One of the lesser-known reasons why I thought I might feel at home in Australia is because Australians swear a lot.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am no foul-mouthed harridan. I swear selectively, only when appropriate and only when a more ‘acceptable’ word won’t do. But I don’t find swearing offensive. Swear words are just words with a judgement imposed on them. If you’re looking for an insult, combinations of non-swear words can be more effective.
I hate to say it, but my fellow Scots do have a reputation for peppering their speech with a few too many ‘swearie words’ as they are delightfully known on the west coast. Yes, swearing can punctuate a sentence to great effect. But it should be more of a semi-colon than a comma; tricky to use correctly but amazingly useful when you know what to do with it.
No matter how much they swear themselves, I suspect most immigrants from the UK will find the language used on Australian radio a bit of a surprise. Often British celebrity guests will accidentally let a minor swear word slip, sh*t, for example, and apologise, only to be told that of course it’s f**king alright for them to say that on air. Swear words in songs that would be routinely bleeped out overseas are left in here. This year’s top place in the Triple J Hottest 100 – a kind of chart of the year’s most popular songs – went to ‘Little Lion Man’ by Mumford and Sons, a track with a chorus lamenting how the singer ‘f***ed it up this time’. I heard thousands of people sing it out loud when the band played the Laneway Festival in Perth earlier this year. It wasn’t offensive, just slightly out of tune.
So if I’m so comfortable with all this foul language, you may be wondering why I have gone down the route of using asterisks to disguise – not very effectively – some of the words I’ve used here. My usual writing loosely follows The Guardian’s style guide – which is quite clear that no asterisks should be used.
But given that I’ve only been in this country five minutes, it’s probably best not to risk offending anyone. You never can tell what people will think. I recently told someone I have known for nearly 20 years that I thought I swore quite a lot, and they were visibly shocked – even although I am pretty sure I have never uttered anything much worse than a ‘bloody’ in front of them. So the asterisks can stay on screen; the full words are safe in my head, ready for the next time I have to deal with my mobile phone company or another crazy bit of Australian bureaucracy – what swearing was invented for.
great blog and very nice post
Thanks ermadear!
f*ck you all! you probable would have taken this in an offensive way…but swear words can be seen merely as emotion that needs to be expressed in order to gain relief from a situation. All words have their use…they wouldnt be words if they didnt have no use. So appreciate these words and use them wisely. Also how you interpret and receive these words towards you differ in every individual. If someone swore at me i would probably laugh where someone else may punch them in thier face, Have a broader thinking of this subject.
it’s f**kin great, i swear.
By the way, swearing is fucking awesome.
Asterisks are fine, but they pose a challenge for me. I mean, how the phoque am I supposed to know what those hidden letters are?
Enjoyable post, by the way.
Thanks Pat. And I am enjoying your blog too!
There’s another excellent blogger over in Sydney Val; http://bainosbanter.blogspot.com/
For a few days last week I had a broken tooth which prevented me from properly forming the letter F.
Sadly, this rendered me speechless when a hydraulic hose popped out on a piece of equipment.
I could do nothingl but think my thoughts and carry on.
Traumatic, for sure. But I am pretty much over it now.
Haha! Great post. I love to swear, but my brothers always tell me it’s not ladylike. Who knew swearing was only for males? For me swearing is a way to get that excitement or anger out in a way that feels liberating! Swear on and glad that tooth is fixed
I find that the Brits tend to be more refined than Americans in many aspects of life, but their language tends to be more brash than Americans. My first trip to London caught me off guard when I heard the language being used by the people in public. Americans are definitely more sensitive to hearing swear words in conversations.
I feel like when I’m in an environment where swearing is much more common in everyday life, it’s just on the whole way more settling and relaxing. It’s like hearing the swearing makes me feel comfortable, as if I’m in a very friendly, unpretentious place where I can just be myself. So I completely agree with you, swearing…is caring! LOL
Thanks to everyone who’s left comments. I’ve dropped off the Freshly Pressed page now so I guess the traffic will drop – but I do hope some of you come back! It’s been fun hearing all your views, even although some of the language has been a bit ripe! 🙂
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hi.
it’s so nice meeting you.
i’d be happy to have your comments on my blog.
love
sadegh
My parents hate it when I swear. They say, “There are so many nicer words in the English language,” but I’m a professional writer (former journalist, now PR). Sometimes, the so-called nice words just don’t get your point across.
Ha ha, that sounds so honest and nice 🙂 You won’t believe it talks about swearing. I come from a country when swearing is almost an art, sometimes you hear words you can’t stop laughing about 🙂 That’s why when I moved to US I was finding it very strange that the worst word they will say is “s**t” a,d then they will add “pardon my French” like they said something very bad … So I had to learn not to “express my feelings”, knowing that it may be offensive for most people. Still, it comes naturally to me to say a bad word here and there, no matter that I am a woman 🙂