Author Topic: Public Profanity on the Rise? (Read 1542 times)

Shuckins · « **on:** March 30, 2006, 07:36:23 AM »

An article in the Associated Press cites a survey which states that 74% of Americans interviewed admit to using or hearing profanity in public.

More women than men admit to hearing profanity, and younger people admit to using it more often than do older Americans.

Most interviewed stated that they believed the use of profanity is more prevalent today than 20 years ago...especially the use of the most profane word of all, the "F" word.

Was the First Amendment established to protect this type of offensive conduct in public?

The full article can be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060328/ap_on_re_us/age_of_profanity

Regards, Shuckins

NattyIced · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2006, 07:43:46 AM »

Everyone caught swearing should be ticketed! ****ing decline of western ****ing morals I ****ing say. ****.

ASTAC · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2006, 08:44:03 AM »

No profanity in public in Virginia Beach..they canceled the first amendment here and will ticket you for using profanity in public.

Goomba · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2006, 09:04:58 AM »

ASTAC...

Is that for real? How can that even be Constitutional? Has anyone challenged that bit of garbage legislation?

I swear like a sailor when I choose to, because I'll express myself any way I choose (provided no one is actually harmed).

That ticket gets shredded and ignored. Being the contentious PIA that I am, I'd probably swear about getting the thing, and get cited again.

Thank Cod for the morally superior. Who would be our nannys otherwise? How would I ever know what's best for me without someone to tell me what to think, or what to do?

Jeebus...what next.

J_A_B · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2006, 09:26:19 AM »

It's not so much that profanity is on the rise as language is simply changing over time. Just as nobody cares about many words which were considered profane 200 years ago, many current words are losing their shock value and being incorporated into normal speech. The words the older generation considers profane are often acceptible to the younger generations. My wife and I both often use various swear words as part of everyday speech, as do many if not most other people our age and younger (basically people under 30).

There are still plenty of "traditional" cuss words we don't say except in anger. The 4-letter C word is one of them. Other words which were often used by past generations have become taboo, the "N" word being an obvious example.

That article reads as though a bunch of holier-than-thou old farts wrote it.

J_A_B

Shamus · « **Reply #5 on:** March 30, 2006, 10:15:26 AM »

This was the talk of the town for a while

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=10650

shamus

Sandman · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2006, 10:32:01 AM »

Think it was Lewis Black that said "In New York, '****' (starts with F ends with K) isn't a word. It's a comma."

BluKitty · « **Reply #7 on:** March 30, 2006, 11:06:14 AM »

Well most four letter words are saxon roots that french/norman overlords didn't consider ... proper.... it's also the reason we have french rooted words for meat, while haveing saxxon rooted words for the animal....like sheep/mutton or pig/pork

or so I've heard..... The winner's 'write' history I guess?

ASTAC · « **Reply #8 on:** March 30, 2006, 11:25:05 AM »

From the "Strip" (Atlantic Avenue) Va Bch, VA
and an article linked below.
I don't see how it is constitutional at all...But most people are too lazy to challege it..thinking it MUST be legal to ban free speech.

Clicky

My favorite part of that article.

"The hungover Marines I bumped into on the beach Sunday said they just hide out in hotel rooms at night to avoid fines since their cursing is uncontrollable after a few Bud Lights - eek!"

Goomba · « **Reply #9 on:** March 30, 2006, 12:16:10 PM »

Holy crapski!

No kidding...that just plain scares me. How in THE Hell are those regs to be enforced? Exactly what do the words 'appropriate', 'obscene', 'vulgar', 'revealing' and 'disrupt' mean, legally? Have they been given specific, measurable and objective standards, or just the "I don't know how to define obscenity, but I know it when I see it" logic?

I mean this in all honesty when I say that I find that sign, and the idea behind it, entirely vulgar, inappropriate and obscene. The presence of that sign would actively disrupt my ability to peacefully enjoy myself. Think I can hold the city government culpable, and have them all arrested?

I don't mean to suggest that it's OK to go running down the street screaming adult words at the top of your lungs, but this kind of legislation should frighten the snot out of any real American.

"I may not like what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

What has happened to Old Virginia, anyway?

Hell will have to freeze over solid before I'll accept anyone telling me what I can and cannot say.

Morality Police. Excellent concept.

Anybody from VA Beach coming to visit NYC better grow some bark on 'em, or they WILL go home all a-twitter.

~~EDIT: I just realized that they've gone and outlawed pretty girls in bikinis. Sounds like paradise.~~

john9001 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 30, 2006, 12:43:39 PM »

profanity is for the immature and ignorant who can't express their feelings any other way.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #11 on:** March 30, 2006, 12:52:32 PM »

Any "freedom" which, in fact, encroaches on others freedom is not a freedom. It is an intrusion.

Come up to my family and start calling them names, and you will be eating the bigger end of a baseball bat.

No freedom is without responsibility and/or consequences. A freedom is a precious thing and should never be allowed to be abused. It is a sad fact the above community felt they had to post that and a sad testimony to the state of our society.

Leslie · « **Reply #12 on:** March 30, 2006, 01:06:38 PM »

I can understand someone cussing if they are in pain. For any other time it is an expression of weakness and frustration.

Les

Eagler · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2006, 01:16:23 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by john9001
profanity is for the immature and ignorant who can't express their feelings any other way.

ding ding ding!!

nirvana · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2006, 01:26:29 PM »

Take a walk into a public high school, or even a middle school for that matter, and you will hear the N word spouted off at least every minute. That is the hoice word, others follow behind it.