How Not to Swear, Curse, Cuss or Use Profanity 😠😮 English Vocabulary & U.S. Culture

22,670 views ・ 2018-12-13

English with Jennifer


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What just happened in the car? What word do you think I said? Did I just swear?
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I bet some of you think I said the f-word.
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Well, I did say a word that begins with F, but I said, "Fudge!"
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In this video, I'm not going to be using highly offensive language.
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Instead, I'll share alternatives that still allow you to express emotions like anger, frustration, and surprise.
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Every language has a lot of bad words, and English is no different.
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We also have a lot of ways to talk about using these bad words.
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"Swearing" is probably the most common verb. It's intransitive. No object.
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So someone could say, "Don't swear."
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Or "I just heard my neighbor swearing outside."
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You can swear at someone. For example, the taxi driver swore at the man on the bike.
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We can talk about "swear words," a countable noun.
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My children didn't really learn swear words until they went to school.
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I hear
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people say the F-word and
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the SH-word and like the B-word and like all the swears.
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I try not to swear in front of my children to set a good example,
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especially now that they're older and they hear a lot of swear words at school, on the bus, and of course in movies.
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My children tend to talk about "swears"
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as a countable noun, as in: A kid got in trouble today for saying a swear in class.
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Personally, I don't use the word "swear" this way. I'd prefer to talk about a "swear word" or
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"swear words."
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I want to give my kids my model and show them that you can express anger without coarse words.
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Swearing doesn't automatically make you cool and mature.
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In fact, if you swear in the wrong place at the wrong time
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you can appear rude and
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stupid for not having the sensitivity for the situation or
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the respect for the company you're in.
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For that reason, we might say the word "fudge" in front of young children. It's more appropriate than the f-word.
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Sometimes we talk about dropping an f-bomb; that just means you said the f-word.
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My children might mention that a student got in trouble for saying the SH-word, another four-letter word.
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You likely know that this SH-word refers to poop.
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You can be sure that if the student got in trouble they didn't say, "Shoot!"
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"Shoot" is a much milder alternative.
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"Shoot" is okay to say in front of anybody.
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"Shoot" is a word we say when we're angry or frustrated, and it's not really offensive.
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Another mild alternative is "crap."
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And the variation of that is "cripes."
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But some people consider the word "cripes"
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outdated, so I don't recommend using it. If you feel the need to say something and you're angry you can say, "Crap!"
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You can get very creative with the word "crap," as in, "He's full of crap."
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"That's a bunch of crap."
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"That film is a piece of crap."
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We even have an adjective form, for example:
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That's a crappy thing to do.
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CRAP and SHOOT can be considered mild oaths.
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OATH has different meanings, but one definition is a swear word.
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He said a mild oath in frustration.
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She muttered an oath and rolled her eyes.
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Offensive language is a general term for any rude words.
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When movies post warnings for viewers, especially parents, they might state that there's offensive language in the film.
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You may also see the word
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"profanity," which refers to dirty words and rude language.
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If you swear a lot, people may say you swear like a truck driver or you swear like a sailor.
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I hear the comparison to a truck driver more often.
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Some people thoroughly enjoy
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swearing, and I suppose that's all right as long as they're in the company of people who also think that kind of talk is
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perfectly natural.
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In fact, someone might express admiration for another person's fluency in profanity and say,
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"Joe can cuss real good."
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Cussing is swearing. So to cuss is to swear. "Cussing" is an informal word.
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Just as you can swear at someone you can cuss someone out.
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But cussing someone out suggests
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using a lot of swear words
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because you're very angry with someone.
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So an athlete might say. "The coach cussed me out for missing practice."
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The coach was very angry and swore a lot to express his anger.
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Is there swearing in hockey? Yeah, of course. There's swearing in every sport.
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Do players get away with it?
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Sometimes.
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And if you don't?
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Well, if you say it to the referee, you'll get a penalty and
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if the coach hears it, he'll tell you to stop.
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But there's a difference in my opinion between
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cussing and cursing and
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using lewd language or what's called vulgarity.
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Cursing is basically the same as swearing. You can curse and say, "Damn!"
