probably needn't be said, but, there are definitely lines in regards to what curses someone should and shouldn’t be using regardless of the situation. Other than that I really don’t see the problems with swearing beyond maybe religious or moral convictions but I don’t really care about those.
To me, swearing is just another way of adding emotion to what you are speaking whether it be positive or negative. My history with it goes back quite a ways and at this point it’d be kind of hard to fully clean my vocabulary.Regardless if I could though, I wouldn’t have it any other way as I think swearing fulfills an important niche within the English language.
Great essay Dima! First, I would just like to mention that you might wanna fix the format of this essay lol, I had to copy and paste it on to a google doc to read it. However, the essay itself was very entertaining. I loved the jokes on the lame-ness of the teachers correlating to how they feel about profanities and the term 1.5 generation immigrant. I do feel like you could add a specific personal story in here, maybe the first time you got in trouble for cursing.
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