Cursing, even mildly, was severely frowned on by everyone I knew in my childhood days. A “golly!” or “gosh!” uttered by me or one of my friends would result in a tongue lashing and the threat of a good old fashioned soaping of the offending mouth. Although no one, including me had ever actually seen someone have their mouths washed out with soap the thought was daunting enough to curtail, if not completely halt, the use of four letter words.
Of course once we became rebellious teenagers the taboos against cursing lured us into dangerous territory. First came “darn” then “hell” then “damnit” before we became masters of the combo curse, “Damn it all to hell!”
I might have been considered a cursing prodigy, so quickly did I incorporate proper technique into my daily language. And I was an astute cursing judge, able to discern instantly the level of experience another had with the fine art of four letter words. We had a band director at good old Floydada high school who threw out phrases like, “I don’t give a hell!” Novice!
There are folks I know who are non-cursers. My mother-in-law, Saint Helen, falls into this category; although, on occasion I have heard her say she didn’t give a “continental dam” about something. It was shocking, to say the least.
Nowadays I hardly curse at all, apart from the occasional outburst, usually reserved for indicating someone’s total lack of common sense. Now that everyone’s doing it, it just doesn’t seem so rebellious. I feel like bringing back some good old fashioned curse words like “tarnation” and “dagnabbit” or “dadgum.”
So, what in tarnation are we gonna do about that dadgum congress, dagnabbit!?” Oh, that seems so insufficient.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
Cursing does lose its charm when overused.
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Occasionally I tell friends here in Texas that in Utah I was considered to have quite the potty mouth. The Texas friends inevitably stare at me like I’ve grown another head, and then say, “but you NEVER swear!” Curse words, it seems, are very much in the ear of the listener, and even sounding like a slightly saltier version of Ned Flanders from the Simpsons was too much for delicate Utah ears.
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Ha! It is a regional thing for sure.
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Sometimes, you need a good curse word to really fucking drive your point home
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Damned straight!
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Nostalgic… When I was nine I spent a week in some sort of a summer camp and came home with a piece of paper where I recorded every word my roommate had taught me. I was a bookworm, and I was sure I knew all the words that existed. Obviously not. My mother came across that unfortunate piece of paper when unpacking my bag… I am sure she didn’t know most of the words.
Living in Ireland and not cursing is weird though.
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Growing up in Texas pretty much the first phrase one hears is “Hot Damn!” Men said it all the time, but boy, would I get in trouble if I said it.
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Oh I wouldn’t dare too, and I was a bold teenager 🙂
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😊
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