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Majority of Americans utter curse words when stressed out, study finds

25 thoughts on “Fuck me!”

  1. That’s fucking bullshit. ‘Merican’s fucking swear whenever they fucking feel like it, and often just for fucking fun. Only an asshole’d think being stressed out had any fucking thing to do with that shit.

  2. Bloke in North Dorset

    In the Army there is an appointment called Foreman of Signals. In my time we were responsible for Signals equipment maintenance as well as general comme maintenance. The holder (SSgt to WO1) is usually addressed as FoS.

    The apocryphal story goes like this:

    FoS to young Signalman: “What’s wrong with it, Bloggs?”

    Young Signalman: “Fucker’s fucking fucked, FoS”.

    fuck has to be the most universal word in the English language.

  3. And similar to BiND’s story, former Middlesex & England off-spinner John Emburey [a cricketer, for those unfamiliar with the term “off-spinner”], a man [allegedly] notorious for being free with his expletives, once [equally allegedly] expressed his disappointment with some object or other’s refusal to function with the even better line, “Fucking fucker’s fucking fucked”.

  4. The Other Bloke in Italy

    Being restrained and well-spoken, I use the words fornicate, fornicated and fornicators.

  5. Emburey was asked about an injury I think, to which the reply was “the…” and finishing as you described.

  6. Is it not strange that the word for life’s most pleasant activity is also used to express malevolence, disgust, despair and a host of other negative emotions.

  7. Quite often I find myself trying to explain the use of “fuck” in conversation & the different values it can have. For instance “fuck off” can be a light-hearted response to a request.Whereas “fuck you” is a direct challenge to an adversary.
    Very confusing to deprived forriners with their restricted swearing abilities.

  8. Tim,
    I wanted to leave comments at CT – and presumably you want more comments. But it’s too adminny and I gave up. Can you make it as easy to comment there as it is here?

  9. I bought a t-shirt whilst living in NYC that says simply “Fuck you, you fucking fuck”.

    Thought it only worked in New York. Apparently not.

  10. Cursing is the mark of an uneducated, lazy person — one who does not care to take the time to tell you why he is frustrated. I’ve gone years without hearing a curse word from a family member, customer, supplier, neighbor, friend…. Except among the lower class, it is not used often in the States.

  11. I don’t really swear all that much, but yeah, on occasion. Probably less as I’ve grown older. Unless I’ve hit my finger with a hammer.

    It’s always seemed to me that Brits use obscenities more casually than do Americans (though certainly with some Americans surpass many Brits). But have you ever spent much time around New Zealanders? Jeez, it’s not stop swearing. Something to do with lots of sheep I hear.

  12. It has to be a little more controlled there. We have had so much spam. Including one bloke who posted 90 sets of insults while posing as me in just the one day.

  13. Swearing in English or German is fun and extremely useful in context, especially in the office.

    A very good boss of mine a few years ago surprised the senior managers when he was asked for an explanation as to why a piece of work had not gone according to plan. We were expecting a dry and technical set of actions and consequences. The North-East \ Liverpool bloke thought for a second and said
    “Basically it’s all gone to fooking shite.”
    And that was it.

  14. How many Peter Mandlesons does it take to change a light bulb?
    “Well confidentially my friend, just between you and me … it’s none of your fucking business!”

  15. “We have had so much spam. Including one bloke who posted 90 sets of insults while posing as me in just the one day.”

    That is good news. “When you’re getting flak” and all that…

  16. But have you ever spent much time around New Zealanders? Jeez, it’s not stop swearing. Something to do with lots of sheep I hear.

    Apart from a drunk stumbling down the main street of Rotorua last week I haven’t really noticed it in the three weeks I’ve been here…

  17. cursing is empty talk.
    Most noticeable by its absence when important people are being addressed

  18. The Meissen Bison

    David Bright: Cursing is the mark of an uneducated, lazy person — one who does not care to take the time to tell you why he is frustrated.

    For my part, I far prefer it when someone does not take the time to tell me why they are frustrated.

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