Well Jack.. I swear.. all the fucking time. I’m older and I no longer give a shit what anyone thinks of my 6 pk abs and my sagging ass..my gray hair.. and my salty fucking language. I’m tired.. the only thing that might curb my language is my baby girl granddaughter once she’s born but I doubt I can curb it completely in front of her..I find that most people don’t give a shit about much unless it’s about themselves.. I’m the one who checks on everyone because I’m a Mom of more people who aren’t even related to me.. they adopt me as Mom..I go to my fav sushi bar and every single employee there calls me Mom.. So fuck it and I embrace it
Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your granddaughter. When my granddaughter was 8 she marked it on a Post-it every time I swore. She made a list of bad words you’re not supposed to say. I have it framed. I still swear around the grandkids. They’re fine.
Jack —- marvelous piece. Is that why I talk to myself harshly and abruptly and loudly in the mirror on occasion? No gentle or soft language sometimes just marking the day!!!!
Thanks Jack as a 40+ year RN I have worked absolutely everything ;acute care medical mission refugee care psych ER Hospice etc.We have our own speak because it is life and death and you never know what is going to jump at you in front of you or for how long.Words are a binder of support because words are powerful.Some words are clear without translation.As is the silence when you are completely empty or disaster is averted. Knowing what you say as a first word you utter at the first breath of life and at the final breath of life matter is both powerful and humbling.
My Dad's family was a huge bunch of Americans of Irish+British parents.
The collection of their Swearing vocabulary Always happened in conjunction with the severity of the event, opinion or situation at hand.
Some descriptive words were a warning , like a wolves growl...' sod off'or shut your face' were distinctly times to exit left, even if not involved !
Starting a sentence with a swearing type description also was a eye opener of what the person was all about: He's a gormless git/ that dirty s.o.b. / he's a gobshite, to be sure...
I have dropped more F-bombs in the last year and a half than in the previous 60.
And you’re right about profanity being acoustically superior when you need to get someone’s attention quickly. Even for everyday things like a walk around our fields. By the time I tell my husband, “Watch out for the fox droppings,” he has already walked through them and gotten them on his shoes. Now I just point and say, “Shit,” and he’ll either stop or swerve immediately.
I’d add working cattle to the list of professions in which profanity is crucial. It helps us communicate effectively AND swearing helps us discharge the tension and stress of trying to get cows to do what’s needed.
It’s the only context in which I comfortably use the C word.
Cut through the BS and get to the point when you are saying something. Most people don't want all the frufru stuff. Just let me know what you are saying directly. Keep conversation on point and yo really need to get a point across be very brief and direct. Love this post Jack . Entertaining and informative. In this absolutely insane world we live in know, this was needed.
Had not considered the history of cursing. But tonight, I am cursing like a sailor as I have just read that the Navy is renaming the USS Dory Miller the USS Donald Trump. Of all the ...
Not a sailor but I am sometimes jealous of language you can get by with that I can’t. In person I seldom use many words. Writing I seem to use more. One of these days I’ll surprise everyone and use a word that actually makes my point without my filter. Yes, I’m smiling.
This made me think of Hemingway, with his spare, uncomplicated prose. Mind you, I'm not a big Hemingway fan, but his directness had effect. He stripped his narrative down to only what was necessary. Did he lose some nuance and subtlety? Sure. But he didn't give a shit. He said what he fucking came to say. Gotta at least admire that.
I loved this piece so much because I've always wondered where the phrase came from...and because I've long been told that I swear like a sailor. Thank you for filling in the reason behind the phrase.
The line that most resonated for me (and I'm not going back to look up a direct quote) was about about venting and release...and how sometimes that's related to survival.
I also appreciated the force of warnings that cut through. The most perfectly constructed short swear loaded sentence I ever heard of was from my friend's 5 year old daughter. She had just come into the house after work with her two kids (5 and 18 months) carrying grocery bags to the kitchen. What snapped her back to the front hall was her Kindergartener came out with, "Holy sh*t, get that gddmned baby off the f*king stairs!"
