

All The Fucks I Give - dewey
https://medium.com/editors-picks/5069cbb5a5b1

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kylebrown
In Michael Lewis's new book Flash Boys, there's an insightful quote about
this:

> Watching him string together sentences without profanity was like watching
> someone try to swim across a river without using his arms or his legs.
> Curiously, he later admitted, he wasn’t worried that the audience would be
> offended by bad language. “It was because some of them want to be the alpha
> male cursing in the room,” he said. “When I say ‘fuck,’ they think I’m
> stealing the show — so when I’m in front of a group I go as straight as I
> can.”

Not swearing isn't about politeness, its about hierarchy. Its the same way
that Ps & Qs have their origin in the way servants spoke to the monarchy. Its
like the business casual dress code; less formal than your higher-ups
communicates that you're the lower-down. Everyone understands if Daddy lets a
curse word slip, but if his 6-year-old toddler gets the idea that she too can
stomp around blurting out cuss words, she's gonna be punished.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Wow that's an interpretation I guess. I think of profanity as the untutored
attempting to communicate, and substituting powerful but meaningless words in
place of the right word.

The Gettysburg address contained no profanity, and it was written by a sitting
President. How does that fit into this social theory?

~~~
kylebrown
I suppose that Lincoln was addressing the American people in a manner which
conveys that they (the electorate) are his boss. Its the same tone in other
formal speeches, eg any State of the Union speech. Compare to examples of
Presidents cussing.[1] These examples are usually directed at specific
subordinates. Also a funny note to compare the example of when a celebrity
cursed a former president, going against the hierarchy.[2] The celebrity had
to apologize afterward. It seems to fit the theory well enough.

1\.
[http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1006/great_swears_in_h...](http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1006/great_swears_in_history.html)

2\. [http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/the-
word/2013/07/1...](http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/the-
word/2013/07/11/the-word-justin-bieber-apologize-to-bill-clinton-for-cussing-
him-out/)

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NAFV_P
Lots of "fucks", only one instance of "cunt". I am very disappointed.

~~~
reeses
That's the thing. If all you say is "fuck", then there's no problem, but you
also have no range in your profanity.

When I swear, there's no way I would want a child to hear it. Their parents
would hate having to explain what I said and they would dread their children
repeating it in front of 'polite company'.

I wouldn't want my mother to hear it, because her brain would explode thinking
that she created a son who, some 20+ years on his own, could create the
thoughts behind my swearing.

My father would probably just pause for a second, chuckle, and then utter a
string of such vile filth that I couldn't look at a roll of duct tape again
without nausea.

I think the core message of the post is a really, really weak version of what
Louis CK got into regarding the "n-word".[1] Without saying something
offensive, you're still putting that offensive thing into the person's mind.
If you write "fvck", you know people are reading it as "fuck". It's just
cowardly.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ),
not work-listenable.

~~~
NAFV_P
Louis CK used "cunt", what a guy. I would love to hear his version of "the
aristocrats".

The thing is I'm from the UK, and I get the impression that "cunt" is
considered a severe taboo in the US (I might be mistaken). Where I live it is
heard so often that after a while you don't even notice it, it becomes bland.

> _That 's the thing. If all you say is "fuck", then there's no problem, but
> you also have no range in your profanity._

Some non-English expletives that I am fond of:

"puta" (Spanish): literal translation "whore", but is often used semantically
more like "fuck", so "puta madre" can be parsed as "motherfucker".

"harami" (Arabic): literally means thief, but when I first came across it I
knew it as "bastard", which is how it is used in some Asian languages like
Urdu.

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fit2rule
Fuck, this is the shit. This cunt is really fucking onto something! Some
wanker tells me to clean up my language: fuck off, ya bastard, I'm just trying
to communicate, wanker.

Bitch, please.

(Disclaimer: Australian)

