Questions of a weird mind

[Grinner]

Profanity has its place. When it is overused, it then becomes meaningless drivel.

[wadledo]

Profanity has its place. When it is overused, it then becomes meaningless drivel.

That's like saying language has its place.

[Ravens_cry]

That's like saying language has its place.

There is a lot more places for language than profanity.

[Story Time]

Dismissing anyone who disagrees with you as just deliberately making themselves hold 'wrong' opinions is apparently all well and good, however

...a little medical research will show that use of bad language ( the thoughts behind them ) causes the brain to fill with toxins and degrades neuro-path integrity. I was not sharing my bias. I was sharing science(!).

Society says, "Shame-shame," to people who cut their skin so that they will bleed. It is viewed as un-healthy for a person to needlessly damage themselves. Choosing to fill one's brain with toxins can be viewed as self-mutilation.

[shawnhcorey]

Profanity has its place. When it is overused, it then becomes meaningless drivel.

Agreed. Save your cussing for when you hit your thumb with a hammer.

[Ravens_cry]

Agreed. Save your cussing for when you hit your thumb with a hammer.

And even then it can be surprisingly cathartic to try and come up with original swears.
Admittedly, most of them start with a long drawn out 'eff' sound.

[wadledo]

...a little medical research will show that use of bad language ( the thoughts behind them ) causes the brain to fill with toxins and degrades neuro-path integrity. I was not sharing my bias. I was sharing science(!).

Society says, "Shame-shame," to people who cut their skin so that they will bleed. It is viewed as un-healthy for a person to needlessly damage themselves. Choosing to fill one's brain with toxins can be viewed as self-mutilation.

Though there is also plenty of research that shows that using bad language can help reduce long term stress and help prevent the build up of harmful chemicals.

[Story Time]

Though there is also plenty of research that shows that using bad language can help reduce long term stress and help prevent the build up of harmful chemicals.

...citation requested.

There is an explicit difference between expressing emotion or energy in order to let it go, and the sustenance of psychological strong-holds with the use of verbal cursing. The human brain is capable of doing both, but either thought still generates toxins at the moment the thought occurs.

[wadledo]

...citation requested.

I would ask you the same thing, though I will try and find a source for mine.

Scientific American, on Swearing having a pain reduction effect.

And unsourced article on HowStuffWorks (or at least, I can't find the press release they are referencing) on workplace swearing and how it builds bonds and allows the employe to move on.

[AtlanteanTroll]

[SIZE="-1"]...a little medical research will show that use of bad language ( the thoughts behind them ) causes the brain to fill with toxins and degrades neuro-path integrity. I was not sharing my bias. I was sharing science(!).

Science has also shown that swearing after you hurt yourself makes you feel better. EDIT: Which apparently wadledo linked to without me noticing while I was constructing this post. Clever. Very clever.

Anyway.

I'm also thinking that the toxins are released if you think the word is negative. I swear quite a bit. Yes, the effect of the words are greatly reduced, but I don't really care. I use them when I'm mad and I'm an angry person. Because of this they've also seeped into my regular speech patterns. Such is life.

They're just words. If you let them bother you, you're being weak. If I decided to use the gerund of a certain four letter word to describe something, why should you feel offended? I'm not calling you out. Grown some skin.

[Mx.Silver]

...a little medical research will show that use of bad language ( the thoughts behind them ) causes the brain to fill with toxins and degrades neuro-path integrity.

Source?

I was not sharing my bias. I was sharing science(!).

By stating people who disagreed with you deliberately made themselves do so and not bothering to try and justify your position until someone called you on it.

Choosing to fill one's brain with toxins can be viewed as self-mutilation.

Only if it can be shown that swearing itself (not just the emotional state that may provoke it) directly causes damage to the brain. People swear in a lot of situations and for a lot of different reasons. One reason may be that they're feeling stressed - which is an unhealthy state to be in for prolonged periods of time - but this is because swearing can serve as an outlet for negative emotions (as Ravens_cry and Wadledo have already pointed out). Trying to claim that swearing is unhealthy solely because prolonged stress or aggression is unhealthy is invalid reasoning.

[Partof1]

I'm gonna agree that swearing, in and of itself, isn't harmful. On those who only verbalize swears, I don't blame the words for their lack of insight, that's on the speaker, however he speaks.

There are plenty of worse ways to be rude to someone than using one or more words designated bad. Such as dismissing them utterly for their word choice.

[Ravens_cry]

If someone is going to use words around me that I (hypothetically) find offensive and they know I find offensive, then, yes, I am going dismiss them to an extent.
It doesn't even have to be swear words, or expletives either.
If, for example, you are going to talk about how the moon landings were fake and how everyone who thinks differently is either a shill or sheeple, I am going to think significantly less of you.

[wadledo]

If someone is going to use words around me that I (hypothetically) find offensive and they know I find offensive, then, yes, I am going dismiss them to an extent.

And if someone dismisses someone solely on their use of language, I am going to question where their priorities lie.

[Ravens_cry]

And if someone dismisses someone solely on their use of language, I am going to question where their priorities lie.

It's not their use of language, it's their dismissal of my (hypothetical) desire for a certain kind of conversation.
Also, see edit.

[Partof1]

Well, at that point, that isn't just diction, then. There's some intent behind it.

[Ravens_cry]

Well, at that point, that isn't just diction, then. There's some intent behind it.

If you're swearing, you better well have an intent behind it. Using them as universal adjectives is just lazy.

