Expletives, epithets, profanity and 'rudeness'

This week I commented on Laura Bergmann's blog which can be found on the following link. However, just in case something goes wrong I am also placing a copy of my comment bellow!

'Well, first of all, I found this topic extremely interesting and really enjoyed reading your post about it Laura!

So, what does 'course language' actually accomplish in interactions?

I rarely use expletives, however, like you, I do enjoy using the occasional swear word to really drive a point home. If I am angry, frustrated or upset I feel that swearing can help release the emotion. As I do rarely swear I think it can also help people to realise how upset I am. However I will also, once in a while, just use a swear word because it would be considered funny in the particular situation. With this said, I am quite conscious about when I will curse, because I personally find it quite repulsive when I hear people talking and every second word is 'fuck this, fuck that' or worse.

The point that stood out to me most in the lecture was that swearing can be argued to represent a marker of social solidarity, where politeness can demonstrate social distance. I thought this was a really interesting concept and one that I had never really considered before. The more I think about the more it makes sense to me. I would never swear at a customer and I would be seriously unimpressed if a customer swore at me because there is that social distance between us. However, among friends it is much more acceptable for people to curse because we have a shared understanding of the situation and people involved.

I found your arguments about the different genders swearing very interesting and have also done some research on this topic. In the study 'Pragmatics of swearing', gender was found to play a powerful role in swearing (Jay and Janschewitz, 2008). Men were found to swear more than women in public and to use more offensive words. The point I found most interesting though, was that “both women and men are more likely to swear in same-sex contexts than in mixed-sex contexts” (Jay and Janschewitz, 2008, p274). When I think about this it does make a lot of sense, and I do notice that when I overhear my male friends talking to each other there often is a lot more cursing going on than when I am talking them. My immediate response to the question why this is would be simply because the girls want to appear more ladylike to the guys, and the guys want to appear more like gentlemen. But I'm sure there is more to it than that!'

Daly, N et al (2003) 'Expletives as solidarity signals in FTAs on the factory floor', Journal of Pragmatics 36, 945-964

Jay, T and Janschewitx, K (2008) 'The pragmatics of swearing', Journal of Politeness Research 4, 267-288