<nsfw>Do you believe that frequent cursing is a sign of below average intelligence</nsfw>?

Hell no!

That’s bullshit.

I have a friend whose husband was a computer programmer for the state (Recently retired so he implemented most of the programs.)
He said that he knew that he had to be so good that they would have to put up with the fact that every other word was an f bomb. He refused to quit cussing.
He said he had secretaries kick him out of their office only to call him begging to come back. They needed what only he knew. Pretty brilliant if you ask me. I prefer a more creative vocabulary and personally only pull that out on very rare occasions to maintain the shock effect, but the sheer volume of this guys f bombs maintains a constant shock effect when you consider he doesn’t modify his language for anyone.

I would submit that those who hold that opinion are dishonest at best as the only way they can avoid hypocrisy by saying that what we all think when the shit hits the fan is to entertain a delusion of superiority by demeaning others while simultaneously putting a clean mouth above frank and open disclosure of what is on one’s mind.

@jerv . . . i have never heard such a succinct definition of “asshole”. i love it.

I despise crude language. But, if what you say is true, my husband is just above the IQ of a vegetable. When I read him your question, he said, “That’s f*ucking bullshit.”

I don’t think it is at all. It has to do with certain personality traits and habit.

I am feeling some Jelly déjà vu… I think we had this same question in the past few months.
In any case, I disagree with this sentiment.
I think there are definite class undertones to cursing, but not always. And it often happens that people confound class signifiers with intelligence.
I think I started cursing a lot in middle school because it was a way to make myself seem more ‘normal.’ Kids were already ragging on me for being smarter than most people, being a “teacher’s pet” because I actually gave a damn about school and was respectful, etc…
I do think it’s important to know registers of language appropriate for different contexts, however. Studying French has made me much more sensitive to that.

TL;DR: I’m halfway through a PhD program at the age of 24, so…....... Fuck the naysayers.

My boss is a female doctor and medical director. She can’t complete a sentence without dropping either the f bomb or the GD word.

When it comes down to it, who exactly decided that the words “fuck” and “shit” were “bad” words? They’re both real words, according to the dictionary. Even if you’re Christian, the Bible only refers to taking the Lord’s name in vain being a sin, I think! Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I think the rest of that bullshit was imposed by society’s beliefs…..

Nope.

I’m not aware of any research on this topic. It’s merely a hypothesis that hasn’t been tested, and it is presumptious and foolish for anyone to assert that swearing is a sign of low intelligence without accompanying evidence.

I’ve my own hypothesis: Asserting that swearing is a sign of low intelligence, is a sign of low intelligence. I admit that this hypothesis is untested, and it’s only a tentative inductive argument based on my view that your boss might be a fucking idiot, including all the other shit-for-brains cunts who think swearing is a sign of low intelligence.

I never swear.
But I am dumb as fuck.

Shit no! I think swearing is an acquired habit. My husband cusses like a drunken sailor and he is one of the smartest guys I know. The thing is that when he was growing up his mom dropped f-bombs like it was her job. It was part of her regular vocabulary. Where one person might say “Well it certainly is a beautiful day” his mom would say “This day is sofa king beautiful!”

I had to read it a couple of times, @SuperMouse. Brilliant.

Stephen Hawking has this new toy out, it’s an electronic pre-school educational aid.
“Simple Simon says, pass me the fucking purple crayon you dumb cunt!”
Hey, if it’s good enough for the Hawkster…

@bkcunningham If your husband is smart enough to have learned to dress himself by age 14, then that right there disproves any link between profanity and intelligence.

@SuperMouse Having been a drunken sailor once, I have to say that pissed-off woman of Irish and/or Scottish heritage are far more foul-mouthed. It is also worth noting that one of the first insults I ever learned, I learned from my mother while she was driving; most kids learn “doo-doo head” before they learn “needle-dicked bug-fucker”, but I jumped right into the big leagues when it came to name-calling, largely from riding with her. (Bostonians are quite colorful when they are behind the wheel.)

@rebbel Yeah, Right!
I think intelligent people are smart enough to realize the effect of their foul language on others. Why they would want to appear to be assholes with no recognition of general societal civilities, I don’t know.
I decided. when I was young, that I would b a salty old lady. Now that I’m there, I hold off, because not being known for using bad language, when I do, It has a greater effect than it would otherwise. You should see the faces of some young people for when I lit into them, matching their own words.

@Sunny2 Intelligence has no bearing on the sort of empathy and social skills required to recognize the effect of your behavior (including language) on others. That is, unless, you are saying that sociopaths and autistic people, by definition, have low IQs; even the greatest scientists, inventors, and artists of history.

@jerv Point well taken. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part.

@jerv I do not doubt that women can be quite foul mouthed! Any time I so much as used the word “crap” as a kid my father used to say I sounded like an old fish wife. Whatever that means…

Absolutely not.

Hah. Fuck no. I’m a fucking genius. Bitch.

Wow, I kind of wish I knew what the post was that got modded for writing standards…

@jerv +1 on drunken Irish and Scots! The F is used in all of its conjugations. Aussies often use a lot of colorful euphemisms as well. My New Years resolution was to try and curb my tongue so I am trying mightily to be good

Fuck that!

@bookish1 . . . i know, right?

Well the word ‘fuck’ can be used to fill gaps in sentences if you can’t think of anything to say, and it’s an incredibly versatile word. I mean.. Fucking… Well you know what i fucking mean you fucking fucks go and fuck yourselves and see if i give a fuck.

I don’t think that it’s a sign of low intelligence, but that it is a sign of having a poorly developed imagination, and/or being just plain lazy.

