Hi, my name is Jessica, and I'm a potty mouth. (Page 2)

Why?  If the choice is between cuss word and not cuss word, how is the choice of the cuss word lazy? 

I think this oft-repeated expression is just a lazy way of condemning cussing.

Studies have show that swearing has an natural anelgesic effect by easing pain. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1913773,00.html

The only explanation is that God made us this way, and since he loves us and does not want us to suffer he obviously intended for us to use this natural way to ease pain (as oppoesd to your heathen Advils and Tylanols - rot in hell you analgaesic poppers!) Please do not double guess God. Swearing is God Damn Fricken awsome.

If you use cuss words all the time then it is not choosing between cuss words and not cuss words now is it?

I try not to, but it appears I have a very limited vocabulary and I lack imagination when it comes to expressing myself.

I think "The Universal Adjective" by Pinkard and Bowden sum it up nicely.

I've never understood why they are even considered cuss words. 

That guy is such an a$$.

That guy is such a butt. 

Ah see now think of how many more descriptive words you could use and string together to get a much more accurate picture of that guy, starting with slimy and going from there. 

I like the word chick.  Use it all the time to refer to myself and others meaning it to be fun and not the least bit offensive.

Because a lot of people, instead of thinking of a better choice of words to express yourself.  Like WHY they don't like a person/event.  Or WHY they are unhappy, just run off a sting of obscenities.  Yes, it's gets the point across they unhappy if they drop f-bombs all over the place instead of why they are unhappy.

Or in overuse, adds a lot of unnecessary/unneeded descriptors in some attempt at emphasis instead of picking better descriptors.  If the f-bomb is every other word in a sentence, whether they are happy or not, seems pointless.

"I went to an effing party last effing weekend.  And their was this effing chick and she was effing hot.  She said she wanted to go to someplace private.  Eff yeah!  I was like, eff this party.  I'm effing out of here."

eff you, kido.

You beat me to it lol

Oh so you have met my FIL.

My wife cusses a decent bit, mostly after hanging out with or talking to her family. I will confess I am not the biggest fan of superfluous cussing. We both remind each other to cut back, especially as she is interested in having kids in the next 5 years, don't want to be cussing in front of our offspring.  

I have no problem with cussing from any gender and I'm a word freak.  The only reason I don't like kids doing it is because it's "socially unacceptable".  Outside of that, words are words.  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

I don't buy the "laziness" argument as ANY word used repeatedly is lazy, not just cuss words.  "Blessed" is lazy when used 15 times in a conversation.

The laziness argument has always struck me as a passive aggressively cloaked moral judgement.

And yes, I'm a potty mouth.

I'm confused with your post.  You don't buy the laziness argument when people said the superfluous use of obscenities is "lazy".  But then state that any word used repeatedly is being "lazy".

So is the overuse of profanity lazy or not?  If it is, does that not confirm the claim by the other posters?  If it's not, then why is THAT not lazy when "blessed", if over used is?

As a side note.  If it strikes you that I'm being passive aggressive cloaking moral judgements when I think someone spitting out a ton of profanity just for profanity sake is lazy, I guess that's your prerogative.

I would say the same thing with other fillers like "um" or "like" or "you know" - but I guess I could be making passive aggressive moral judgements about that as well.

I'm saying that the overuse of any word is lazy and that has nothing to do with profanity.  Directing it specifically toward profanity is where I see the moral judgement.

Further, and this is why I used the words "blessed" as an example, I was thinking specifically of sports figures giving interviews.  Having one response for every question.  THAT is lingual laziness, as it were.

Words are words, that's all.  I don't view them as bad or good.  They are simply used to communicate a message.  Context and emphasis is more important to meaning than the letters used to construct the word itself in my opinion.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I only saw where you and other posters were saying the use of profanity was lazy, and I respectfully disagree.  I didn't see any reference to repeated use of the word "giant", or "petal", or "blue", etc......  It would appear from your last sentence that you agree with me on some level.

You seem to take some offense to my use of the words "passive aggressive".  I did not mean them in offense, but as a descriptor to communicate "someone who retaliates in a subtle way (calling it lazy) rather than speaking his mind (saying profanity is morally wrong)".  One is a much harder line to take than another.  And that is not directed specifically at you as the Phrase "the use of profanity is lazy" is a common expression.  I was making more of blanket statement.

I suppose I could have said "....struck me as a eff-ing cloaked moral judgement."  (and I really do mean that in jest) 

But I'm not making any moral judgement.  A properly selected explicative at the right time is appropriate, funny, attention getting, etc.

I was simply saying that throwing them in every other word (aka potty mouth) to get some kind of emphasis or "coolness" factor across doesn't take much effort and is "lazy".  Just throwing "eff" into everything to come across as tough or cool is a simple technique - and really doesn't work that well.

I'm not passive aggressively trying to hide any moral judgement.  I don't care at all if someone says a "bad" word if it has some meaning to the conversation.  To use it as simple filler?  Pointless, lazy, whatever.

Alright, let's say a person that cusses too often is lazy.  What does that make the person who doesn't?  A hard working talker?

I haven't given it a thought about what it makes them.  I wasn't discussing them and this thread wasn't about them.  Start up a "I'm NOT a potty mouth" and maybe I will think about it and contribute.

That's pretty lazy.

How is it "socially unacceptable" for kids only and not all people?

I didn't say that.  I said it's socially unacceptable and that's why I don't like kids doing it.

Once they get past the "send a note home from the teacher" stage I care more about the tone in their voice and body language than I do if it's profanity or not.

i am the worst cusser i know of.  my girlfriend comes in a close second.  i love that i found someone that speaks my language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNRM

This about covers my gender-neutral view on swearing.  But, as a children's librarian, it's the rare "oh my gosh" and that's as colorful as I get.  At work   At home and in the company of friends, I swear up a storm if the urge takes me.  You cannot fit the impact of a heartfelt "f*&^k" into even a paragraph of more polite words.

I grew up on a farm and don't swear hardly at all. So you can't use that excuse. 

I play X-Box live with my son and its really sad when you hear 7 and 8 year olds dropping F-Bombs with every breath.

Don't know why I shared this but hopefully it fits into the conversation somewhere..

I don't think swearing a lot is "lazy," but I do think it is insipid.

Ok.  It's not "lazy", if that's the word we are getting caught up on.  It doesn't take much thought do drop curse words in everything you say, and may say something about social skills...  But god forbid, not lazy.  Takes just a much work to form the word FORK as F*CK...  Same energy, so not lazy.