I swear

Usually I do not like swearing. Maybe that's not true, I think the "c word" is pretty funny and, in my workplace it is hilarious to swear in screams across the room. But in every day conversation, I avoid them. I feel if I must use profanity, it is probably because I do not have an advanced vocabulary to properly excoriate someone. I do not like this feeling.

How funny are American swears though? They indiscriminately focus on bodily fluids and actions. Most other countries' obscenities focus on hell and the devil, pretty lukewarm in our culture.

This post was inspired by the swear I used today. For the first time in my life (also probably a lie) I swore at my dad. He was driving through Boston, downtown. He was smoothly accelerating to 45 MPH around tight turns in the 25 MPH zone. My nails dug into the seats, as they had been for the previous 45-minute tour of Boston. Then a car, going in the opposite direction, swerved into our lane. "DAD," I said with urgency. "Fuckin slow down."

"You don't have to swear," he said to me.

Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn't have to swear.

"You really don't like driving in the city, huh?" he said.

Take that back, maybe swearing is sometimes completely justified.

"No dad, I don't like You driving in the city."

In conclusion, swearing is a poor use of language, but sometimes it gets the job done.