Swearing

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

You know, I used to hate Jim Sterling, but now I don't really mind him so much. I just wish he'd tone it down on the salty language. Plenty of kids read sites like Destructoid, and they don't need to see words like "cunt" flung around so carelessly.

[Hot Heart]

I don't mind his reviews. He just wastes so much time on his soapbox, whinging about pointless shit that only matters to immature gamers.

[Mr. GOH!]

You know, I used to hate Jim Sterling, but now I don't really mind him so much. I just wish he'd tone it down on the salty language. Plenty of kids read sites like Destructoid, and they don't need to see words like "cunt" flung around so carelessly.

 

Fuck that noise. Most kids know most of the standard swears by the time they're five or six. Fucking swearing never hurt anybody and isn't likely to.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

You know, I used to hate Jim Sterling, but now I don't really mind him so much. I just wish he'd tone it down on the salty language. Plenty of kids read sites like Destructoid, and they don't need to see words like "cunt" flung around so carelessly.

How would one go about flinging that word around carefully?

[TheFlyingGerbil]

You know, I used to hate Jim Sterling, but now I don't really mind him so much. I just wish he'd tone it down on the salty language. Plenty of kids read sites like Destructoid, and they don't need to see words like "cunt" flung around so carelessly.

 

Fuck that noise. Most kids know most of the standard swears by the time they're five or six. Fucking swearing never hurt anybody and isn't likely to.

 

Knowing swear words and seeing them normalised by being posted on websites by paid writers is not the same thing. No it doesn't hurt anyone to see a swearword neither does seeing anything ugly - that doesn't mean I want to see it or be subjected to it every day.

[Mr. GOH!]

You know, I used to hate Jim Sterling, but now I don't really mind him so much. I just wish he'd tone it down on the salty language. Plenty of kids read sites like Destructoid, and they don't need to see words like "cunt" flung around so carelessly.

 

Fuck that noise. Most kids know most of the standard swears by the time they're five or six. Fucking swearing never hurt anybody and isn't likely to.

 

Knowing swear words and seeing them normalised by being posted on websites by paid writers is not the same thing. No it doesn't hurt anyone to see a swearword neither does seeing anything ugly - that doesn't mean I want to see it or be subjected to it every day.

 

What makes swears ugly? They're just phonemes.

[CorgiShinobi]

I believe they limit one's vocabulary to be honest. If anyone has seen that Flash video about "The F Word," you get my point.

 

My mother is a teacher, so I've been around public schooling more than I would like to be, but it's interesting to be in that atmosphere with a cultural point of view. It's a shame to see kids act like perverts even when they have no clue of what they're talking about, or instead of using proper adjectives or verbs, it's either "bitch'" or some variant of "fuck."

[Mr W Phallus]

You know, I used to hate Jim Sterling, but now I don't really mind him so much. I just wish he'd tone it down on the salty language. Plenty of kids read sites like Destructoid, and they don't need to see words like "cunt" flung around so carelessly.

 

Fuck that noise. Most kids know most of the standard swears by the time they're five or six. Fucking swearing never hurt anybody and isn't likely to.

 

Knowing swear words and seeing them normalised by being posted on websites by paid writers is not the same thing. No it doesn't hurt anyone to see a swearword neither does seeing anything ugly - that doesn't mean I want to see it or be subjected to it every day.

 

What makes swears ugly? They're just phonemes.

The phonemes are precisely what make many profanities ugly (in terms of modern swear words at least). The word cunt, for example, is a harsh, aggressive, ugly sounding word, before it is even combined with it's meaning. I still use it sometimes but only ever in an ironic sense where it's ugliness and violence are so inappropriate as to be amusing.

 

I completely agree with Atom about profanity limiting your vocabulary. I do place a lot of store in swearing in the right time or place, it can inject emotion into a sentence and rhythmically it can make a world of difference to the flow of a sentence, but more often than not (and I am guilty of this myself) people swear out of laziness, substituting in profanities when they can't be bothered thinking of a more appropriate word.

 

And saying that swearing never hurt anyone is a gross underestimation of the power of language. No it shouldn't be demonized to the extent it often is, but nor is it by any means neutral or without prejudice.