Finally, your point about indirect, softened language being small lies. That observation was a punch in the face. Growing up, I was always told that swearing was "unladylike." I rejected the "lady" label by the time I was about 9. But for all of the women who soften their language to stay on the side of the "ladylike" fence, we're giving in to the small lies that society asks for from us.
Thank you for this. And now I want to know what that structurally elegant, load-bearing sentence actually was!
Jack, I think you’re correct about the importance of language here—and correct again that the way we use it matters as much as the words themselves.
What your piece brought to mind for me is that communication requires more than vocabulary. Even rudimentary grammar and what might seem like primitive language skills give us the basic structure necessary to communicate deliberately. And “cursive language”—the nuance, implication, irony, context, and meaning between the literal words—is just as important. We have to be able to recognize not only what someone says, but what they are actually communicating.
Delivery is a huge part of that. Tone, cadence, timing, emphasis, pauses, and volume can completely change the meaning of the same words. And underneath all of it is raw emotion. Anger, fear, joy, grief, frustration, affection—those emotions aren’t noise surrounding communication; they’re often part of the message itself.
That’s also why profanity can be so effective. A swear word can be meaningless filler, or, when deliberately delivered, it can convey an intensity that more conventional language simply cannot. Sometimes the sailor really does have exactly the right word.
Your piece reminded me that language isn’t just about saying something. It is about choosing how to say it, understanding how it will be heard, and recognizing the emotion and meaning carried between the words.
Well Jack.. I swear.. all the fucking time. I’m older and I no longer give a shit what anyone thinks of my 6 pk abs and my sagging ass..my gray hair.. and my salty fucking language. I’m tired.. the only thing that might curb my language is my baby girl granddaughter once she’s born but I doubt I can curb it completely in front of her..I find that most people don’t give a shit about much unless it’s about themselves.. I’m the one who checks on everyone because I’m a Mom of more people who aren’t even related to me.. they adopt me as Mom..I go to my fav sushi bar and every single employee there calls me Mom.. So fuck it and I embrace it
Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your granddaughter. When my granddaughter was 8 she marked it on a Post-it every time I swore. She made a list of bad words you’re not supposed to say. I have it framed. I still swear around the grandkids. They’re fine.
Jack —- marvelous piece. Is that why I talk to myself harshly and abruptly and loudly in the mirror on occasion? No gentle or soft language sometimes just marking the day!!!!
Damn straight! Having worked in heavily male profession, many of them ex-military, I was taught well and can swear fluently.
My profession was also a pressure cooker at times…. nothing like what Jack experienced and….. still……. swearing works like nothing else.
Thanks Jack as a 40+ year RN I have worked absolutely everything ;acute care medical mission refugee care psych ER Hospice etc.We have our own speak because it is life and death and you never know what is going to jump at you in front of you or for how long.Words are a binder of support because words are powerful.Some words are clear without translation.As is the silence when you are completely empty or disaster is averted. Knowing what you say as a first word you utter at the first breath of life and at the final breath of life matter is both powerful and humbling.
Exactly, Maggie. Exactly.
Swearing is indeed necessary !
It gets one attention in dire Conditions.
My Dad's family was a huge bunch of Americans of Irish+British parents.
The collection of their Swearing vocabulary Always happened in conjunction with the severity of the event, opinion or situation at hand.
Some descriptive words were a warning , like a wolves growl...' sod off'or shut your face' were distinctly times to exit left, even if not involved !
Starting a sentence with a swearing type description also was a eye opener of what the person was all about: He's a gormless git/ that dirty s.o.b. / he's a gobshite, to be sure...
I once used the word FUCK..
11 times in one sentence!
AHhh..the Old Days!
I have dropped more F-bombs in the last year and a half than in the previous 60.
