On profanity

The use of profanity is widespread nowadays: it is prevalent in music, television/movies, and everyday conversation (although it is often censored in the first two mediums). On average, I hear at least one instance of uncensored profanity per day, but if I include filtered uses (bleeps and "silenced out" segments of speech), it probably increases to four or five; it is higher still if I add minced oaths to the mix. However, for the purposes of this post, the definition of "profanity" will only include the word used to describe excrement, and any word considered more vulgar.

How does the use of profanity affect me? Not very much, as I do not get offended when someone does use "rude" words; it used to years ago, but not anymore. Without wanting to sound smug or superior, I rarely-to-never use these words in conversation myself (it is not a matter of wanting to be "better" than others...I simply have no need to swear), but it is not up to me to decide whether other people use them; and unless I am in a place where such language would be completely unacceptable and/or unnecessary, I would not scold anyone for their use of them either. As an example, if someone posted a comment to my blog that contained profanity, I would not reject it on that basis alone: it would be other factors that would decide whether I choose to accept it or not (such as if it was a comment intended purely to troll my readers and/or I, or just outright attacks another commenter).

This being said, I do consider it annoying when someone constantly swears every few words. I can understand the "frequently occasional" use of profanity as a description, an action, or a mark of frustration, but hearing it every few seconds does rapidly become boring: I am not offended, just bored from too much it. In all fairness, it does depend on the context and delivery of the language: there are a couple of comedians I can immediately think of who do use a lot of profanity in their routines, but their accurate delivery of the words combined with the fact that they are using them in comedy makes them funny rather than tedious. I should note, however, that comedy or "I was only joking" should not be used as a cover for blatantly insulting/attacking language.

I mentioned recently that Auto-Tune is something that should be used in moderation. I think that same principle can be applied to profanity, although I would also add that both context and "knowing your audience" are something else to keep in mind when using such language.