Edited July 21, 2011 by Mr W Phallus

[WTF]

While I'm not going to discuss about Kotaku since my view on the site is neutral and my view on any gaming website is neutral since it's gaming enthusiast press and not journalism (sort of like the automotive or knitting magazines, it's not really news per se) the discussion on language does draw me here .

 

Profanity always does limit vocabulary and I know I must have seen the F word flash video years ago. Atomsk and Phallus have it right that children and the youf often use profane words in place of regular words. Now that always limits the expansion of their vocabulary and your memory retention is stronger when you're younger than you're older, the brain getting crystallised in memory terms by the time you're 26-27 and what not. Kids do need to be taught to exercise their minds and profanity gives them the excuse to be lazy. It's a bigger issue today than before because while people do read a lot, they do not care to retain anything. Google or rather search engines are to blame for that when people just say oh wait I'll google it since I can't remember it. People do not try to remember anything which is why if society were to crumble and technology became inaccessible we are highly likely to lose a vast amount of culture due to sheer ignorance and laziness on our part. This appals me mostly because I like to be a reservoir of information and I like to retain it permanently rather than just know where to look for it.

 

While some words are meant to sound obscene because of the way they are pronounced, there are words in other languages that are obscene but sound far less ugly. Ugliness of sounds is really a cultural thing unless you're talking about nails grating on a glass panel.

 

Swearing of course needs to be used appropriately. The old adage 'everything in moderation' applies perfectly to most cases including this. We do have a responsibility for whatever comes out next considering that we'd be living well into our late 90s to 110s and those in power and control around that time would mostly be people who aren't even born yet and won't be for the next 2 decades or so.

[Mr. GOH!]

While I'm not going to discuss about Kotaku since my view on the site is neutral and my view on any gaming website is neutral since it's gaming enthusiast press and not journalism (sort of like the automotive or knitting magazines, it's not really news per se) the discussion on language does draw me here .

 

Profanity always does limit vocabulary and I know I must have seen the F word flash video years ago. Atomsk and Phallus have it right that children and the youf often use profane words in place of regular words. Now that always limits the expansion of their vocabulary and your memory retention is stronger when you're younger than you're older, the brain getting crystallised in memory terms by the time you're 26-27 and what not. Kids do need to be taught to exercise their minds and profanity gives them the excuse to be lazy. It's a bigger issue today than before because while people do read a lot, they do not care to retain anything. Google or rather search engines are to blame for that when people just say oh wait I'll google it since I can't remember it. People do not try to remember anything which is why if society were to crumble and technology became inaccessible we are highly likely to lose a vast amount of culture due to sheer ignorance and laziness on our part. This appals me mostly because I like to be a reservoir of information and I like to retain it permanently rather than just know where to look for it.

 

While some words are meant to sound obscene because of the way they are pronounced, there are words in other languages that are obscene but sound far less ugly. Ugliness of sounds is really a cultural thing unless you're talking about nails grating on a glass panel.

 

Swearing of course needs to be used appropriately. The old adage 'everything in moderation' applies perfectly to most cases including this. We do have a responsibility for whatever comes out next considering that we'd be living well into our late 90s to 110s and those in power and control around that time would mostly be people who aren't even born yet and won't be for the next 2 decades or so.

 

 

Swearing is not the cause of limited vocabulary, though at young ages it might be a symptom. Swear words are not inherently different from any other word. Language sanitation advocates bowdlerize or mince oaths; under your rubric (which I find *highly* suspect), it wouldn't matter if the kid says "shit", "crap", or "um." They're all limiting. Jesus, the use of *any* word in repetition is limiting then.

 

I think it's a pseudo-science masquerade and underneath is good old fashioned Victorian attitudes of decency that are based mostly on class judgments than any actual evidence of lesser vocabularies, skill, precision of thought, etc. It's all bullshit.

 

Sure, memorization is taking a hit in the world of instant reference. But that's unrelated to swearing. And some of the mindspace previously used for retention may indeed be used for other tasks. I mean, complaining about retention is as old as goddamned Aristotle and his dislike of the written word.

 

 

[WTF]

Swearing does add to limited vocabulary of course. It's more than a symptom. Take the case of history throughout the ages, swear words have changed over time. But excessive swearing is always a symptom of those who haven't tried to encourage their cultural minds be it in any society. I know several swear words in several languages and those whose vocabularies are limited to those simply because of the refusal to think.