And you’re right about profanity being acoustically superior when you need to get someone’s attention quickly. Even for everyday things like a walk around our fields. By the time I tell my husband, “Watch out for the fox droppings,” he has already walked through them and gotten them on his shoes. Now I just point and say, “Shit,” and he’ll either stop or swerve immediately.
I’d add working cattle to the list of professions in which profanity is crucial. It helps us communicate effectively AND swearing helps us discharge the tension and stress of trying to get cows to do what’s needed.
It’s the only context in which I comfortably use the C word.
Cut through the BS and get to the point when you are saying something. Most people don't want all the frufru stuff. Just let me know what you are saying directly. Keep conversation on point and yo really need to get a point across be very brief and direct. Love this post Jack . Entertaining and informative. In this absolutely insane world we live in know, this was needed.
#HOLDFAST
Teri
Had not considered the history of cursing. But tonight, I am cursing like a sailor as I have just read that the Navy is renaming the USS Dory Miller the USS Donald Trump. Of all the ...
Great article!
Not a sailor but I am sometimes jealous of language you can get by with that I can’t. In person I seldom use many words. Writing I seem to use more. One of these days I’ll surprise everyone and use a word that actually makes my point without my filter. Yes, I’m smiling.
Swearing is an outlet I use frequently. Makes me feel better every time.
This made me think of Hemingway, with his spare, uncomplicated prose. Mind you, I'm not a big Hemingway fan, but his directness had effect. He stripped his narrative down to only what was necessary. Did he lose some nuance and subtlety? Sure. But he didn't give a shit. He said what he fucking came to say. Gotta at least admire that.
I loved this piece so much because I've always wondered where the phrase came from...and because I've long been told that I swear like a sailor. Thank you for filling in the reason behind the phrase.
The line that most resonated for me (and I'm not going back to look up a direct quote) was about about venting and release...and how sometimes that's related to survival.
I also appreciated the force of warnings that cut through. The most perfectly constructed short swear loaded sentence I ever heard of was from my friend's 5 year old daughter. She had just come into the house after work with her two kids (5 and 18 months) carrying grocery bags to the kitchen. What snapped her back to the front hall was her Kindergartener came out with, "Holy sh*t, get that gddmned baby off the f*king stairs!"
Finally, your point about indirect, softened language being small lies. That observation was a punch in the face. Growing up, I was always told that swearing was "unladylike." I rejected the "lady" label by the time I was about 9. But for all of the women who soften their language to stay on the side of the "ladylike" fence, we're giving in to the small lies that society asks for from us.
Thank you for this. And now I want to know what that structurally elegant, load-bearing sentence actually was!
It is the reaction we get as females, when we are forthright.
Damn tired of it.
People want " softened" language.
It doesn't matter what the subject is. No relaxing, no interrupting.
Married 57 years.
Say what I want, so does he.
No need for swearing because no tension between us.
Person I admire is JoJofromJerz.
She is on Substack. Swears creatively.
🗽🇺🇲🇺🇦
Jack, I think you’re correct about the importance of language here—and correct again that the way we use it matters as much as the words themselves.
What your piece brought to mind for me is that communication requires more than vocabulary. Even rudimentary grammar and what might seem like primitive language skills give us the basic structure necessary to communicate deliberately. And “cursive language”—the nuance, implication, irony, context, and meaning between the literal words—is just as important. We have to be able to recognize not only what someone says, but what they are actually communicating.
Delivery is a huge part of that. Tone, cadence, timing, emphasis, pauses, and volume can completely change the meaning of the same words. And underneath all of it is raw emotion. Anger, fear, joy, grief, frustration, affection—those emotions aren’t noise surrounding communication; they’re often part of the message itself.
That’s also why profanity can be so effective. A swear word can be meaningless filler, or, when deliberately delivered, it can convey an intensity that more conventional language simply cannot. Sometimes the sailor really does have exactly the right word.
Your piece reminded me that language isn’t just about saying something. It is about choosing how to say it, understanding how it will be heard, and recognizing the emotion and meaning carried between the words.
#HOLDFAST