Why do the Irish not realise swearing is offensive?

demixed · 13-02-2013 01:52PM

Yorky wrote: »

With the exception of this one. It simply displays a distinct lack of vocabulary.

Tommy Tiernan has a bit that explains we say f*ck so much, he wrote it just for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RKn0YAOlvk

BASHIR · 13-02-2013 01:53PM

Step on a plug. I bet you won't say, oh fiddlesticks.

ibarelycare · 13-02-2013 01:53PM

Yorky wrote: »

With the exception of this one. It simply displays a distinct lack of vocabulary.

No it doesn't. Swearing is a form of expression. If someone is offended by a swear word, it's their problem.

Take two people in a situation where they're suddenly surprised by something. Person A might say "Fuck". Person B might say "Golly!" Why, if these two words are expressing the same emotion, is one word deemed more offensive than the other. Both people are basically making the same sentiment, they just happen to be using different letters of the alphabet to say it.

For those saying that swearing = ignorance/lack of intelligence...Swearing has absolutely no bearing on a person's intelligence, and anyone who has the perception that it DOES is just narrow-minded.

I just don't understand people who are offended by swear words. They are just WORDS. A combination of letters. They don't hurt anyone. They only hold the "power" they have because that is the power society has given them. Cunt is a part of a woman's anatomy. Somehow it became perceived as a vulgar term. It could just as easily have been any part of a woman's body that is perceived that way. Would people be offended if you heard someone calling you a vulva or a breast?!

Some people need to seriously get a grip.

Dravokivich · 13-02-2013 01:54PM

Deleted User wrote: »

All 3?
If I could pronounce it like Frank I'd say it all the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC7hZY3sVxE

Maybe not the first'un, definately the second'un and suppose it has it's uses with the third'un. :pac:

Yorky · 13-02-2013 01:54PM

The references to Stephen Fry are a case in point. He knows precisely when to use & when he is using such terms. Could not ascribe ignorance to him.

My last reply to the omnipresent Boards pond life

looksee · 13-02-2013 01:54PM

Ok then, all the current 'swear' words are just normal language and expression. So what do you say when you really feel strongly about something - like you hammer your thumb or need to sort someone who is abusing you?

smash · 13-02-2013 01:55PM

Yorky wrote: »

My last reply to the omnipresent Boards pond life

That's offensive!

BBDBB · 13-02-2013 01:55PM

ibarelycare wrote: »

No it doesn't. Swearing is a form of expression. If someone is offended by a swear word, it's their problem.

Take two people in a situation where they're suddenly surprised by something. Person A might say "Fuck". Person B might say "Golly!" Why, if these two words are expressing the same emotion, is one word deemed more offensive than the other. Both people are basically making the same sentiment, they just happen to be using different letters of the alphabet to say it.

For those saying that swearing = ignorance/lack of intelligence...Swearing has absolutely no bearing on a person's intelligence, and anyone who has the perception that it DOES is just narrow-minded.

I just don't understand people who are offended by swear words. They are just WORDS. A combination of letters. They don't hurt anyone. They only hold the "power" they have because that is the power society has given them. Cunt is a part of a woman's anatomy. Somehow it became perceived as a vulgar term. It could just as easily have been any part of a woman's body that is perceived that way. Would people be offended if you heard someone calling you a vulva or a breast?!

Some people need to seriously get a grip.

^^ what this big toe said

BizzyC · 13-02-2013 01:56PM

Yorky wrote: »

The references to Stephen Fry are a case in point. He knows precisely when to use & when he is using such terms. Could not ascribe ignorance to him.

My last reply to the omnipresent Boards pond life

You do realise that you're part of this "omnipresent Boards pond life" right?

I haven't seen you respond to any of the comments highlighting how this happens commonly in other English speaking cultures.

Why have you decided to single out the Irish?

MurdyWurdy · 13-02-2013 01:57PM

Yorky wrote: »

The references to Stephen Fry are a case in point. He knows precisely when to use & when he is using such terms. Could not ascribe ignorance to him.

My last reply to the omnipresent Boards pond life

I see, so you start a thread, don't get the answers/responses you were looking for and therefore boards users are pond life? You are of the opinion that swearing is offensive, it's not that people don't realise it, they just don't agree with it.

I find you being so judgemental pretty offensive but as has been said in this thread, that doesn't mean anything really so I'll just get on with my day. I also find your sexism pretty offensive but again, who cares that I do?

runawaybishop · 13-02-2013 01:57PM

Yorky wrote: »

With the exception of this one. It simply displays a distinct lack of vocabulary.

Yorky wrote: »

The references to Stephen Fry are a case in point. He knows precisely when to use & when he is using such terms. Could not ascribe ignorance to him.

My last reply to the omnipresent Boards pond life

So you decide when people are clever enough to swear, otherwise its offensive? Sounds like its a long climb for you out of your own arse.

13-02-2013 01:59PM

BASHIR wrote: »

Step on a plug. I bet you won't say, oh fiddlesticks.

"Fiddle dee dee" I think Homer went with when a nail went through his foot. :pac:

looksee · 13-02-2013 01:59PM

CreepingDeath wrote: »

English offended by different culture shock !

