Caught in a whirlwind of caffeine-induced inspiration, I veer off script [like there is one!] to tackle a topic as old as language itself—swearing. It's a candid exposé on the colourful tapestry of our verbal expressions, where I peel back the layers on the role of profanity in our daily lives. Balancing the act of raw authenticity and respecting societal norms, this episode is a no-holds-barred discussion marked intentionally for adult language. You'll journey with me through personal anecdotes, reflections on language moderation, and the delicate dance of expressing ourselves freely yet thoughtfully.
This episode isn't just about the words we choose to let fly; it's about the profound power they hold and the responsibility we carry with every syllable that rolls off our tongues. Strap in for a linguistic ride that's as informative as it is introspective.
Caught in a whirlwind of caffeine-induced inspiration, I veer off script [like there is one!] to tackle a topic as old as language itself—swearing. It's a candid exposé on the colourful tapestry of our verbal expressions, where I peel back the layers on the role of profanity in our daily lives. Balancing the act of raw authenticity and respecting societal norms, this episode is a no-holds-barred discussion marked intentionally for adult language. You'll journey with me through personal anecdotes, reflections on language moderation, and the delicate dance of expressing ourselves freely yet thoughtfully.
This episode isn't just about the words we choose to let fly; it's about the profound power they hold and the responsibility we carry with every syllable that rolls off our tongues. Strap in for a linguistic ride that's as informative as it is introspective.
Hello, welcome to Infinite Prattle. Um, the continuation of series, series, season, whatever, but I don't know what. I'm calling it. Season, I think changes depending on what day, whether I call it seasonal series, but we're number four anyway, we're number four. Um, how are you? Hope you're well.
Stephen:
Um, today, today's episode, I'm going to make a snap decision about what I'm going to talk about. I've got a few things in my brain and I've decided I just I did a live stream briefly before reporting this and I've decided that, uh, it's going to be about swearing. Um, that's all I'm going to tell you. You're listening to Infinite Prattle with your host, stephen. Thanks for joining me on scripted and edited everything. Thank you me for that wonderful intro.
Stephen:
Um, a weird mood today. The coffee is kicking in. I think I'm recording this at half one in the afternoon, or two o'clock actually. Uh, I keep saying half one, but it's just gone two o'clock on a Sunday and, as you know, this podcast comes out on a five, about five o'clock every Sunday. So, um, close to the bone this week. I think we're going to try and get to the habit to record the next week's one week before. So even if I am like cutting it to the bone. It's only going to be the next following weeks anyway, so the one going out on that day is already done. Does that make sense? Did I say that in the most difficult way possible? So what I'm saying is I'll record a week in advance, so there's no panic for my end. I think that's one. That's one I'm going to try to do and I'm not really going to. I'm going to try and refrain, if possible, for mentioning episode numbers, so then I could just maybe record a few podcasts in one go and just decide on their order after and see the release day afterwards. Anyway, that's, that's admin for me to talk through. That's that's something for me to work out in my own brain, away from the podcast. Um, but good news, we do have a few guests lined up. We've already had Johnny's part one. We've got Dex exciting news. Dex's episode is going to be in a couple of weeks time, but it's already been recorded. Um, he's got two episodes and it's the first video, the first video one we've got. So don't expect like studio studio quality, because it's it's been recorded online. Um, but I'm very excited.
Stephen:
It was very enjoyable. Dex is brilliant. We had a good chat. We can prattle with the best of them along with me. So it was, it was interesting.
Stephen:
We, we kind of went down a dark path at one point and um, a dark but strangely positive path, I feel, um and reflective path. And then on the second episode, he talks about his career change and his life choice to become a voiceover artist, which is which is pretty exciting and really, if you're into that sort of thing and you're looking to that career, really interesting to see what he has to do to try and be successful. And he's just done his. He's done the first couple of steps of that journey. So it's, I think it's a really interesting episode. I really enjoyed speaking to him.
