I was brought up to be polite and not use the serious swear words. I was told that swearing showed a lack of communications skills, BUT, whilst that might apply in polite social gatherings, having been in the engineering environment all my working life, I can honestly say that swearing in one form or another is so common that if such offends a person, they need to find a new role in life as engineering is clearly not suited to them
I have a pretty good mental filter on swear words and tend to ignore them now. I have heard most english language swear words and provided they are not being directed at me, I take no offence. That said, the C word is still an unpleasant one to find in conversation but the F word is so common as to not even catch me eye. I use it in the working world, usually when something has gone badly wrong ! I do not use it in front of my Wife, or if one slips out, I apologise. That is out of respect for her.
Now for a blatantly misogynistic comment from me ..... I am saddened when I hear women using the serious and more unpleasant swear words, especially in normal conversation where such is not really needed. I have always had the greatest respect for women and serious swearing just does not become them as the fairer sex.
The problem with using the more unpleasant swear word on a public forum is that many young eyes read these forums and some parents may not like them reading forums with a lot of foul language. It would be a pity to lose any younger forum members as a result of parental intervention. That said, many youngsters could likely teach me a few highly unpleasant swear words these days
I do not find this forum to be an environment in which serious swearing is common and that is great for everyone.
At the end of the day, words are not physical and do not harm anyone, it is the intent behind their use that does the harm. Communication is complex and takes many forms, some not so pleasant, swearing is as old as the hills !
When living in Australia I used to be amused and amazed at the swearing and abuse present in the Australian parliament sessions. I heard that the only word you could not call your political opponent was a "Mongrel"
Not sure if that is actually true, or whether it was just my local Australian engineer friend pulling my leg ! The English parliament is far more restrained and boring to watch ! Note that I lived in Australia (Darwin) from 1989 to 1992 so things may have been a bit different back then
Fraser