Unable to swear/curse/use profanity

[EchetusXe]

My friend says that "in my head, it doesn't sound right them words coming from my mouth". He cannot swear. Cannot bring himself to type curse words or vocalize them.

He didn't grow up in a religious family. He doesn't follow any religion himself. He had a relatively normal upbringing i.e. parental divorce, parental favouritism, but not abuse or violence. He is 18, a full grown man who should frankly be able to fuck never mind say the word.

He loves Quentin Tarantino films and metal bands like Slayer and Slipknot. He has no problems whatsoever with other people swearing. I can't think of anyone either him or me no that has this inability to swear.


I guess all this would be no problem if it wasn't for him being the figure of fun at his work. Not because of this issue/problem. But I am convinced all he has to do is stand up for himself and tell them to "fuck off!"

One issue at a time however. Let us stick with this inability to swear. I do not know of any decent explanation for this. He is not like this just to be quirky. Maybe there is some deep rooted psychological problem. Who knows? Psychology majors are more than welcome to comment. He won't be reading these (I don't think) but I will rely insightful comments so feel free to be controversial (this is NOT an invitation to be a dick/troll).

Ask away questions if you think my insight into my friend would be helpful to get to the bottom of this rather bizarre problem. And yes, it IS a problem. Maybe you fellow escapist do not swear but I am sure you have a damn good reason for that. My friend has no reason not to curse and every reason to do so. On the other hand maybe this is a relatively common thing and some of you just do not/cannot swear.

 

[Gxas]

Why exactly is it a problem? I see nothing wrong with it.

It would be awesome if I was unable to swear. I wouldn't have to watch what I say around people then.

Go into more detail as to why this is such a problem. I'd really like to hear why you think so.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Hit him on the thumb with a hammer. If he doesn't swear after that then is he not of this world. Or maybe this is just some sort of clever ruse by you aliens to learn about human behaviour so you enslave us all!

 

[delet]

Well, the way I view profanity is that it's best used for emphasis. When you're incredibly pissed off? "Shit!" When you're in incredible pain? "Fuck!" When someone's showcases their stupidity on high enough a level to boggle minds, but not high enough to stifle speech? "Stop fucking talking dammit!"

Emphasis.

 

[Xan Krieger]

He doesn't even swear when he gets hurt? That's my way of conveying the pain running through my body (like when I fell and broke my nose at school) without screaming so loud I rupture everyone's eardrums.

Is he around people who swear? That might help, though just make sure it isn't someone who replaces every other word with profanity. For example, one day while going out to the nearby lake to go fishing with my uncle we get his boat in the water and the engine wouldn't start. I swear liberally but even I felt embaressed with all his profanity because I honestly knew I couldn't outswear him. My point is that maybe if he's around people who swear he'll see it's normal and start doing it, just don't have him around anyone who can make entire sentences out of nothing but profanity.

 

[Fenreil]

Maybe he's just waiting for a situation where it's really needed for emphasis. If you ever hear him curse, there must be some serious shit going down.

Also, parental divorce becoming fairly normal is pretty sad...

 

[Thaius]

Wait, so not swearing is some sort of psychological problem now?

And people wonder why I worry about our world...

Look, if he can't swear, that's fine. There is not any kind of social requirement to swear, and I say the less people dropping the f-bomb every other word, the better. Why are you trying to make him do something he doesn't want to do, especially something with no redeeming value and arguable negative effects?

 

[EchetusXe]

Why exactly is it a problem? I see nothing wrong with it.

It would be awesome if I was unable to swear. I wouldn't have to watch what I say around people then.

Go into more detail as to why this is such a problem. I'd really like to hear why you think so.

OK, he has not got an assertive personality. He cannot use skilful rhetoric to persuade people to listen to him and respect him. An easy way around this is for people to curse. It gets attention and can, when utilized effectively, show authority. It can stop someone walking all over you.

Besides he can't even quote other people on msn without removing the cursing, even though he is just talking to me.

I curse like a docker yet around children, older adults, strangers and lecturers I manage to control my language.

Even if it is not problem. My friend himself is curious as to why he cannot seem do it.

 

[Gxas]

Why exactly is it a problem? I see nothing wrong with it.

It would be awesome if I was unable to swear. I wouldn't have to watch what I say around people then.