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Which isn't really nice, but it's not terribly shocking.
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Personally, I avoid that four-letter word and say, "Dang!"
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Some people use DARN or
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DARN IT as an alternative.
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Similarly, some people use HELL a lot as in, "What the hell?"
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Which isn't very nice. An alternative is HECK. So my children sometimes hear me say, "What the heck?"
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Especially when I'm driving.
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So there can be strong cursing and mild cursing, but lewd language and
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vulgar words are highly offensive.
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This kind of language refers to sex in a rude way, and it's generally
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disrespectful toward women, so I, for one, don't want to hear it. And, guys,
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you're not gonna win women over with that kind of talk.
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You also have to be careful with the words 'God' and 'Jesus.' Be sensitive to who's around and who's listening.
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It's generally become acceptable to say, "Oh my God!" in surprise or "Oh Lord!"
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in frustration or disappointment.
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Variations include LORDY! GOOD LORD!
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Related words that simply express surprise are: Gosh. Oh my gosh!
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Goodness. Goodness gracious.
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Good grief.
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Holy moly!
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Those aren't even considered swear words.
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As with the name of God, you might want to be careful using 'Jesus.'
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A milder more polite variation of Jesus is "Jeez/Geez."
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So you could say,
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Jeez. Calm down. Or...
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Geez. You scared the heck out of me.
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There are some silly variations of JEEZ.
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You'll hear, "Geez Louise! What happened?" Or "Jeez maneez! You almost made me fall."
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I don't really recommend using these silly expressions, but don't be surprised
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if and when you hear them. These are expressions of surprise.
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They're not considered bad words.
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I'd say the most common swear word in English is the f-word.
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I'm not going to say that I've never said it. I have, in extreme anger, but it's not my habit to drop f-bombs.
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My daughter has picked up my habit of using an alternative:
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freaking or
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freakin'. In fact, I think she uses it more than I do.
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But when I'm angry, my kids might hear me say, "Freakin heck!"
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Or when I'm driving and I get angry at another driver, I may say something like,
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"Hello? Turn on your freakin' lights."
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Of course the driver the other driver doesn't hear me, but I still feel the need to say something because I'm angry.
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There are other words that can substitute for the f-word. Some use "blasted," as in
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"Stupid, blasted pothole!"
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I mentioned "dang" before. "Dang" could be used as an adjective. For example, "Where's my dang phone?"
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My personal opinion is that the English language is rich in vocabulary,
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so why not enjoy it all and use descriptive words instead of common swear words?
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If you overuse any particular swear word, your speech might just sound coarse and
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limited rather than cool and natural.
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But I understand the need to vent anger through words, to vent frustration, and to express surprise.
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So in the end, cursing is going to happen. I know.
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Just make sure it doesn't happen in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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And I heard swearing in a work environment.
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But keep in mind it depends on culture. It depends on the relationships that you have with your
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coworkers, with your peers, your bosses, your subordinates...
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even with clients.
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Also, you need to understand that there are different degrees of swearing.
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A taboo-like swearing would probably
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not be heard in the office environment, but things like "what the f---?"
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for example
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is a fairly common occurrence.
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And don't forget you always have the option of using
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sarcasm. You can use nice words with a bad meaning, as in:
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Nice. Real nice.
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Oh great.
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That's just perfect.
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To wrap up, let's take one last look at the milder words you can use
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to express your anger, frustration, or surprise.
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Shoot!
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Crap!
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Dang!
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Darn!
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Darn it! Good Lord!
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Lordy! Holy moly!
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Oh my gosh!
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Goodness! Goodness gracious!
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Good grief!
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Geez!
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Freakin'... freaking heck!
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Blasted. Heck. What the heck?
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I certainly don't encourage you to use all these words, even the milder ones, in every conversation.
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But if you're already in the habit of swearing and you swear like a truck driver,
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just remember that there are
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alternatives to dropping f-bombs.
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I'll end here, so that's all for now.
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