Why do people think adopting swearing into your vocabulary make you sound intellectual?

[Funkiest Monkey]

"The sort of twee person who thinks that swearing is in anyway a sign of a lack of education, or a lack of verbal interest, is just a fucking lunatic." -Stephen Fry on the Joys Of Swearing

 

[Daipire]

It relieves stress.
Ergo it's healthier.

People want to live longer.
Ergo people swear.

It's nothing to do with sounding smart, use latin for that.

 

[Sovvolf]

I can't remember ever hearing some one talk about how swearing makes them smart. I swear a lot but I don't think it make me sound any brighter... Just a well placed "Fuck" here and there helps emphasize a point.

words of me: "It's fucking ridiculous. Swearing is fantastic; just a little slip of a word can cause such shock to the prissy, stuck up and backwards morons that are still so pathetic that they're offended by mere words, and it can make you feel so much fucking better when you're angry or just need to vent."

You and me both... You and me both. I've heard all the stories from the apparent "intellects" about how swearing is just what the common folk or the brutes do... "Well to be quite honest I don't get hung up or offended by mere words but seeing as you do... Go fuck your self -Smiles-".

 

[Hotshots]

In the wise words of Stephan Fry: "The sort of person who thinks swearing, in any way, is a sign of a lack of education, or a lack of verbal interest, are fucking lunatics."

 

[Smasngrab]

using the same word over and over again is just sad, tho some people can go on for 10 minutes or more whitout repeating themselves, now, thats a bit impressive.

 

[HK_01]

I've never met anybody who thinks that. In fact, most people think the oppsosite.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Pick whichever answer you prefer:

1. They don't.
2. They're 12.

Well... that pretty much sums it up completely. Personally, I think that bad writers fill their movies with swear words when they can't think of other words or actual jokes. That's why I dislike Kevin Smith movies.

 

[B2kCyclops]

WTF?

If you mean winning an argument/discussion by insulting or intimidating, then I must say that it is an technique wich has been proven effective throughout history.

BUT:
Any "intellectual" is avoiding swearing as much as possible.
It's profane and vulgar.
It is not even colloquial language.
Most of them avoid even "normal" language as much as possible.
If someone tries to sound smart he uses (pseudo-)scientific phrases as much as possible, and definitely not swearing.

[small]edited[/small]
Also that:

Pick whichever answer you prefer:

1. They don't.
2. They're 12.

 

[Guest_Star]

Where the fuck do you get the notion that ppl swear to appear intellectual?

 

[Confidingtripod]

Swears enphasize points, being intellectual is elequantly insulting someone horribly without need for swearing e.g's:your as sharp as wet leather or your eye's are as good as a badger with cateracts.

no cursing but effective insults.

that is called wit. Its a rear thing these days

As rear as correct spelling

(sorry couldent resist)

 

[ShadowsofHope]

In the wise words of Stephen Fry: "The sort of person who thinks swearing, in any way, is a sign of a lack of education, or a lack of verbal interest, are fucking lunatics."

..Although I do hate sometimes to go with the majority appeal, invoking the Fry seems to be the best answer here.

Though only Xbox Live 12 year olds think swearing profusely every sentence is actually "cool". Unfortunately, I have the parents that get offended by even saying "damn". "DAMN!" It's fucking annoying, to say the least.

 

[Subzerowings]

I guess it's the same reason people think punctuation and grammar makes them intelligent.

That confuses me.
Wouldn't that mean that people who don't use good grammar aren't less intelligent than those who do?
People who aren't that well educated about grammar probably don't know much about it and are thus probably less intelligent when it comes to grammar than those who are educated about it.
If bad grammar is considered "normal" amongst those who don't know much about it, then those who do know much about it would be considered intelligent when compared to them.
This theory wouldn't apply to people that are well educated about grammar, but choose not to use it, though.

 

[PaulaG]

Because swear swords are the only words making up their vocabulary besides, "hello", "goodbye" and "boobs".

I couldn't have put it better myself! I like the way you think!

And while I'm not sure they it makes them sound intellectual, they do think it makes them sound mature....not realizing that it's the total opposite.

 

[skitzo van]

When you don't use them like commas, then you sound smart.

 

[II2]

Used correctly, it can add stress and emphasis to make statements have more impact.

See Hunter S. Thompson or George Carlin

Used incorrectly, it can replace all the "likes" and "uh"s and "mmm"s and become a weird form of punctuation

See uncensored interviews with many Hip Hop artists (not exclusively).

 

[Brandon237]

No, swearing is used for emphasis, pain, anger or any strong emotion really, not to sound smart. You sound smart when you don't swear and still get your point/ insult/ emphasis across.

 

[lacktheknack]

Ummmm, wha-?

I've never seen this phenomenon before. Besides, everybody is aware that intellectuals are hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophilesLovers of long words.

 

[megalomania]

I guess it's the same reason people think punctuation and grammar makes them intelligent.

That confuses me.
Wouldn't that mean that people who don't use good grammar aren't less intelligent than those who do?
People who aren't that well educated about grammar probably don't know much about it and are thus probably less intelligent when it comes to grammar than those who are educated about it.
If bad grammar is considered "normal" amongst those who don't know much about it, then those who do know much about it would be considered intelligent when compared to them.
This theory wouldn't apply to people that are well educated about grammar, but choose not to use it, though.

Grammar is a bit of a weird example of this because most people (in England, as per my experience!) are not taught English grammar; they learn to write properly through imitation of what they read & blindly correcting mistakes when they are pointed out by the teacher. So there is a major distinction to be made between functional grammar, good grammar and bad grammar. It means making assumptions about people's grammar vs intelligence is tricky!