As someone with a potty mouth to rival Gordon Ramsay, I still think that swearing, while fairly harmless, isn't always appropriate. For example, Frankie Boyle was hilarious on Mock the Week but when I watched some of his standup, I didn't laugh much, mostly because he spent half the show abusing his audience and using the word "c*nt" in pretty much every sentence. It's the one cuss I don't like to use and only do so when describing a person who I don't like very much - most politicians, generally.
The video with Stephen Fry is spot on, in my opinion although there has to be a limit. Swearing every other word isn't funny - it's called Tourette's usually. Either that or you're just a pillock. For swearing to be funny, it has to be used judiciously or it just fuels the prude-brigade's argument.
As a world-renowned clumsy bastard, I find myself swearing loudly whenever I knock something over or whack / trap / cut some part of my anatomy. It's cathartic and seems the natural reaction.
Nudity, I think, is great but it needs to retain some of it's allure. I find it kinda exciting when I get a teasing glimpse of female flesh, knowing it's going to get better. There are pracicalities to consider, as people have already said, but I do think that nudity isn't nearly as bad as society makes it out to be. I found my first porn mag on a building site aged 7 and so far I've not been traumatised, brain-damaged or had Satan knocking on my door. I think it helped me develop a much more open mind. I'm not saying we should all walk around with everything on display but get some perspective at least.
I think the reason so many people go all out to keep a lid on nudity and swearing is because they are easy targets. Like so many so-called do-gooders, they don't have the balls to take on any REAL problems so they go digging for problems where there really aren't any. It's so they can convince themselves (as well as trying to convince everyone else) that they are making the world a better place by making sure nobody says "shit" whilst copping an eyeful of a naked lady on page 3 of The Sun.
Whenever people start harping on about how swearing is bad and the hundreds of Americans up in arms about Janet Jackson's nipple being a threat to the fabric of decent society, I say this: "Why don't you fuck off and do something useful?"
Wardy
