There's been a lot in the news lately about the comment from VP Cheney. This has caused me to focus on the issue of swearing, but not particularly what he said. Cheney's remark in significant only in that it was said while in session - a place considered to be a bit more genteel than his expletive.
So, what's wrong with cursing? My high school English teacher stated that swearing was merely the inability to express one's self otherwise. I tend to agree with him. On the whole, therefore, I don't swear.
We do have the famous example of not-swearing as expressed in the 10 commandments - Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain. This rules out using God's name when we are swearing. So, Jesus, Jeez, God ___, and other variations of the Lord's name are strictly verboten. But... What about the 'F' Word? No bibical proscriptions there.
So much of the time we express our personal choice to not swear. Then we say Darn. Drat. Rats. Buggers. Or other similar words. This is swearing just as much as in saying the 'F' word. Only the scale is changed. Polite society generally frowns on using the stronger swear words. This seems terribly inconsistent.
However, there are times when there is no other way to express one's self clearly without a pejorative. It takes a good two or three sentences to adequately (and politely) describe someone who is an asshole. It would be so much easier just to call them the name. At times it becomes quite inconvenient to express otherwise. This is what happened with VP Cheney. His 'F' word essentially expressed these thoughts:
* You are an asshat
* You are badgering me unmercilessly
* You are incorrect in your assumptions
* Proving that you are incorrect will take too much time
* I don't like you
* I won't carry on this conversation further.
Cheney's use therefore fits under the concept of ease of use. I therefore defend his use of the terminology, even if I don't agree with the underlying statements.