Stephen:
Uh, yeah, and it's a bit of a milestone for the podcast and it's uh, maybe think now whether I should do more video and put the effort in and cause it wasn't too hard and I think that the the I was more bothered about the editing process afterwards, let's face it, but it's going to be okay. So, yeah, I just don't want to overwhelm myself with stuff, um, and I know I say I'm a slapdash and I don't edit anything and stuff like that, but I do want the podcast to be as good as it can be. Um, I am a perfectionist weirdly enough, you wouldn't think it the way I talk, but I deep down really want it to be the best it can be. Um, yeah, so anyway, anyway. So swearing for a funnity? Um, I don't have a problem with swearing. My podcast is listed as adult material, even if the subject matter isn't particularly adult. I don't want to restrict myself from having, you know, not being able to say the word shit, fuck or anything like that. So on YouTube and on my release for my podcast, when I upload it, it's shown as adult and you know adult language. Basically Because, firstly, I slipped the odd word in I don't really.
Stephen:
I slipped the odd F bomb in, and shit and piss and sometimes the old C word that lots of people really really hate, and I feel like I should say it now that I also don't want to. That's weird, isn't it? Because I don't care, but you know I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say you all know what I'm saying or thinking, but yeah, I think it's. I think it's really strange how people perceive swearing and I think swearing in certain contexts is good and it feels good as well. There are times where you know you probably should you know, shy away from it and a bit of etiquette maybe around what language you use. So when I was younger I never swore when I was a kid. I mean, you hear children now swearing left, right and center and shouting each other down the street and stuff, and I never did that I was.
Stephen:
I was probably quite old when I even started kind of semi swearing at school. It wasn't just part of my language. My mum and dad would never allow profanity in the house. They were quite strict with what words were classes swearing as well. So like you could say like stuff like damn, but bloody was classed as a swear word. So if you said all bloody hell, like you'd get a clip or told off for it, because that there was like a bit of a religion in the house. My mum and dad used to attend church so we weren't really allowed to, you know, say God or Jesus and stuff like that. So we were kind of warned away from that. So yeah, we were quite. I suppose we were quite in brother quiet like oh, it's supposed to some people we were quite angelic as well in that sense. Anyway, in the language used, please say flip, a lot of flipping heck like which is hilarious, flipping heck.
Stephen:
Which else for me as an adult is say that as an adult you probably get some, you probably get more weird looks and actually just say fuck, so which is which is bizarre? Yeah, I just think the way people react to language is quite extreme as well, like you'll get some people where you know they get really offended if someone says the word shit or fuck in general conversation, and I find that bizarre. Again, it's situational as well If you've got small kids around. You know you don't want to be I wouldn't particularly want to be throwing the F bomb around or or swearing in general in front of children, because I think that's because how I was brought up and also kids, innocence today is is so taken away from them that I feel like that introduction of swearing, as well as all the other things that you know get thrown at them today, is just one extra thing that they don't really need. So I would, I would probably try and shine my kids away. I would, I would really curb my behavior in regards to swearing.
Stephen:
I think, if, if I didn't, if I, if I had kids, I think I would really, you know, make the effort to not swear and teach them not to swear as well. You know, teach them that it's bad, not not the thing to do. So when did I start swearing? So when did the swears come out of me? Well, obviously at school. When you're in high school, so 15, 16, I used to drop the odd curse, but it was really more to impress people, I think at school, like in certain situations, like wearing is kind of an expected part of a conversation, in certain ways Peer pressure I'm talking about really. So I kind of felt obliged to use the odd F bomb, you know, say shit, pearson, all the other things.
Stephen:
I never really said the word couldn't. I've said it now I've said it, I've done it, I've said it. I never really use that word and I think that's probably because my mum hates it so, so much. It was deemed such a terrible word. Those are the other words that my mum didn't like us using. That referred to like you know, potentially like disabilities and stuff like that, which when I was younger we'll probably like thrown around quite a lot, but not probably, not maybe in a malicious way, for maybe some of the intentions of it. It was just like this is an insulting word. There's no malice to the people that it might actually be intended for, if you know what I mean. So the word spastic, for example like that, used to be a word that was used quite a lot when I was a kid, especially with some of the people that I used to hang around with. My mum hated that word, and as an adult I don't like it.
Stephen:
Neither I don't like to hear people, you know, say that word. But as a kid it was. It was not and it wasn't probably aimed at people with a disability. It was just like you just say to your mate that's what you are, and it was an insult in general. It was basically you're an idiot, and that's kind of how it was. Well, for my point of view anyway.