Actually, about 20 years ago when a gang of us went for a weekend away to London, we got the ferry then train down.

Some natives got offended by the language of some of our group, called the transport police and got 2 of our friends thrown off the train.

I think some of the English are still hung up about their middle/upper class legacy... as if they still live in Downton Abbey or something !

So let me get this right, you are commenting on a (presumed) English person querying Irish culture in Ireland, but you feel free to disparage English people who defend their culture against Irish people in England?

xLexie · 13-02-2013 02:02PM

Swearing is great.
I ****ed her.
**** it.
**** you.
****!
**** off?!
I'm ****ed.

What other word can you use in every sentence and still have it make sense?

****4pope 2k13

csallmighty · 13-02-2013 02:04PM

**** me! I never noticed at all!

BBDBB · 13-02-2013 02:04PM

runawaybishop wrote: »

So you decide when people are clever enough to swear, otherwise its offensive? Sounds like its a long climb for you out of your own arse.

Dear Sir

I wish to apply for permission to swear. I have a wealth of qualifications, including a Masters degree in philosophy . My Doctorate was in Clinical Psychology and Neurosurgery. I can play 6 musical instruments, speak fourteen languages, studied quantum mechanics at Oxford University and Classical Greek at Cambridge. Last summer I split an atom using a toothpick and a device I fashioned from paperclips and the nozzle off the hoover. I recently was employed as a consultant by NASA on the Mars Rover project as their previous attempt had failed and they wanted my advice. I sincerely hope you deem me clever enough to say ****.

Yours sincerely

etc etc

HTML5! · 13-02-2013 02:06PM

runawaybishop wrote: »

So you decide when people are clever enough to swear, otherwise its offensive? Sounds like its a long climb for you out of your own arse.

He's probably offended by that you know.

You've really let yourself and your country down here by not using the biological term.

Augmerson · 13-02-2013 02:08PM

I wouldn't swear every second word, but an appropriate swear, at the right time in speech or a sentence is good. Example

"What is this?"

or

"What the **** is this?"

patrickbrophy18 · 13-02-2013 02:08PM

To the OP,

I take it you haven't heard of the following phrase:
"Stick and stones will brake my bones BUT words will never harm me".

Dj Grimreefer · 13-02-2013 02:14PM

We do but we just don't give a fück

Mark Tapley · 13-02-2013 02:15PM

patrickbrophy18 wrote: »

To the OP,

I take it you haven't heard of the following phrase:
"Stick and stones will brake my bones BUTT words will never harm me".

Or alternatively.

awec · 13-02-2013 02:17PM

Only people offended by swearing are those who want to be offended. They enjoy playing the old offended card.

aaronjumper · 13-02-2013 02:18PM

Of all the things in the world to be offended by, you picked the most harmless.

sbsquarepants · 13-02-2013 02:18PM

Yorky wrote: »

Is it simply high-level ignorance - Do they actually understand what the words mean?

If you find yourself constantly offended by everyday conversations, i would suggest it's you who doesn't know what the words mean!

B0jangles · 13-02-2013 02:19PM

You think the Irish swear a lot.

Hungarians have us beaten hollow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4QcVdtbK_w

(NWS if you have no headphones and work with Hungarians.)

(It really is very very rude)

Bassboxxx · 13-02-2013 02:26PM

This offence...like beauty...is in the eye of the beholder....yis fookin pack o *****!!!!

just joking..yis are all cool...

totsy88 · 13-02-2013 02:27PM

Yorky wrote: »

It never ceases to amaze me how much the Irish swear- just in routine conversation & the more relaxed they seem to be the more profane they get. Men & women alike - young or old - men in front of women, women to women, women to men, even adults in front of children.

It's especially cringeworthy when listening to a non-Irish national whom, after being here a while, would make a native blush. I sometimes contemplate the rude awakening they will get if they move on to another English-speaking country.

Is it simply high-level ignorance - Do they actually understand what the words mean?

Yorky have you thought why we swear so much?
Do you actually want to know or was the question your draw for a wasteful hardly thought out rant for everyone to see?

Us Irish are emotional and expressive in are own unique way I believe.
People swear a lot because it is expresive espically the louder it gets

I bet nearly everyone in here will shout out every swear word under the sun when they whack their toe off the bed or jam their finger in a door by accident before shouting out ' o sugar I broke my toe'

When I talk to someone that lets say I only met, I to would be more inclined to swear as I got more comfortable with their company.

Swearing means smoething to a lot of us because we can express our self's.

As zappa said ' they are just words'

google the soul

Duggy747 · 13-02-2013 02:27PM

Life would be a duller place if we were as serious as the OP.

hatrickpatrick · 13-02-2013 02:28PM

Irish people just aren't stupidly uptight about something utterly irrelevant and insignificant.
I love it, myself. A word is a word. Get over it.

Jester252 · 13-02-2013 02:31PM

patrickbrophy18 wrote: »

To the OP,

I take it you haven't heard of the following phrase:
"Stick and stones will brake my bones BUT words will never harm me".

But he has hear
"Stick and stones will brake my bones but words will scar me forever"
OP you should check this out
http://www.nocussing.com/
I think you might like it

Why do the Irish not realise swearing is offensive?

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