 

I beg to differ on the fact that swear words are not inherently different from any other word. If you look at the history of languages the alphabets and numbers have evolved from basic symbols. The devanagri script has the oo sound that pertains to a cow and it's symbolised by what looks closely in the numerical script as a 3. This sound comes from the sound that a cow makes and in fact the origin of the letter was basically that. Every language is a translation from a pictorial representation to symbols so to say that a word is inherently not good or bad goes against human recognition. Most words can be recognised as foul or nice just from the sound. Look at the phonetic similarity between the word for mother and father in several languages even those unrelated and you'd find that yes words do inherently have a meaning and representation. It may not be obvious to us today but it exists.

 

I'm not advocating language sanitation, but you should curb the excessive usage of any swear word or any word for that matter. People today are not penalised for excessive use of articles in an paragraph. There was a time when repetition of even non-swear words would not be credited in an essay. It's the leniency of education by focussing on other aspects that have brought about that change. However repeated usage of a set of words is detrimental and repeated usage of swear words even more because it prevents you from articulating excessively. The issue here is that you do assume that most people have been educated and possess a decent enough vocabulary to use whatever language they deem correct. However in order to use swear words appropriately one must have completed that level of understanding. Excessive usage at a stage when they are still learning is just detrimental. I'm not sure if you've worked with people learning other languages to understand that the first thing people pick up are swear words. Some of them try not to learn more because using a swear word in some contexts helps to get a point across (which is ultimately their goal). But that does limit their vocabulary.

 

I'll get into the discussion of memorisation on a different thread as this discussion itself is derailing the thread. However while complaining about retention is as old as Aristotle the amount of information we get today is far greater than the amount that's retained and there's no stop to the flow of information. In all this noise memory retention becomes more important.

[Mr. GOH!]

Swearing does add to limited vocabulary of course. It's more than a symptom. Take the case of history throughout the ages, swear words have changed over time. But excessive swearing is always a symptom of those who haven't tried to encourage their cultural minds be it in any society. I know several swear words in several languages and those whose vocabularies are limited to those simply because of the refusal to think.

 

I beg to differ on the fact that swear words are not inherently different from any other word. If you look at the history of languages the alphabets and numbers have evolved from basic symbols. The devanagri script has the oo sound that pertains to a cow and it's symbolised by what looks closely in the numerical script as a 3. This sound comes from the sound that a cow makes and in fact the origin of the letter was basically that. Every language is a translation from a pictorial representation to symbols so to say that a word is inherently not good or bad goes against human recognition. Most words can be recognised as foul or nice just from the sound. Look at the phonetic similarity between the word for mother and father in several languages even those unrelated and you'd find that yes words do inherently have a meaning and representation. It may not be obvious to us today but it exists.

 

I'm not advocating language sanitation, but you should curb the excessive usage of any swear word or any word for that matter. People today are not penalised for excessive use of articles in an paragraph. There was a time when repetition of even non-swear words would not be credited in an essay. It's the leniency of education by focussing on other aspects that have brought about that change. However repeated usage of a set of words is detrimental and repeated usage of swear words even more because it prevents you from articulating excessively. The issue here is that you do assume that most people have been educated and possess a decent enough vocabulary to use whatever language they deem correct. However in order to use swear words appropriately one must have completed that level of understanding. Excessive usage at a stage when they are still learning is just detrimental. I'm not sure if you've worked with people learning other languages to understand that the first thing people pick up are swear words. Some of them try not to learn more because using a swear word in some contexts helps to get a point across (which is ultimately their goal). But that does limit their vocabulary.

 

I'll get into the discussion of memorisation on a different thread as this discussion itself is derailing the thread. However while complaining about retention is as old as Aristotle the amount of information we get today is far greater than the amount that's retained and there's no stop to the flow of information. In all this noise memory retention becomes more important.

 

 

I'll address each of your paragraphs in turn.

 

Paragraph 1: Why is it that swearing is a result of refusing to exercise one's, erm, cultural mind? You provide no evidence or examples. Then you assert that you know swear words in several languages and people who swear a lot in those languages because they refuse to think. What does that even mean in the context of this debate? Are you an educational psychologist? Do you know this for a fact, or is this just another baseless assertion?