Stephen:
So, um, where's all that? You don't really hear a lot anymore because of how the world's gone. You know we're meant to be caring and think about other people's feelings constantly. Um, which has gone too far in my opinion, but that's, that's a, that's a subject for another day. You probably have 10, you probably have a whole podcast just about that. Um, wokeness, et cetera. And I do agree with, like you know, managing people's expectations and kind of thinking about what you say.
Stephen:
Um, you know, if someone's really offended by something, you know they have the right to say I'm offended by that, but they don't have the right to stop you in some sense. Um, although, ironically, swearing is technically a thing you can be arrested for. So, profanity in the UK, um, if you're referring to a police officer and you're swearing excessively, um, or using that language, at someone, more more to the point, um, you can actually be cautioned and arrested for it. I'm not, I'm not solicitor, so I'm not sure what, to what degree to, but, um, I think, I think it's more like you get like a fine, probably, uh, for like breach of breach of the peace or something, or something like that. I can't think of the um section code is, I want to say section four, but I think it might be a section five breach. The UK has that. Like we have like, obviously, code of conduct, please obviously follow, and uh, yeah, it might be section four, I can't remember. Anyway, you can be done for it.
Stephen:
Like you know, show profanity, but it's normally if someone complains about it. Someone has to kind of like complain about it for it to be uh kind of enforced. Um, it's, it's. I think that's more difficult nowadays because language swearing in the traditional senses become part of our language nowadays. Like you hear people in general conversation now we'll swear as if it's just a general word in the dictionary. I used to know someone that literally I don't know how they can manage to fit so many Fs in a sentence, but literally I've never heard someone manage to stick so many F words in a whole sentence. Every other word would be fuck or fucking or frig or shit or bollocks or anything that could fit in Like every two. Maybe one word would be a swear word, which is kind of humorous, but again, not in certain situations. But yeah, it's just a weird one because I swear quite a lot now.
Stephen:
It's come from, basically, me starting in the world of work. When I started I started in a warehouse one of my very first proper jumps as a warehouse and again that talk between people. You know they were swearing and stuff, but it was a job where you kept yourself to yourself, didn't really interact too much. I did swear a little bit. And then I started college and the swearing probably got a little bit more at college. You're an adult now you're 17, 18, and you're an adult and it's like well, when you're an adult you can just do what you want. The language is mine, I can say what I want. Mum can't tell me Now what to say. I couldn't when I was 7 really, I could have just swore anyway. But you know, you think yourself in a more mature way and you're an adult and such things, and I think I started thinking I can say all and if I want to say that word I can.
Stephen:
I think what really changed is joining the railway. When I joined the railway, very much language of industry swearing, obviously not to the customers, but when you're in the mess room. And yeah, I started to swear a lot more. I found Not so much outside of the railway but just when I was in work. But then the more you do it in one sense it kind of bleeds you to the other. So the more I did it in the work environment, the more I did it in my home environment.
Stephen:
I do kind of want to swear a bit less. Really, yesterday for me, I swore a lot. I was in a very, very disgruntled mood yesterday. People's drive is terrible, people's reactions to things are terrible and the whole world was getting me a bit down yesterday and I was venting and swearing quite a lot while I was driving around being a grumpy, old, middle-aged bastard. Basically, I was thinking to myself I need to swear less. I really do need to swear less. It's not good. They have days like that, I think, and then I have days where I don't really swear at all. I swear it's great for emphasis on things. Even if you're angry or you're telling a story, it can kind of add so much. And I remember Billy Connolly, like talking about the word fuck, saying that it's a great word and he loved it and it's it's one of the best words if you use it correctly.
Stephen:
I love my mom swearing. She swears a bit more now than she used to, not still not loads. I feel she does it to impress me. I don't know like mimic of behavior or something, but she's hilarious when she swears because she should not swear. She is a bad swearer. Like she hesitates when she's about to swear. It's not natural for her at all and some of the swear words that she uses just make me laugh and it kind of detracts from whatever story she's telling, like if she's telling like a story about, like being annoyed about something, it really detracts from it because she does not, does not swear. Well, in fact, I wish she wouldn't swear, because it always makes me laugh and she always gets angry with me because she would tell this really serious story and I just burst out laughing. But yeah, it's a weird one, isn't it? Where do we draw the line between what's acceptable and what's not? And I think it's just personal preference, isn't it? It's like everything, like everything.
