What constitutes a "swear word"?

[Dreamstalker]

My grandmother used to think that "damn" was a swear.

Everyplace I've ever worked had the policy "no swear words or unprofessional language in front/within earshot of customers". Game Store was slightly more lax about it in the basement gaming area during weeknights (when the only gamers present were likely to be adults); I'd hear the occasional "all-purpose" swear word but they were pretty good about self-policing things. The one c-bomb that did cross my ears, the guy was on a final warning from his group for similar assholish behavior and got bounced.

[Green_Fairy]

i've kinda gotten to the point where i don't use any "swears" at all, at least in front of customers. i'll usually go "oh beans" or "son of a monkey!" i got in a discussion with a customer one slow day that even "beans" or "monkey" could be taken as a "swear" because of how they're used. even if i'm not saying crap...when i say "oh beans," that's what it's substituting.

Wouldn't that be considered a double standard? It's ok for customers to swear like sailors but not associates cause it may offend the public? The public doesn't hesitate to offend everyone & anyone they come into contact with.

as for this...my boss is of the opinion that if a customer swears at us...we can kick them out of the store. which she has. it's pretty awesome

[RavenStarr]

I have a coworker N who thinks butt is a swear word. I'm hoping that a boston butt pork roast won't ring up just so I can say: "Hey N I need a price check on this boston BUTT pork roast.

Also we have cheese and dip called HELLUVAGOOD. I'm hoping to have N do a price check on that too.

[Primer]

i've kinda gotten to the point where i don't use any "swears" at all, at least in front of customers. i'll usually go "oh beans" or "son of a monkey!"

As a teacher, I feel I have to be very careful with my daily vocabulary, even though I teach college. I tend to use "Fudgesicles," "Triple thick fudgesicles," "Inhales with great velocity," and the ever-popular "Bless it!"

IMHO, anything that you might blurt out in frustration (or anger!) in private, or in the company of friends, would be considered cussing, and should not be used in professional language.

I cannot control what words anybody else uses outside of my classroom, and I will let an awful lot slide in the classroom, but I have been known to call out a student and tell them to find another way to express him/herself. One semester, I had to go so far as to hand a student a dictionary and a thesaurus, and wait for him to find a more acceptable word to use. It did clean up his language in class a bit.

[Pagan]

I've gotten to the point that I won't even say "damn" in front of customers because you never know what's going to offend.

I can't even swear in Spanish, but I can, and do, swear in French.

Speaking of using other words in place of "special" words....does anyone remember Joe Piscopo's character "swearing" in "Johhny Dangerously"? Sometimes, I'll use those!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

. Now I see middle-aged women all the time with nose studs.

That's because two and three decades ago, they thought they'd be twenty forever.

[infinitemonkies]

Indeed, back in the 1990s, things like guys getting their ears (plural) pierced and nose piercings were considered pretty extreme. Now I see middle-aged women all the time with nose studs.

It was recently reported that 20% of the population of North America have one or more tattoos and/or non-ear piercings.
Could you imagine anyone believing you in 1990 if you said that in 20 years, 1 out of every 5 people will have a tattoo or body piercing?



As for the original topic, this has always been a hot issue for me. I could fratch for hours about this, but the short version is that I find it incredibly stupid that of 2 words which mean the same thing and are used the same way, one is acceptable and the other is not. It's completely arbitrary.

Lenny Bruce said it best: "There are no dirty words, only dirty minds."

[blas]

I work at a mother trucking FACTORY and our language is *in some areas* heavily monitored.

But that's what happens when you work with people who go out of their way to overhear things that they know will upset them, so they can run and tattle.

[Peppergirl]

Good timing, because I was on the phone this morning with a person who does research studies, and at the end (as she was giving me the date and time of the study) she inadvertently used the word CRAP. She caught herself too late and apologized profusely.

I felt bad for her - I told her I work in a call center, and that I can relate and not to worry about it.

I try not to use 'bad' or unprofessional words. Occasionally they've slipped out, and thank god I've never been reported. I guess I'm just lucky that the few times I've slipped and apologized, the person on the other end of the line was really cool and not easily offended and/or a tattle-tale.

On the other hand, I do have a few customers who call our call center regularly, who I can joke and relax a little bit around. They make my job fun.

[42_42_42]

Well, as per uncle George, you can't say:

Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits


So anything not on that list is okay.

[Andara Bledin]

In a professional setting, one should not resort to anything that could be considered off-color in any manner, which, of course, includes the word "crap." As a hold-over from when BBS software would auto-censor some words, I've used the word "carp" as a substitute. I've done that in conversations, too.

Otherwise, "puckernuts" is a fun word my family has used for ages, and the other one sounds like "puskahosel" but I don't know that we say it correctly, since none of us after my grandfather's parents, actually speak any Finn...

^-.-^

[Bandit]

What is a swear?


Anything that comes out of an IT person's mouth when something goes *BANG!" unexpectedly......

Doubly so when it happen at 2 am.


B

[Mr Hero]

Well, as per uncle George, you can't say:

Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits


So anything not on that list is okay.

You stole what I was going to say! RIP Uncle George. He didn't die he "passed away."

[Flying Grype]

My grandmother used to think that "damn" was a swear.

'Damn' and 'hell' were swears in my family -- probably because we had enough religious relatives who would be shocked to hear it coming from a kid, so my parents wouldn't let us say it until we were old enough to have good judgement on when to say it. Actually, I remember being really young and being scolded for saying 'oh my God'.

For what it's worth, in Canadian French all the worst swear words are religious in nature. Bodily functions and sex words are less serious.

'Crap' and 'ass' are both on prime time TV. Actually, they're before prime time, because some stations show The Simpsons in the afternoon. I still wouldn't say them in front of a customer unless the customer had said them first.

I guess I like to be better safe than sorry. I don't want to offend a customer (before they offend me) and you never know what someone's culture or region has taught them to find offensive. Is there really any reason for any of these words to be in a conversation with a customer? I might tell someone that HP computers are 'lemons' rather than 'crap'.

(Cookies to anyone who remembers the source of the seven naughty words you can say on TV: hinder, booger, nimbus, poopie, dink, ca-ca, boobie...)

[Pagan]

'Damn' and 'hell' were swears in my family -- probably because we had enough religious relatives

I have to watch because one of my favorite swears is "Jesus Christ". Yeah, doesn't go over well in a very Catholic part of the country.

I use "bugger" a lot, too. What's fun is that most people in this country don't realize what "bugger" really means. Which made it coming out of Cap'n Jack Sparrow's mouth (Disney movies, no less) doubly funny.