 

Paragraph 2: The evolution of writing is a fascinating topic. It is only tangentially related to the discussion of swear words, if at all. Verbal language predates writing, though the relationship between the verbal development and written development of a language is very complex. Regardless, I have no idea what you mean by "to say that a word is inherently not good or bad goes against human recognition."

Folks who dislike swear words usually imply that swear words are inherently bad. I mean, I agree there are situations where a swear word may not be called for, such as to replace every word in my previous sentence, or at the very least may be inartful, like during a loan interview. But punishing a kid for saying "shit," or saying that the use of swear words is an indicator of a lack of intelligence is complete and utter bullshit to me. Whether or not the sound of a word is nice or foul is based on culture and not on inherent foulness or niceness; German sounds angry to us but not to other Germans. The similarity of words between related languages is because the languages are related and spring from the same ancient language.

Paragraph 3: Yes, the focus of writing has shifted from style to content and I bemoan that. But cutting out the use of repetition is unrelated to swearing, as it's true for any word or phrase.

The idea of excessive articulation is hilarious, that you use it as an aspiration is doubly so. "Excessive" generally denotes an excess, which is almost never a good thing.

I don't assume everyone to be educated; far fucking from it. I do think that the use of swear words does not prevent education or expanded vocabularies in any meaningful way. One must learn many, many different words just to be functional in society. The overuse of some dozen words isn't going to prevent that. I have taught English as a Foreign Language and have learned two foreign languages myself; I don't understand at all what you mean when you say foreign language learners use a swear word to get their point across rather than learn a word. I mean, yes, I can imagine such a situation, but I don't know anyone who would rest on their laurels that way. Indeed, circumlocutions of all types are very common among foreign language learners, and they're almost never based on swear words.

Paragraph 4: We have access to more information than ever before, true. So we memorize a smaller proportion of it. But i contend people still memorize in total as much as they ever have; it's just a smaller amount of the hugely increased total. It's a moral panic and not very helpful to get all worked up about it. Besides, if the information can be access easily, shouldn't we focus on higher-order brain functions like analyzation and synthesization of data rather than rote memorization?

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr. GOH!]

I believe they limit one's vocabulary to be honest. If anyone has seen that Flash video about "The F Word," you get my point.

 

My mother is a teacher, so I've been around public schooling more than I would like to be, but it's interesting to be in that atmosphere with a cultural point of view. It's a shame to see kids act like perverts even when they have no clue of what they're talking about, or instead of using proper adjectives or verbs, it's either "bitch'" or some variant of "fuck."

 

That's a behavioral issue, not a language acquisition issue. If society didn't label swearing as 'bad' they'd act up in other ways to get attention.

 

Also, that video is a famous monologue by the genius comedian George Carlin. And he'd agree with *me* that focusing on swear words as being bad is fucking ridiculous.

[FredEffinChopin]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/15IBD8UL6F98D

 

It has nothing to do with whether or not the word is considered a swear word. Leaning on words is just something people are inclined to do. I'd wager that some of the best critical thinkers of history, even if their areas of expertise involved written and spoken language, have some of the filthiest mouths in history. That's my take anyway. A great man (Bill Hicks) once said "What came first, the hardon or the Madonna video?"

 

Also, not to legitimize the overuse of (perceived) offensive language, but:

 

 

Language is about expression, and swearing is certainly an effective method of oiling up your point so that it'll slide neatly into the ears and consciousness of anyone listening. I will agree that some people will fall back on it for lack of any other words to draw from to express their thoughts, but those people just lack a robust vocabulary, or become too flustered when on the spot to sort their thoughts out before they begin moving their mouths. I don't think the existence of the word "fuck" is in any way responsible.

[CorgiShinobi]

I believe they limit one's vocabulary to be honest. If anyone has seen that Flash video about "The F Word," you get my point.

 

My mother is a teacher, so I've been around public schooling more than I would like to be, but it's interesting to be in that atmosphere with a cultural point of view. It's a shame to see kids act like perverts even when they have no clue of what they're talking about, or instead of using proper adjectives or verbs, it's either "bitch'" or some variant of "fuck."

 

That's a behavioral issue, not a language acquisition issue. If society didn't label swearing as 'bad' they'd act up in other ways to get attention.

 

Also, that video is a famous monologue by the genius comedian George Carlin. And he'd agree with *me* that focusing on swear words as being bad is fucking ridiculous.

