Adults Swearing

[ianwilkins]

Ok,. I amend my original statement about swearing in foreign languages...if you swear in @@ianwilkins English is does sound better than American English.

 

Some how, "I don't give a toss" sounds much better than the American equivalent.

 

"You're confusing me with someone that gives a s***"

 

Of course, you all swear like in the movies right? All motherlover this and motherlover that every other word. 

 

Oh, and the little sod explorer came out with a French swearword last night, directed at the alpha male of course, I reprimanded him as I knew what it meant. I guess they swapped to French as I was trying to get everyone's attention, and using my old fallback of "Attencion! S'il vous plait!" (excuse spelling) which I guess is effective as it's unfamiliar to their ears, yet they know what it means (I tried it in Italian once, didn't work, they just thought I was going mad).

 

Ian

[Krampus]

I'm sure there are UK scout leaders that don't drink, I don't drink much, it's got to be said, but we quite often go to the pub after the meeting for a pint of beer. Maybe that's why we don't get many volunteers..."sheesh, if he needs a drink after a 2 hour meeting...I don't need that in my life!" 

 

ROFL...in my area you'd have MORE volunteers than you could register if that was the weekly ritual. 

[blw2]

Dang it? Not likely to raise eye brows.

 

Frack? We know what they are substituting it for so that would raise eyebrows.

 

Foreign words for English words? May sound nice in French but it still means *#%?.

 

this is such a personal boundary thing.... a measure of what is ok.

 

I was just the other day correcting by daughter for using the word "dang".  She had picked it up, I think, from an adult friend of ours.  My wife thinks it's ok, I look at the bigger picture of what it "means".... or more to the point what it is abbreviating..... and I don't like it.

 

 

some people think smoking is ok, so they do it in front of their kids (or with their priest)

others don't

some people think drinking a beer is ok, so they''ll do that in front of their kids (or with their priest)

others don't

some people think using machinery and driving a car is ok, and they will drive their kids to scouts (or wherever they are going)

others don't, and instead use a horse and buggy

[Stosh]

I got into trouble for using "Stuff" on the forum.  Whole big long thread about it.  In my neighborhood, it was common for Junk.  My mother and dad were always telling us kids to get their "Stuff" off the dining room table.  Even my teachers at school used it.  "Cheesh"!  (for those who know what that means....  )

[scoutldr]

I find the copious use of "Oh MY GOD" (OMG) to be just as offensive. I had to remind one scout (who was devout Catholic) of the Third Commandment and he was like, "what are you talking about?"

[Cambridgeskip]

"You're confusing me with someone that gives a s***"

 

Of course, you all swear like in the movies right? All motherlover this and motherlover that every other word. 

 

Oh, and the little sod explorer came out with a French swearword last night, directed at the alpha male of course, I reprimanded him as I knew what it meant. I guess they swapped to French as I was trying to get everyone's attention, and using my old fallback of "Attencion! S'il vous plait!" (excuse spelling) which I guess is effective as it's unfamiliar to their ears, yet they know what it means (I tried it in Italian once, didn't work, they just thought I was going mad).

 

Ian

A coupl of years ago I had a pair of sisters who were English-French bilingual but who spoke French at home. If things ever got heated between them they would slip into French. It wasn't deliberate, they didn't even realise they'd switched languages! To this day I have no idea what they were calling each other, my French is terrible..... One them is now a YL with scouts and the other with our beavers so hey both turned out OK

[Krampus]

I find the copious use of "Oh MY GOD" (OMG) to be just as offensive. I had to remind one scout (who was devout Catholic) of the Third Commandment and he was like, "what are you talking about?"

 

I have a Hindu Scout with a great sense of humor. He says "Oh my gods" instead. I've noted his humor and appreciation thereof, but asked him to refrain from using the phrase.

[MattR]

... Another 1/2 hour, or me not intervening and taking them both to one side, and I reckon a brawl might have happened. Both were getting the "not expected behaviour" speech but the little sh...darling kept interrupting me, I swore at him. If memory serves, to paraphrase "for flips sake, just shut for up a minute".

For some reason this is really amusing. Maybe because I've been there.

 

Anyway, I think the best policy is to apologise when I slip up. It shows the scouts that I'm not perfect, but I'm trying. It also encourages humility, another good thing to show the scouts. I expect the same of the scouts. Apologise and move on.

[scoutldr]

And the adjective "frickin" seems to have become acceptable in polite conversation.  We all know what it's a substitute for.  I guess "gosh darn" was the analogous phrase in our parents' day.

[MrBob]

I have a Hindu Scout with a great sense of humor. He says "Oh my gods" instead. I've noted his humor and appreciation thereof, but asked him to refrain from using the phrase.

Does he say, "Holy cow!" a lot, too?

[JasonG172]

some people think smoking is ok, so they do it in front of their kids (or with their priest)

others don't

some people think drinking a beer is ok, so they''ll do that in front of their kids (or with their priest)

others don't

 

 

This is why I quit smoking as well.  I smoked the first year and 1/2 as a leader in cub scouts, I never smoked in front of the boys though and I hid well in the woods.

[Krampus]

And the adjective "frickin" seems to have become acceptable in polite conversation.  We all know what it's a substitute for.  I guess "gosh darn" was the analogous phrase in our parents' day.

 

Unless they really, truly want Gosh to darn something. Socks always need fixin' and Gosh does a helluva job.

 

[Can we say helluva?]

Edited May 26, 2016 by Krampus

[King Ding Dong]

My kids have taken to saying "Bleep!".

[gumbymaster]

One year on Camp Staff, the Camp Director wanted to effect more control over the choice of language used by the staff.

 

His solution was word substitution.  We were instructed that we could use the phrase "Schibeck" (apparently a manufacturer of outhouses) as a substitute for the more common excrement term.

 

It worked - of course at first the staff just used that word like crazy, knowing that other campers had no idea of the intent - it was funny for them, but after a while it just took, without being over used.  In fact, I would venture to guess that cursing even decreased, because by the time you remembered the word you were supposed to use instead, the urge to let loose had diminished.

[blw2]

.  "Cheesh"!  (for those who know what that means....  )

flirting with the 3rd commandment

 

I find the copious use of "Oh MY GOD" (OMG) to be just as offensive. I had to remind one scout (who was devout Catholic) of the Third Commandment and he was like, "what are you talking about?"

 

 

but I think both of these examples are a bit skewed.... depending on context.  Are we using the Lord's name in vain.... as in the commission of evil under his name?

 

even still, I would correct my kids, or my scouts, for using either of those "abbreviations", even if it wasn't for evil sake.... just because it's flirting on the line....

that's just my opinion.