Is Swearing A Bad Habit?

You were probably taught, at an early age, swearing is bad. However, by the time you got to teenage years, you used every swear word in the book. At least, you did this when you were alone with your gang of friends. They all got into it as well. 

Boys tend to swear more than girls and this trend continues into adulthood. Teenage boys tend to swear to impress girls. They don’t realize that deep down the girls aren’t as impressed as the boys hoped.

In the Catholic religion, confessing that you swore will get you a Hail Mary or two as part of your penance. And if you happen to slip up in front of your parents, you can expect a response of “watch your mouth!” Of course, your parents are no strangers to that bad language, especially fathers.

Many psychiatrists believe that a certain amount of swearing can be healthy. It is a way to express your feelings and release your aggression. Swearing is certainly a better alternative to physical violence.

Whether it’s healthy to swear or not, it is still not acceptable in public. Therefore, if you are someone who swears frequently, you need to find ways to stop swearing. Or at least you should find ways to reduce your swearing. Many people leave jars near them to put change whenever they swear. People have different rules for how it works. But, if they reach a certain threshold, they lose the change. Others keep the change in the jar to remind them of the swearing.

Another technique is to have people you know remind you whenever you say a swear word. When you are speaking, and you say the word, they interrupt you with the fact that you said a bad word.

It’s interesting to note that a swear word in one country is completely innocuous in another. As an example, in England, the word “bloody” is considered a curse word and is not in other English-speaking countries. The word “fuck” is bad in the United States but has little impact in other countries.

Children are corrected when they say certain words but are allowed to say substitutes. For instance, if a child says the word “shit” they get reprimanded. However, saying “shoot” is perfectly fine with many families, even though they might say it with the same inflection. Of course, you’ll find plenty of kids who point out when their parents use the same bad word that they are not allowed to use.