Attention was hardly the case when after one of her five year-olds stubbed his toe on the playground he yelled out, "motherfucking son of a bitch!" I'm not talking about a bunch of teens with pseudo-drama, we're on the elementary level here.

 

But hey, if you would rather have society be relaxed and say "fucking" instead of absolutely, completely, entirely, fully, utterly, wholly, or even thoroughly, have at it. Judgments will be made and there's nothing that can stop an employer, supervisor, or customer becoming uncomfortable with casual salty language.

 

Or should I say...

 

But fuck, if you'd fucking have society be a bitch and say "fucking" instead of fuck, fucknuts, fucker, fuckwit, fuckass, or even bitchfuck, have fucking at it. Goddamn judgements will fucking be made and there's nothing that can fucking stop a bitch, cunt, or asshole becoming goddamn uncomfortable with fucking casual motherfucking language.

 

Completely reasonable.

[Mr. GOH!]

I believe they limit one's vocabulary to be honest. If anyone has seen that Flash video about "The F Word," you get my point.

 

My mother is a teacher, so I've been around public schooling more than I would like to be, but it's interesting to be in that atmosphere with a cultural point of view. It's a shame to see kids act like perverts even when they have no clue of what they're talking about, or instead of using proper adjectives or verbs, it's either "bitch'" or some variant of "fuck."

 

That's a behavioral issue, not a language acquisition issue. If society didn't label swearing as 'bad' they'd act up in other ways to get attention.

 

Also, that video is a famous monologue by the genius comedian George Carlin. And he'd agree with *me* that focusing on swear words as being bad is fucking ridiculous.

Attention was hardly the case when after one of her five year-olds stubbed his toe on the playground he yelled out, "motherfucking son of a bitch!" I'm not talking about a bunch of teens with pseudo-drama, we're on the elementary level here.

 

But hey, if you would rather have society be relaxed and say "fucking" instead of absolutely, completely, entirely, fully, utterly, wholly, or even thoroughly, have at it. Judgments will be made and there's nothing that can stop an employer, supervisor, or customer becoming uncomfortable with casual salty language.

 

Or should I say...

 

But fuck, if you'd fucking have society be a bitch and say "fucking" instead of fuck, fucknuts, fucker, fuckwit, fuckass, or even bitchfuck, have fucking at it. Goddamn judgements will fucking be made and there's nothing that can fucking stop a bitch, cunt, or asshole becoming goddamn uncomfortable with fucking casual motherfucking language.

 

Completely reasonable.

 

 

 

I've said that it can be inartful at times. My job is language; I wouldn't swear at a client unless the client broke that ground first (and they *have*; I have pro bono clients who like me because I'm "real" with them, and I've had corporate reps who like to shoot the shit). But saying that society looks down on an action isn't an argument that that action is inherently bad. Indeed, I think it's a ridiculous thing to always be concerned about. Indeed, I think it's a remnant of class judgments in the West. Other cultures have quite different and substantially less puritanical attitudes towards swearing than the English-speaking world does.

 

It also seems to me that swearing when one gets hurt is fairly normal and, dare I say, appropriate?

[CorgiShinobi]

I think it shouldn't be normal for a little kid to substitute "ouch" or any other menial word with a string of cussing.

 

A few nights ago I yelled out "shit" when I almost fell down a flight of stairs. I don't think anyone would judge me harshly for it. If I had bumped my head getting out of my car and yelled, "son of a bitch" I wouldn't find it surprising if people thought I had anger issues if a bump on the head let out such language.

 

George Carlin may have had a point or two, but the versatility of "fuck" is evidence of people being lazy and substituting said word for countless others. I swear (no pun intended), if I were to ask a class of high school students today what a thesaurus was, the first response would be, "How the fuck should I know every dinosaur?"

[Mr. GOH!]

I think it shouldn't be normal for a little kid to substitute "ouch" or any other menial word with a string of cussing.

 

A few nights ago I yelled out "shit" when I almost fell down a flight of stairs. I don't think anyone would judge me harshly for it. If I had bumped my head getting out of my car and yelled, "son of a bitch" I wouldn't find it surprising if people thought I had anger issues if a bump on the head let out such language.

