My dad swears like a sailor. Despite being highly respected by just about every one he meets, no one knows this side of him save for my mom, my sister, and I. And his parents and brother.
He doesn't swear all the time, but when he does, it's still rather casual. He could be describing a doctor he works with in the hospital that he doesn't like or talking about anything, in general, that he doesn't like. He'll let em fly. I learned all the Hindi/Punjabi swears by the age of four. I was reciting them to his friends by 6. And, amazingly, he would show me off when I did this and they'd all have a good laugh.
Which brings me to today, where I too have a sailor's mouth and I do swear uncontrollably. If anyone has seen the Spongebob episode regarding swearing, I (subconsciously) treat swears as "sentence enhancers." This began in college with my drunken rants that, again, had people gathering around for a listen, like I was reciting some epic tale.
It never really got me in trouble until college, where Facebook became more prominent. Posts on friends' walls with either M-rated pictures or posts in general had all my friends on edge. A new post on their wall by me, they told, had them in a frenzy to read it to make sure it wasn't ridiculous. Some even told me to calm down as their parents ended up seeing some of them. And my reaction, back then, was definitely denial/anger/backlash. I would stop posting on their walls completely. Feeling I was right.
In person, my friends did not mind. They assumed that was part of my nature and who I was. Their girlfriends also didn't make a big deal out it, although I'm sure they didn't like it. And it always seemed that when I first talked to a girl, I was shy and didn't let that side out until later. Then it scared them off when I did.
Some girls in school now took offense to my casual use of "bitch" and "cunt." They thought I was swearing directly at them when I'd say "bitch, don't make a big deal out of my swearing" or something like that. I had a smile on my face when I'd say it and I used to assume they knew I was joking. They didn't. They took it personally, and in hindsight, it makes sense. I would, ironically, say mean things with a straight face with the intention that they knew what I was saying wasn't true and I didn't mean it. Turns out I suck at reading human emotions.
So there was a fallout, but that's ok, they weren't great people to hang out with to begin with. I apologized to them, and it seemed to be ok for a week, until something else, I have yet to figure out, has them pissed off again. So I've left them completely.
So in conclusion, the Facebook situation and the real-life situation regarding swearing has progressively gotten better. I agree with whoever said swearing is the language of the peons. There is no need to use those words. Not to get all Freud on your asses, but a lot of the time it's anger that gets released through these words. Guess I was kinda angry the past few years. And it's such an ugly emotion that leads to the use of such ugly words. So in an attempt to not contradict my dashing good looks, I try to avoid using the vulgarities. Which, in turn, leads to less and less anger. I let things slide now, although it seems you end up alienating a lot of people along the way because they think something is wrong with you when you don't swear anymore and therefore talk less. But, that's a story for another day.