Was George Carlin unintelligent? Whether one agrees with his views or not; he was quite intelligent. What about Stephen King? Well, he was smart enough to know English and then write a shitload of books, and make tons of cash. And I happen to know for a fact that guy doesn’t have a clean mouth And if I’m wrong, he utilizes a lot of swearing in his books. Talk about that. A guy who doesn’t swear, but is a pro at it in his work. fuklolz

Of course, I would defend swearing, because I do it all the time. Even so, I’m unconvinced that people who swear a lot are stupid. However, I may be defeated in this point by mentioning people who never swear, but are mean as shit, flying under the radar and hurting people with words, hurting them bad. Swearing is often used as emphasis for emotion or surprise, which is why it gets me down when it’s usually targeted as something hostile by most people.

I ain’t got fuckall, brar. I often hear; people who swear have problems expressing themselves, and have no imagination. Well, I have problems expressing myself, and I also have no imagination. I’d be prepared to accept this from others, if it wasn’t seen as such a weakness. Why is it so wrong if I can’t express myself, and have no imagination? What’s the problem, exactly? I’m nice, so who cares! I think I’m nice, anyways, duurrr

Ranting over, no, I don’t think swearers are below intelligence. We’re not all diplomats with a flourished vocabulary no, but swearing is so common place and used by so many, that if this so called statement was true, then we probably wouldn’t even have any computers to use in order to debate this.

Some day I’ll prove my point. If I ever write any book, I’d love to write one about swearing, its history and sources around the world, and its current existence in several societies and cultures. but I ain’t gaul durn knowing nuff’ bout this right there fecal matter to write dem burks

Absolutely not. I swear all the fucking time, and I don’t think I’m terribly stupid. My advice on swearing is the same advice I gave my kids about it: Know your audience.
In other words, when it’s inappropriate, don’t fucking do it.

A truly intelligent person knows exactly what they’re saying, and for what reasons, at any given moment.

There are certainly people who use profanity as a crutch. Then there are those of us who play video games, and sometimes it’s the goddamn sonofabitch controller that won’t do what I fucking told it to do.

Depends on how you use cursing. Some people just curse instead of using a varied language, while others add their cursing as a spice to the lovely curry that is language.

It’s a sign of an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex.

@mattbrowne . . . that’s a very childish thing to say

We had a mechanic who worked for us for a short while when we owned the mower shop. He was disgusting. When he’d get frustrated, which was often, he cussed at the machine. He preferred the ugly names that referred to women. I’d be working and I’d hear “You stupid fucking cunt!” “You BITCH!” It went on all day. I finally fired him. He was a decent mechanic but, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. It also turned out he was a pedophile. Found that out via the paper several months later.
What I hate is when people casually cuss around their children, then pop the kid if that same word comes out of their mouths.

Sometimes it is very satisfying to just throw out a colorful euphemism or two. Almost tourettes like. Shit… Ass!

Yeah. When I smashed my finger I was hopping around, hanging on to it going “Sonofabitch! Sonofabitch!” For some reason cussing seems to help.

We had another mechanic, later, who sho had a potty mouth too. But it wasn’t horribly offensive and disgusting like the other dude, although I did try to get him to back off of the “f-word” a little. I mean, we had customers coming in and stuff. We had some degree of success. Overall, he was a pretty neat kid tho.
When Rick and I got married we invited Shannon and his wife of course. After the ceremony (at the lake) and the reception (burgers on the grill and beer) they left. But he called a minute later, and he was all teary eyed and emotional over the whole wedding thing. You could hear it in his voice. He said, “I just wanted to tell you guys that that was a beautiful wedding and congratulations and all that shit!” THAT cracked me up! :)

I feel guilty using religious curse words when I am not.

@Blondesjon – I guess mine is underdeveloped too…

@rojo I don’t. In fact, I’ll often pluralise “god” in “goddammit”, just to increase the blasphemy. I also like using classical deities in oaths. Zeus’s giant balls, it’s cold in here. Y’know, for those classy moments.

Just how would know know that Zeus has giant balls, Seek? :_

Thor has bigger balls.

OOOOOOOOOOhh. and what a “hammer” he had.

Thor Joke:

The Norse god Thor came down to earth in his human form to find a cute human girl for some entertainment. While hanging out at a bar, he realized that the only girl who was interested in him, although attractive, had a speech impediment. However, after a few drinks, thor decided to take her to a motel anyway, where he proceeded to give her the night of her life before slipping out the door when she fell asleep.
The next day, Thor felt bad for leaving her without even telling her who he was, so he went back to earth and knocked on her door.
“Who ith it?” she asked with a lisp.
“It’s me, the guy from last night. I just wanted to tell you that I’m Thor.”
“You think YOU’RE Thor?! I won’t be able to thit down for a week!”

Lol. :p I don’t know what’s funnier, the punchline, or the idea of Thor going to a motel. XD

Oh, that was funny!

When we watched Thor (the motion picture) when they had that scene showing him shirtless, my Mother and Wife both simultaneously gasped and swooned! I laughed until I was sore.

Ha! My mom (who was close to 70 at the time,) my BF and I were watching On Any Given Sunday for the first time. Suddenly there was that locker room scene….know the one I’m talking about? Yeah, Jerry and I were falling over ourselves apologizing to my mom. She just looked at us in surprise and said, “Well, you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.”
Then Jerry and I were falling over in hilarity. I said, “You ain’t never seen nothing like THAT!”

Who are those beautiful women in your avatar, @Dutchess_III?

My mother and me in 1995. :)

You are hot.

I know! Helluva dress to wear to church for a baptism though, isn’t it. It was the nicest thing I had. :)

I didn’t notice the dress. I think you are an absolutely beautiful woman. You both look so happy.

Thanks. Mom always said it was her favorite picture. She said she even liked the one of her, which she never liked pictures of herself.