Aspies For Freedom

I am a parent of an autistic child.  I have strong AS tendencies myself.  I have found this site to be very informative and educational.
I am, however, a little shock by by how frequently the big f bomb is used.  Is this just a "mom thing?"   Maybe I am just a prude.  Am I the only one who is offended by its frequent use?  It seems to be the favorite adjective of a few posters.

I find it difficult to be offended by expletives, so I am not bothered by it. Words are used to express concepts and emotions, so I would prefer them to be left as they are rather than censored.

Not saying you are suggesting censoring, but censoring or self-censoring is what I mean.

if by "f-bomb" you mean the "f-word", it may have some "mom" in it but I feel the same way and I'm not a mom.

not shocked.  it's the favorite general-use cuss word in my city but it took some time to get inured to it.

I just hate the word itself.  It tastes funny.  It sounds ugly to me.  One of the few words I have trouble visualizing.

Now, there are some cuss words that taste good to use when mad or want to make a verbal exclamation point, but not that one.  I am fond of damning things on occasion.

LOL  In my ignorant bliss, I take absolutely no offense.

I think most cussing or cursing (I like the old fashioned description better) is really just verbal exclamation points.

No, thank you.

No, Damnit!

The words themselves are probably just personal choice, or local colloquialism, mostly.  Some communities, like mentioned, take pride in the ability to embroider their everyday language with expletives.

And I think reaction to them is also personal.  In F's case, if I don't like something, I certainly don't want to "F" it, I'd rather damn it.  F makes no sense to me, besides my personal dislike for that one word on a strictly sound, taste, color basis.

Question for Jenna would be, what word do you use in exclaimation?  

Goldingit?
Darn it?
Daddemit?
Heck?
I declare!
My Lord!
My Stars and Garters!
Dash it!
"I'll be a monkey's uncle"?

I have no problem with anyone's language here. It was so hard and such a relief to finally find an adult aspie site. Most sites (and clinics, organizations, etc) are only focused on children and the parents of autistic kids. This is like an island refuge for me to relate to other aspies as adults.

It is also great to have a place where aspie adults can discuss particular sexual and gender issues. Where else are we going to gather to do that?  Probably not face to face.

Silky makes good points. I have found that too, so many sites I have found are for parents, to complain about how hard it is to have an autistic child. Or to speak for them.
I'm quite happy to see people express themselves in whatever language they choose, and am also happy to have found this excellent site.

It's a substitute for creativity and intelligent use of language.  Since it's cheap and easy, a lot of people resort to it.  Stock obscenities are the Big Mac of invective.

haha, jävla helvetes arselhål

When I was a kid, I thought it was such a great thing to resort to stock obscenities.  Then, as I got to shaving regularly, I realized that Carlin was right.

I don't cuss myself.  My dad used to say that people cuss when they dont have something intelligent to say. However, I don't mind most naughty words used by others.  If it was flung in hostility, I'd mind the intent.

What is interesting to me is the nature of swearing as a cultural construct. For example, in the US, most profanity is either deistic (related to religion) or visceral (related to the human body and its functions).  In some cultures swear words are about food.  I can think of one tribe where the worst cussing you can give someone is to say "You eat with your mother-in-law".

Most researchers agree that swearing came from early forms of word magic. Studies suggest that swear words came from the belief that spoken words can curse or bless people or can otherwise affect the world.

I've read that swear words might be handled differently by the brain.  Researchers are using them as "a peephole into the architecture of the brain, as a means of probing the tangled, cryptic bonds between the newer, "higher" regions of the brain in charge of intellect, reason and planning, and the older, more "bestial" neural
neighborhoods that give birth to our emotions"

Here is an article, though there are many others on the topic:
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~suzanne/199/f...e-9-20.txt

"***" isn't that bad of a word... My mom says it all the time, I say it all the time, my friends say it all the time, even my professors/TAs say it all the time. One episode of South Park said it like 160 times without getting censored.

Interestingly, however, is that on television the word "****" always gets censored. I guess it's more graphic or something.