[Partof1]

I meant malicious intent. I generally use them to vent, like someone said earlier, catharsis.

[wadledo]

If you're swearing, you better well have an intent behind it. Using them as universal adjectives is just lazy.

So using an exclamation point is also lazy?

[Ravens_cry]

So using an exclamation point is also lazy?

Not in the right place.
But all the time!?
Why yes it is!
Using every sentence with an exclamation point, why, that's just silly!
I think it is very poor writing unless you have an actual reason for doing so!
I really can't stand it myself!
It's like someone stabbing me with an icepick in the ear!
I hate it!
Humans thrive on contrast, we sense the world through contrast!
After a while it becomes dull tedium and so a very valuable tool is lost!
Emphases should be used for, well, emphases!
The same with swearing, it has its uses, it can indeed be cathartic, but all the time?!
It becomes a useless word!
I hate that too!

[wadledo]

No one said anything about all the time.
The only actual example of swear use said so far was hitting ones hand with a hammer.

So you seem to be drifting away from your previous assertion that anyone swearing near you is going to be dismissed.

[Ravens_cry]

No one said anything about all the time.
The only actual example of swear use said so far was hitting ones hand with a hammer.

Well, I did, in the quote you quoted before this one.

So you seem to be drifting away from your previous assertion that anyone swearing near you is going to be dismissed.

With two addendum's. One, they are using it after I have voiced my displeasure and two, if they are using as a universal adjective, i.e. all the <expletive redacted/> time.

[dark.sun.druid]

It should be noted that all human languages contain some form of swearing. Even chimpanzees "swear" (by grunting, spitting, and making violent gestures), according to research conducted by Frans de Waal of Emory University. He speculates that this is a form of stress relief for the chimps.

"A chimpanzee who is really gearing up for a fight doesn't waste time with gestures, but just goes ahead and attacks," he added.

By the same token, he said, nothing is more deadly than a person who is too enraged for expletives -- who cleanly and quietly picks up a gun and starts shooting.

Also, in a study at Keele University in England, lead by one Richard Stephens, students who repeated a swear word were able to endure the pain of keeping their hand in a bath of icy water for an average of 40 seconds longer than those who repeated a neutral word. They also reported the experience as less painful. This effect is dulled, however, if the person uses the word on a regular basis (so that it looses its emotional connotation).

TL;DR Swearing (present in all human languages and even among chimpanzees) is effective for reducing stress and enduring physical pain, although only if the word contains some sort of emotional connotation.

[Story Time]

Source?

Doctor Caroline Leaf published data regarding a number of aspects in the brain. If you would like more, I can send a private message, but some-how I do not think that you really want more.

By stating people who disagreed with you deliberately made themselves do so and not bothering to try and justify your position until someone called you on it.

Spoiler

Show

It is never acceptable to use, or encrypt, foul language in any form.

But...some people force themselves to think other-wise.

...a little medical research will show that use of bad language ( the thoughts behind them ) causes the brain to fill with toxins and degrades neuro-path integrity. I was not sharing my bias. I was sharing science(!).

Society says, "Shame-shame," to people who cut their skin so that they will bleed. It is viewed as un-healthy for a person to needlessly damage themselves. Choosing to fill one's brain with toxins can be viewed as self-mutilation.

...citation requested.

There is an explicit difference between expressing emotion or energy in order to let it go, and the sustenance of psychological strong-holds with the use of verbal cursing. The human brain is capable of doing both, but either thought still generates toxins at the moment the thought occurs.

Not once, not once, did I mention any concept of a person disagreeing. I simply made a statement based on the most exact neurological evidence which I had been exposed to. Other persons choosing to disagree or take offense at that data has nothing to do with my bias, accurate or not.

And, just to be clear, it has nothing to do with a person's emotional state. Apparently the thought-type itself determines whether toxins are stored in the brain or cleansed away.

[AtlanteanTroll]

And, just to be clear, it has nothing to do with a person's emotional state. Apparently the thought-type itself determines whether toxins are stored in the brain or cleansed away.

If you think that everyone has the same "though-type" when they curse, you're off your rocker.

[Story Time]

What kind of rocker? Wood? Stone? Electric? Explosive?


Cry? What kinds of words make you happy?

[AtlanteanTroll]

Cry? What kinds of words make you happy?

None particularly. But swears all on their own aren't going to make me sad. Or angry. If I say, "Where is my ****ing jacket?" there's no malice in my voice and one shouldn't feel threatened. Same goes for if I've just stubbed my toe and start throwing them around like dodgeballs. If I start shouting them at you then I would understand becoming upset.

[Zale]

...a little medical research will show that use of bad language ( the thoughts behind them ) causes the brain to fill with toxins and degrades neuro-path integrity. I was not sharing my bias. I was sharing science(!).

Society says, "Shame-shame," to people who cut their skin so that they will bleed. It is viewed as un-healthy for a person to needlessly damage themselves. Choosing to fill one's brain with toxins can be viewed as self-mutilation.

What?

You are telling me that by uttering a specific pattern of phonetic syllables I somehow convince my brain to start harming itself?

[Grinner]

What?

You are telling me that by uttering a specific pattern of phonetic syllables I somehow convince my brain to start harming itself?

Not the words themselves. The learned association between the mind and words.

[Zale]

Not the words themselves. The learned association between the mind and words.

Then shouldn't we try to, you know, encourage people to treat the words like words, rather than something horrible?