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Swearing is becoming more widely acceptable, linguistics experts claim (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Swearwords increasingly used for emphasis and to build social bonds, rather than to insult, say academics

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It should be diluted. Language should not have that power over our emotions. Swearing becoming an extension of a purely descriptive lexicon is a good thing IMO.

Poetic language and rich prose should be the standard for emotional conveyance. That makes it special and rare. Allowing simple crass or boorish language to hold emotional power is what cheapens the concept of language having power.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

You can still pack a punch with swearing, you just gotta get creative about it.

Swearing is to language what capsaicin is to food. It's not required, in some circumstances it makes things worse, but in many other it would be a real shame to deprive oneself of it, especially for a reason as stupid as "but I'm going to increase my tolerance". So fucking what? It's not heroin, shit's not going to put you into cardiac arrest if you take too much.