Swearing in front of children

^A formal complaint seems overkill to me. I do hope the gps
shock at seeing the flareup resulted in effective treatment.^

Hope you don't mind me translating Iam64, in case you are not on here.

OH who's only in his forties reported this to the practice manager.

Is your husband such a delicate flower sparkly? I agree with Iam, overkill.

Sorry sparkly 1000 - I was typing on my mobile, which I sometimes believe has been taken over by someone/something in cyber space. My post should have read:
Couldn't the f**g hell comment have been dealt with immediately by your husband? A formal complaint seems like over kill to me. (I went on to express hope that the GP 's obvious shock at seeing the flare up, resulted in effective treatment)

One of my father's favourite swear words was Blimey. I said it one day when I was very young and got a long telling off from my grandmother (his MiL) Naturally the next time he said it I told him that grandma said it was a very naughty word and he shouldn't say it! his reply was " mutter, mutter, Grandma, mutter, mutter, Grandma"

Well I say blimey but I was told it is short for God Blind me (as in Gor blimey.) Similarly crikey is a euphemism for Christ, as is Crumbs (via crust -get it?) and Bloody refers to christs blood. All swear words derive from either religious oaths or 'rude' parts of the body or bodily functions either sexual or excretory. This is one reason I don't like them. Unpleasant or blasphemous!
Obviously those of us who dont swear use euphemisms too : obvious exMples as flipping, heck, sugar, (no prizes for guessing the derivations!)
Funnily enough I do say Good Lord or For God's Sake (but not OMG ) and damn but I am rather offended when people say 'Jesus' as a swear word.
Probably hypocritical.

I have just returned from New York and was really shocked when walking through an expensive store heard a child of about 10 years of age saying to her mother "if you had f**king brought me earlier I would of got the f**king dress" I nearly walked into a wall in shock!!!!!

I had a very sheltered upbringing, and when my future husband took me up to London to see a show, I had to ask the meaning of the words daubed on the walls of the tube, to his astonishment!
Have always hated swearing, my children know this and don't swear in front of me, the DH has been known to let fly, followed by apology when he calms down. But blasphemy actually makes me feel ill it is so upsetting. In one of my first places of work, one of the ladies regularly used to say 'Jesus wept', and in the end I plucked up courage to ask her not to use that expression. It actually worked, and she didn't do it again, not only that, but she used to apologise for any swear word in my presence. If people can actually control themselves, then why don't they?

TBH I think people get worked up about swearing unnecessarily. Intent is what matters. If someone tells you to F off, we can assume the intent is pretty negative. If they say F***ing hell when they drop a bottle of milk, it means nothing and is not worth getting steamed up about.

A friend of my father often worked at Kensington palace when Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden were in residence, she could swear for the Olympics
But then, the Kray twins wouldn't have swearing in front of women. Funny old world.

I’ve worked in all sorts of places where swearing is almost common place. I don’t mind it, except when it becomes virtual punctuation to a sentence. The word ‘like’ has replaced the f word in common parlance and is utterly annoying. Every other word. I prefer the swearing!

There are new rules which prohibit any swearing from anybody spectators can be asked to physically leave the ground, parent or not . About time, I would like to see it banned in schools by teachers too ......

I was in my mid to late teens when I first heard the “C” word. Sadly it’s quite commonplace in secondary schools now so to teenagers it’s lost all emphasis.

I think it is best not to swear in front of children as no one really wants to hear a five-year-old say "What the fuck?". I was hugely careful not to swear in front of my daughter when she was little and it is quite amusing that all the au pairs we had still say "Golly". when they are talking English. Children, even young ones, will hear inappropriate words but you have the high ground if you can honestly say, "We don't use these words in our house".

AS for objecting to "fart" - it is simply normal parlance. All my GC use the word and have done since little. What else would you call it? - a botty burp? - groan.

To be honest and I know I'm old fashioned I cannot stand people swearing at any time but in front of children I think is totally unacceptable. I cannot for the life of me understand the need to swear, maybe under your breath sometime yes but make it that way. I know its common now for people to swear any where at any time but it doesn't mean that it is acceptable.

Luckygirl,I don’t like the word fart,but don’t mind fartypants, funny old world isn’t it, as for the now common use of the C,word I hate it ( perhaps because it’s female) where as I don’t mind so much the word Prick,( perhaps because it’s male) I’m not a feminist as such but definitely don’t like anything that sounds derogatory to or about a woman.

Definitely not in front of children.

What harm does it do children? If they know that it is a slip of the tongue under provocation, and that it is not for general use (which most do know), then where is the harm?

Of course swearing with negative intent towards someone is not acceptable.

And as for fart - I am intrigued to know what words others use for....well.....a fart.

Expulsion of flatus?

DS and DiL came to an agreement with 13-year-old DS that if he heard any of us grown-ups swearing he could repeat the world. This was working well until some careless person (no names...) came out with 'oh shit', whereupon my GS gleefully came out with the said expression. But really he is a very considerate boy who would think twice before coming out with 'school playground language' in front of his granny.

Luckygirl, we use 'pumpiedoodle' however our grandson is only 2 so he finds it very amusing

Luckygirl and anno have it to a tee. Unless children grow up in neglectful families, with no boundaries, they know what's acceptable and what isn't. A child I know, aged 2 1/2 said recently "me said fucksake". Child grins, looks at mummy who turned away and ignored it. Several weeks later, the child has never repeated it, despite being one of those children who rarely stops talking.

My Gc always used to say 'trump' instead of 'fart'. Seems entirely appropriate nowadays!

Unfortunate, but you just have to make children understand that even if grown ups say these things sometimes, children must not.
I must have been 11 and new to senior school,when I heard a girl saying 'Balls!' (mild now, I know,). With no clue that it meant anything other than round things used in games, I came out with it at the family dinner table.

After looking askance, my father's merely told me that it was not a word for me to use, 'particularly not in mixed company.' !

It was quite a while before I found out why not!

When we lived abroad our very small dd took a school bus from our compound to school, with a lot of older children who evidently didn't moderate their language.

At still only 4, on a visit to the UK, and in front of some very 'proper' relatives - not elderly maiden aunts but those of our age who had young children of their own, she came out with the F word!

Talk about the temperature plummeting to sub zero - they were so appalled, and our explanation that she must have picked it up on the school bus cut little ice - I swear our names were mud for a long time.

After having it explained that it was a very rude word and she must never say it again, she never did - at least not that I ever heard.
But the relatives' reaction always struck me as seriously OTT - they couldn't even begin to shrug it off once we'd explained, let alone laugh about it afterwards.

I am truly intrigued about some words being deemed "rude" and others not. Most are descriptive of genitalia - what is wrong with that? How have they come to be seen as rude?

And the idea that a child would be told that something is not a word for children to use is quite crazy to my mind! How come Mum and Dad can do it? Either it is deemed OK or it isn't.

"Pumpiedoodle" - that is a gem!!