God Totally Knows What You Really Mean
I know that a lot of people are going to disagree with me, and a lot of people are going to think that I’m crazy and/or going to hell, possibly both. That’s ok. What I hope doesn’t happen, is that I actually offend anyone, but … while I can hope I don’t, and while I can be genuinely sorry if you are offended, I have little control over it otherwise.
Why is it that people make substitutes for their swears? As in, saying “fudge” or “feck” or whatever in lieu of just outright saying “fuck?” I mean, let’s be honest here, there is a reason that all those substitute words still start with ‘f’ even if they aren’t the f-bomb. If you really don’t want to swear, then you know, don’t! Where you would have said “Aw, fuck it,” maybe you should say “Aw, forget it.” Because “Aw, feck it…” well, God still totally knows what you really meant there.
I mean, that and the fact that my spell-check reads “feck” as being a nonsense word, whereas it at least acknowledges that I’ve spelled “fuck” correctly.
Initially this conversation came up with one of my dearest friends, because she is a very devoutly religious person, and she never says swear words, but she has a whole list of substitution words. Feck, fudge, frak, freakin’, feckin’ — as you can see it mostly centers around the f-bomb. 
Now, see… using “shoot” in lieu of “shit,” “darn” or “dang” in lieu of “damn” – these I all understand. I mean, at least they are recognized as being real words, and I can believe that they are the words you actually meant to use, rather than it being a matter of you replacing a word that you think is a bad word.
I’m not devoutly religious at all. I mean, if you can’t tell now that I’m a heathen, then I must be doing something wrong. I always say that I don’t have a lot of religion, but I do have a lot of faith. I do believe in a higher power, whether you call that God or whatever… I believe. I just also happen to believe that He/She/They/It … probably has a wonderful sense of humor, and probably doesn’t have a problem with words so much as the intent of those words.
If you say “Fuck you!” to someone, to be hurtful, I think that’s much worse than saying “Aw, fuck it,” because you’re fed up with something and are ready to give up. Greeting a friend with a nice warm “Howdy, fucker!” is not a bad thing, either. (Well, provided that your friend isn’t going to get offended, but then that comes down to intent again. If you have a friend that is going to be offended by that, you probably know that about them before you say it.)
And, then there is also the subject of where you’re using “foul language.” I can accept that it’s not polite to stand up in say, church, or a nice restaurant and say “Fuck yeah!” even though I would say that there is no negative intent there. It’s not good manners… but it’s not good manners because people around you are sure to be offended by it. Words have power, I believe that with all my heart. They have power if you let them have power.
But, when you’re at home and you bang your thumb with a hammer, and you say “FU…FUDGE!” … well, God totally knew what you really meant there. So what was the point?
Note: I would like to point out that I understand why parents of small children do this… particularly when they are apt to repeat what you say at inopportune moments.
7 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
This definitely made me laugh.
I too, am a heathen, as you know. And have faith more than religion, as you know. But, I just don’t see being chastised to “hell” or wherever the “bad place” is for all eternity, if an Afterlife of some sort does indeed exist because of any words.
Now, there are racial slurs I do not use. Never have, never will. But you WILL see and hear me drop F and “C” bombs whenever and wherever I bloody well please. Why? Because I can and I see nothing wrong with them.
They are WORDS and they do have meaning, but they are essentially just descriptive words which somehow got more of a “bad” than a “good” attached to them somewhere along the way.
When my brothers were little, I did (try) to not curse around them I said Flippin’ Froggin’ Fudgesicles. Instead of FUCKIN FUCKER FUCK! Why? Well one, I was trying to be respectful around them but more than that, I saw they got a kick out of me making up words. Now whether they knew what I meant behind them or not at the time, is beyond me. But if I can make a kid laugh for any reason? You bet I’ll do it.
Now that they’re nearly grown, and curse way more than I did and much more FREELY than I did at their age and when they were younger even, I just let it fly. But I’ll also let it fly no matter where I am. Hell, I even want a specific T-shirt which reads “How dare I wear this Goddamn shirt in front of your fucking kids?!” Because, I would wear it, and say that. I must have that shirt.
They’re WORDS if you attach more importance to words than would be necessary you get a whole uproar over it. If “stove” became as “bad” as “cocksucker” you would never want to mention cooking again!
I do say fudge, freakin’ etc but never to omit saying “fuck” just because I like to sometimes say fudge and freakin or friggin.
Comment by Wildflower/Loon (7 comments.) — 08/14/2008 @ 1:31 pm
LOL Oh, Loon…
You always make me laugh.
I realize that some folks legitimately do use fudge, freakin’, flippin’ etc. And see, for me, if my swearing is really going to offend someone that I’m particularly close to, I will tone it down.
The dear friend mentioned in this post really doesn’t like to hear swears at all, and because I care about her, I try my hardest to avoid them altogether around her. But that’s an issue of respect, and of love. I love her, so I try not to.
What I really don’t get though, when it comes right down to it, is why there are “swears” at all. I mean, really! It’s just a word!
Who is/are the person/s responsible for determining this shit?!
The truth is, that there are things that can be said to a person that don’t involve swears at all that are far worse than even the worst of the bad words. (The c-bomb?
)
“I hate you” for example, is an awful thing to say to someone. Particularly to someone who cares about you. And there’s no swear there.
Comment by Shannon — 08/14/2008 @ 1:41 pm
Agreed! Completely!
But yes! HATE is an awful word and it’s used very freely. And it would be hurt much more if you ever said that you hated than if you were to call me a “cunt”
Even if you said “I hate you, you fucking cunt.” the ‘I hate you’ part of that statement would be much more painful to me than the ‘you fucking cunt’ part.
But I don’t know who came up with it and why. I’d like to give he/she/them a piece of my fuckin’ mind
Comment by Wildflower/Loon (7 comments.) — 08/14/2008 @ 2:18 pm
er that should be I would be hurt not “it” FUCKITY FUCK FUCK damn typos –
Comment by Wildflower/Loon (7 comments.) — 08/14/2008 @ 2:18 pm
Loon:
I love you… (you fucking cunt.) Ahem. Just kidding on that last part.
Comment by Shannon — 08/14/2008 @ 6:39 pm
Good read! Not much to add.
P.S. Sorry I didn’t write much, I’m such a fecking cont
Comment by Boon — 08/15/2008 @ 5:45 am
Comment by Shannon — 08/15/2008 @ 5:49 am