 

George Carlin may have had a point or two, but the versatility of "fuck" is evidence of people being lazy and substituting said word for countless others. I swear (no pun intended), if I were to ask a class of high school students today what a thesaurus was, the first response would be, "How the fuck should I know every dinosaur?"

 

The versatility of "fuck" is evidence only for the versatility of "fuck." I also don't understand why saying "ouch" instead of "goddamn motherfucker" is better.

 

The stupidity of people is not caused by swearing! Swearing isn't even fucking evidence of stupidity because the vast majority of people swear regardless of intelligence. The smartest people I know swear as much as the dumbest. Folks who are insecure in their social position or who are misguided moralists are the only folks I know who don't swear.

[Cyber Rat]

English-speakers and swearing... Go home, you amateurs.

[Mal]

English-speakers and swearing... Go home, you amateurs.

You should hear us Cantonese folks. It come out as natural as things piss.

Now to continue reading all the walls of text.

Edited July 21, 2011 by MaliciousH

[RockyRan]

English-speakers and swearing... Go home, you amateurs.

You should hear us Cantonese folks. It come out as natural as things piss.

Now to continue reading all the walls of text.

 

Cantonese? You haven't heard swearing until you've heard swearing in Spanish.

 

Swearing in Spanish is like a form of poetry. It's inserted always just at the right moments, at the right rhythm, in the right situations, and with the right diction. The Spanish language has an enormous amount of swear words, all meaning a wide variety of things, each with their own unique phonetic sounds and often onomatopoeia.

 

I mean, just look at this. Swearing in Spanish has its own wikipedia entry:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_profanity

 

Neatly divided and categorized in classifications such as "Scatological acts", "Profanity related to religion" and "References to one's backside".

 

99% of english-speaking people who swear do so by using about 100 different variations of "fuck", all quite referring to the same thing, or sometimes not even belonging anywhere in the sentence. Not so with Spanish profanities. Most anyone who speaks knows the art of profanities in Spanish. And they're always inserted precisely at the right moments with the added benefit of being part of the sentence and furthering the intent of the speaker.

 

You bunch of fucks.

[Enervation]

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

English-speakers and swearing... Go home, you amateurs.

You should hear us Cantonese folks. It come out as natural as things piss.

Now to continue reading all the walls of text.

 

Cantonese? You haven't heard swearing until you've heard swearing in Spanish.

 

Swearing in Spanish is like a form of poetry. It's inserted always just at the right moments, at the right rhythm, in the right situations, and with the right diction. The Spanish language has an enormous amount of swear words, all meaning a wide variety of things, each with their own unique phonetic sounds and often onomatopoeia.

 

I mean, just look at this. Swearing in Spanish has its own wikipedia entry:

 

http://en.wikipedia. ...anish_profanity

 

Neatly divided and categorized in classifications such as "Scatological acts", "Profanity related to religion" and "References to one's backside".

 

99% of english-speaking people who swear do so by using about 100 different variations of "fuck", all quite referring to the same thing, or sometimes not even belonging anywhere in the sentence. Not so with Spanish profanities. Most anyone who speaks knows the art of profanities in Spanish. And they're always inserted precisely at the right moments with the added benefit of being part of the sentence and furthering the intent of the speaker.

 

You bunch of fucks.

 

Chinga tu madre bendejo

[BrainHurtBoy...2]

As someone that speaks both Spanish and Cantonese, I can tell you swearing in Cantonese in one of the easiest, fluid-sounding, poetic things you can do. Cantonese foul language is a thing of beauty, and while I don't mean to belittle the admittedly impressive Spanish vocabulary of expletives, an Indo-European language's level of cursing cannot rival Cantonese's.

[CorgiShinobi]

I had a post a while ago, but I received an "internal error" and so it didn't post. I think it was error 500 or something.

 

Anyway, I rather not try to recreate it as I've grown tired of the discussion of "fuck," but this international thing has peaked my interest. I guess to put in my last few words on the previous discussion: I wouldn't say that the more you swear the "dumber you become." No, instead you could say the dumber you look. It's common to hear excessive swearing from either aggressive individuals, or those who are uneducated because they'll use "fuck" and other expletives as their go-to words to somehow add power to an argument or expression.

 

As Rocky said, it's like 99% of swearing in North American English is 100 variants of "fuck."