> >There is one explanation that I heard from a teacher in high school (the one who first taught me to not believe everything I'm taught), and I haven't been able to fully figure it out. She said that at the moment a person swears, they are a danger to society. I think the reasoning went something like this: when you swear, you break the rules of society, and have, at that moment, lost self control. For example, if you take two nearly identical people in two nearly identical situations (where there is a confrontation between people), the one who swears is probably going to try to escalate the confrontation into violence (unless something else stops it). If you can lose self-control enough to start shouting profanities, then you can lose it just a little bit more without it seeming like alot. On the other hand, if you keep your self-control at the very beginning, it doesn't slip as easy later on.

I really don't buy "slippery slope" arguments like this one. You say 'when you swear you break the rules of society.' However, there's a huge gulf between swearing, which is simply somewhat of a social taboo, and physical violence, which is morally wrong and illegal.

> I agree with you completely about that. I have a tendency not to trust people who swear...it's a sign to me that they don't have the same moral and ethical standards that I do. I was talking with my pastor last night about this very thing, and he said that in his experience, someone who commits verbal abuse by swearing at you could easily become physically abusive as well. Until recently, I had been around people who swore before, but not someone who swore at me. It's a frightening experience to be confronted by someone in a cursing rage, because you never know when that person will cross over the line from verbal to physical abuse. Especially when we're seeing in the news so frequently these days how so many "normal, average" people who "seemed so nice" are flying off the handle and killing people!

Whoa . . . again, I'm going to have to make my earlier point about there being no objective reason why swearing is wrong. It's a big step you're taking to call people that swear morally deficient.

I think your point about verbal abuse turning to physical abuse may be valid, but you have to keep in mind that not all swearing is verbal abuse and vice versa. It's perfectly possible to degrade and abuse others using words you can say on television. Language can be violent and inflammatory without swearing.

>
> > Even if you're by yourself and you hit your thumb with a hammer, when you swear, you are more likely to throw the hammer than if you don't swear.

I also don't think unlimited self-control is the virtue you make it out to be. If I can release some anger by hitting a pillow or punching bag, or even a string of "foul" language, is that really more unhealthy than supressing the anger?

>
> I agree. And while swearing and throwing the hammer might make you "feel better" mentally or emotionally, it's not going to help the physical pain, and it can cause someone else (or you)harm. What's that hammer going to hit when you throw it?

>
> > Well, that's what I can remember of the argument; anybody have anything to add?
> >
> > -Enig"I swear I don't swear!"ma
>
> Honestly, I think swearing is a sign of immaturity. That said, I have admitted that I am immature, because even I mess up sometimes. But I hope that as I grow older, my level of maturity will grow and I will slip up less and less.
>
> -Grishny

Bal "I also don't see how swearing makes you throw the hammer" anthalus