Go into more detail as to why this is such a problem. I'd really like to hear why you think so.

OK, he has not got an assertive personality. He cannot use skilful rhetoric to persuade people to listen to him and respect him. An easy way around this is for people to curse. It gets attention and can, when utilized effectively, show authority. It can stop someone walking all over you.

Besides he can't even quote other people on msn without removing the cursing, even though he is just talking to me.

I curse like a docker yet around children, older adults, strangers and lecturers I manage to control my language.

Even if it is not problem. My friend himself is curious as to why he cannot seem do it.

I'm still not seeing it as a problem. I applaud him for not being able to do it.

 

[EchetusXe]

Is he around people who swear?

Yes. He sees it as normal.

Also, parental divorce becoming fairly normal is pretty sad...

Yeah it is. My parents are divorced but they get along fine. It is different with his parents. Very different. He is with two half-siblings and a step-father. tbh there may be trauma from the divorce. But that is a different story.


Keep 'em coming.

 

[EchetusXe]

I'm still not seeing it as a problem. I applaud him for not being able to do it.

Even if it not a problem an explanation would be nice. I applaud someone for not drinking alcohol. But if when they put a beer to their lips they gag and physically cannot drink it, even though they have no problem with drinking then I think an explanation is called for.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

This is a very unusual situation.

Does he usually strictly adhere to standard social taboos and mores? If so, that would explain this.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

Why exactly is it a problem? I see nothing wrong with it.

It would be awesome if I was unable to swear. I wouldn't have to watch what I say around people then.

Go into more detail as to why this is such a problem. I'd really like to hear why you think so.

I agree,

It would only be a problem if his inablity to swear was due to some sort of Clockwork Orange response.

 

[EchetusXe]

This is a very unusual situation.

Does he usually strictly adhere to standard social taboos and mores? If so, that would explain this.

umm. Living in Britain there aren't many taboos that are worth breaking really. He avoids trouble, probably never answered teachers back, obeys his parents. I doubt he would smoke weed, even in a Dutch cafe. Is a real 'keep your head' down type so you may be on to something.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

This is a very unusual situation.

Does he usually strictly adhere to standard social taboos and mores? If so, that would explain this.

umm. Living in Britain there aren't many taboos that are worth breaking really. He avoids trouble, probably never answered teachers back, obeys his parents. I doubt he would smoke weed, even in a Dutch cafe. Is a real 'keep your head' down type so you may be on to something.

If he doesn't like to attract any negative attention to himself, not swearing would make sense.

Of course, I don't particularly want negative attention. I just can't be bothered to do shit about it.

 

[EchetusXe]

If he doesn't like to attract any negative attention to himself, not swearing would make sense.

Of course, I don't particularly want negative attention. I just can't be bothered to do shit about it.

Well you may be on to something. I'm not sure. I have another friend who became almost agoraphobic through not wanting to attract negative attention. He rarely swore, but he rarely did anything.

But I reckon there is probably some childhood incident that has given him a psychological aversion to bad language.

If I or he were rich then he would have a psychologist to figure it out. But we aren't so I came here o_o

 

[Super Shell]

Actually, it looks all of this applies to me too. I never swear, even under the same circumstances as him, (extreme pain, stress, freaking out) and I don't cuss for most of the reasons being said here. (Extreme emphasis,just being too calm, a "keep your head low" kind of guy). I, as well, also do not have an assertive personality. Also, I sound a lot like the guy, however my parents aren't divorced, and I'm pretty good at public speaking, just not very assertive. Oh and also, nothing bad happened/is happening in my childhood so traumatic experience is probably out of the possibilities unless I just don't remember it for some reason.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

If he doesn't like to attract any negative attention to himself, not swearing would make sense.

Of course, I don't particularly want negative attention. I just can't be bothered to do shit about it.

Well you may be on to something. I'm not sure. I have another friend who became almost agoraphobic through not wanting to attract negative attention. He rarely swore, but he rarely did anything.

But I reckon there is probably some childhood incident that has given him a psychological aversion to bad language.

If I or he were rich then he would have a psychologist to figure it out. But we aren't so I came here o_o

Well, I hope you the best of luck in your quest, and quite agree with the "sXe" portion of your username.

 

[Insanum]

I used to be like this, Yet now i passive swear.

I wish i could fucking stop it, Its a ballache.