If you're a woman, you've been hearing for most of your life that swearing is unladylike, because for some reason, we're supposed to care about what other people think makes us ladies. If you're not a woman, you've just been hearing that it's impolite and uncivilized.
I think we, as a civil society, need to get over ourselves.
Sure, you probably shouldn't be dropping f-bombs during a presentation at work or your thesis defense or some similarly stiff, formal event. It's been shown that cursing during a job interview may make you come off as less competent. But that doesn't just apply to swearing. There's a time and a place for everything — you also shouldn't wear white to a wedding that isn't yours or tell an interviewer that you just want a job for the money, but we don't consider those things inappropriate outside of those situations.
But there's also a time and a place to loosen up. We shouldn't need to edit curse words out of songs — they're never as good after bleeping as the original — or desperately watch our language around our families. You should be able to swear without being considered stupid, impulsive or rude.
Because there's a reason we use expletives. Swearing allows us to express intense emotions like happiness, anger and fear without resorting to physical forms of expression like violence. It can help us release tension and even alleviate pain. In the workplace, between coworkers, it has been shown to raise morale and improve teamwork. People who curse may be more truthful, and arguments made with profanity are sometimes more persuasive. Other people view frequent swearers as more trustworthy and loyal. And, contrary to popular belief, how much you swear has nothing to do with your vocabulary or intelligence — in fact, linguists are beginning to view swearing as creative, rather than a sign that we can't think of another word to get our point across.
Sometimes we do swear to be rude — but the problem then is with the sentiment, not the words themselves. I'm not really being any more polite if I say someone is useless than if I say someone is f------ useless.
Why should we view swearing itself as uncivilized when it helps us stay civil? Why should it be considered unprofessional if it can improve our work environment? Why should we think of profanity as low-class when it's such an effective, hard-hitting way to communicate and persuade?
We can't keep putting the kibosh on cursing the way we do right now. There are too many benefits to being foul-mouthed to ignore.
Hell, why not come out and say it. We should all swear more.