Okay, but this only works for certain swearwords in certain cultures.
It also assumes vigorous sexual intercourse (i.e. "fuck") is gross, which is either extremely prude or childish.
I'd argue that some swearwords actually merely signify intensity and can be entirely neutral to the "tone of the conversation" (in terms of the subject matter and concepts the conversation can address). If you tell someone they did a "fucking great job" the only way that would affect the conversation negatively (sarcasm etc aside) would be if the phrasing offends the other person's sensibilities.
I'm guessing the falls in the same category as the "mock insults" theory (i.e. close friends casually insulting each other to signal their intimacy rather than actually causing offense).
It also assumes vigorous sexual intercourse (i.e. "fuck") is gross, which is either extremely prude or childish.
I'd argue that some swearwords actually merely signify intensity and can be entirely neutral to the "tone of the conversation" (in terms of the subject matter and concepts the conversation can address). If you tell someone they did a "fucking great job" the only way that would affect the conversation negatively (sarcasm etc aside) would be if the phrasing offends the other person's sensibilities.
I'm guessing the falls in the same category as the "mock insults" theory (i.e. close friends casually insulting each other to signal their intimacy rather than actually causing offense).