Don't want to be "that guy" without the cool wired camera but...

@thismyusername Definetly effin' @carl669

@thismyusername @jimmyd103

@dashcloud "we messed up pretty badly"

@dashcloud "we really screwed up"

@daveJay D-

@daveJay none of that really brings home the point quite so well. the mistake was pretty fuckin' terrible.

@RedHot I blame @carl669

@RedHot It's true that you can be more expressive with explicit language. But if explicit language was purely a more expressive way of talking, why does society view it as objectionable? Why don't we let our kids say it?

@daveJay that's a pretty broad and general statement. I'd argue that plenty of kids curse all the time. I know because I was a kid and I've been on Xbox Live. I don't think society as a whole views it as objectionable, I think the group that does is just much louder than those that don't care or are in favor of cursing. I'm also certain it's generational, which can often be the case when a group is taking offense to something.

Source.
Those percentages for 'Never' and even 'Rarely' are pretty damn low. I've very rarely met anyone from my generation that doesn't curse and I would go as far to say I would think it was odd if I did. Cursing just isn't a big deal at all to me and I don't think that's a bad thing. In this case the curse wasn't targeted at anyone or anything, or trying to make anyone feel bad (except ourselves). I think the puritanical way we sometimes handle cursing in this country creates the same problems as the puritanical way we handle sex: if we didn't make such a big fucking deal about it people wouldn't care to do it nearly as much and the power would be taken away from it.

@JonT interesting numbers. Thanks for sharing.

I personally don't swear. And I suppose it's just because of my upbringing. I've honestly never felt the need to swear, but if I'm being honest I think I do have to be intentional about not swearing sometimes.

I guess I just don't like the negative association of the words. Looking at the list of the most popular curse words on Twitter is just an unpleasant and non-uplifting experience for me : http://newmediarockstars.com/2014/02/fck-that-the-nine-most-popular-swear-words-on-twitter/

@daveJay society's views of which words are objectionable are arbitrary. A "curse word" is a word like any other word. Calling certain words bad and others ok does absolutely nothing for anyone, except make the bad ones more fun to use. If a word wasn't a "curse" I'm fairly certain no one would bother. What makes one word more offensive? its connotation and its intention. That's why racial slurs are so horrible. Words are just words, we're the ones giving them the power they have. Maybe Meh is taking a step in the right direction.

@daveJay I think you touched on an interesting point--if swearing isn't offensive, then why does it even exist as a concept? Why can't kids curse at their teachers, etc? I think the answer is that it's part of a subtle but firm way that subservience is expressed in society.

Imagine a normal company. Co-workers can curse ("We really fucked up the Krupke account"), the boss can curse ("Don't fuck up the Krupke account again"), but nobody is supposed to curse at anyone of a higher level, or a customer. By the same token, if someone I know personally never curses, it's a subtle way of letting me know they don't consider themselves "on my level" yet, whether or not I feel the same about them.

That's why I think people enjoy Meh's writeups: yes, Meh is a company, but they don't feel the need to engage the customer with "your call is very important to us" corporate-drone bullshit. It's much more comfortable when we can all just speak as equals.

@RedHot I wasn't sure what you or @JonT meant at first. But I think I'm getting it. Are you saying that curse/swear/bad words are only "bad" because people choose (sometimes arbitrarily) to view them as bad – giving them their power. So if everyone used those words why would anyone consider them "bad" anymore?

@Starblind I think you're right about all of us being equals. And since normal people swear as JonT pointed out Meh is positioning themselves as one of us. They're not pretentious – just normal mediocre people.

@daveJay YES! there was even a discussion a week or so ago about using fuck as a greeting, thus turning it into something good at least for us. The user's intention also has a lot to do with how the word is perceived. If I use it in a negative tone or to attack someone it seems like cursing is really bad when really my intention is the same if I use a non-curse word, like darn instead of damn.

@RedHot Great point. And I like that there's not any language being used against anyone. Not even towards Amazon as far as I know.

@daveJay I think you get it now. And that's cool. Usually when this topic pops up there's one guy who just can't fathom how a company would dare to treat them like an actual human being.

@RedHot However, I think there's more to it than just society's making a nonsensical word "bad". Some refer to legitimately bad things like eternity in hell or poop, or refer to good but normally private things that we keep to ourself like sex or private body parts. So I think there seems to be a certain shock value associated with these words that also gives them more power. As an example in the same vein, but in a more pronounced way it would be shocking for me to go nude in public. So talking in public about private parts or private functions between people is also shocking. If society gets more accepting of one word because of increased usage I imagine we would try to make it even worse/more shocking some how. Instead of "F--er" we move towards “Mother F--er” because that has even more shock value.

@daveJay I'd hate for you to hear me in traffic then, if these are words with shock value to you. I 'curse' a lot at home. More than I probably do on the internet even. I teach my kids that there are no 'bad' words, but that some words are not appropriate for them to use, or for them to use in certain situations. They've grasped that concept pretty well. Racial slurs go into the 'never appropriate' category. And for them, at their ages, curse words are not currently appropriate for them to use. shrugs I wouldn't say fuck in church, because it's not an appropriate setting. I don't want to stand in line at the grocery store and hear the cashier telling a customer to fuckoff, because it's not appropriate. An internet commerce site can say pretty much whatever the hell they want though and I'm likely to be okay with it.

@Lotsofgoats "Oopsie". Oopsie is a good descriptive safe word.

@lisaviolet You said "safe word". Heh heh.

@lumpthar Man, I hated Beevis and Butthead.

@Baybay11 I keep coming back night after night in hope that they have a ten dollar deep fryer again.

^ THIS!! ^