Stephen:
If you wanna be, you wanna identify as a bin, and do so, if you say, you know, that's enough swearing for me. But if you're hanging around with people like that, it's kind of like, if you're hanging around with someone that swears a lot and you don't like swearing, there's a couple of things that happen. You can either just be okay because that's the way that person is and just kind of accept it, but you can kind of ask the person to swear less when they're around you, which is somewhat controlling, but it might be okay because the other person might go. You know what? I do swear quite a lot. You're probably right. Like, I hope I'm not offending anyone else. They might, you know, have a reflection, but you might just not wanna be friends with that person. You know, maybe they're the person for you. But yeah, it's a delicate thing.
Stephen:
I remember a story, actually, before I signed off and forget what I was gonna talk about, I used to have a t-shirt. I've had a couple of t-shirts over the years with swearing on not I wouldn't say really, really bad, and this goes to show that I kind of. I'll end on this, this story. What an anecdote. And this kind of shows the way society is and stereotypes and what may surprise you. So I had been to the download festival. Oh, probably in 2006, 2007, maybe 2008, I can't which one it was. I had bought a t-shirt and on the front it was like a great, great t-shirt. I had download festival logo on the top and on the front like a small one on the top left, and on the back it had like download festival with the year and it said I got fucked again, as I know got fucked again at the download festival. You know, have a good time. You know that's like my American friends know this is a thing over there and people around the world listening.
Stephen:
In the UK you go out and have a good night. You know. You say I got a fuck last night, and it doesn't mean had sex. It can do, but it basically, you know, gets gained, wasted. You know, yeah, you got out and you had a nice time. You probably got drunk and Probably can't remember parts of it. So paints last what it said in the back of this t-shirt.
Stephen:
And I remember I was walking, walking to the shops, we, dad, we parked up and walk to this, we walking across the road to the shops, and this, this guy in a suit behind me and Only like tap, rattled me on the shoulder as we were crossing the road and I was like you're a ball. And he was like I'm really offended by that t-shirt you need to put, you need to cover up or turn inside out. But it wasn't really like a, it wasn't like a request. He was like telling me and I was like I'm sorry, you're offended, but no, basically, and he was like oh well, it's very much of the. Do you know who? I am very much a male Karen, as you would call it today and he was basically, apparently he was like a member of the, a local member of parliament or or on the council or something like that. So I Was just like oh no, it's just a t-shirt, you know, and he basically said he basically was going on about how, how offended was the basic what for child. So and I said, well, you know, if a child saw it and if they could read it, I would hope that they've been brought up in a way that they know this is probably a bad word and the context is in, and that they probably shouldn't say it, but it's up to them if they do. And he didn't accept this. He basically said he was gonna call the police and oh, and I was like do you want me? I mean we'd had walked off me. Dad got a bit annoyed as well, but I was. I was probably like what? 20 to 23 at the time. So he's kind of let me handle the situation myself. I'm pretty good with conflict, I think. And and I basically walked away from the end because he was being pathetic and he was basically say he was trying to make a scene and everyone's like look at him, so you're an ass.
Stephen:
And then separately, a few, probably a few weeks later, because it didn't stop me wearing the t-shirt, I was in a, I was in a supermarket and this little lady came up behind me and she tapped me and she goes all. I think it says in the back of your t-shirt. I thought, oh god, here we go again. I know Gonna get into something there with this little lady because she doesn't like me t-shirt and I said I suggest love. I said no, it's gonna swear word on, I'm sorry, she was good. Okay about that. She went. Was it in a good way? I was like what do you mean? She went, did you get fucked in a good way? And I was like I was really shocked because she was like the, the most cute little old lady and I was like, yeah, yeah, I had a great time, thanks, at the festival. She's like, oh wonderful. And she like kind of like, squeeze my arm in like pleasure, and walked off with a big grin on her face. Um, obviously kind of like. Maybe it's chick chicks and memories from her childhood when she was young, free and did what she Wanted and it just the t-shirt weirdly made her chuckle. Basically, so just go show like what swear in a society has, you know, different impact on people like this. This guy, who's, he'd say, to say it was a bit snooty and probably a bit self-absorbed, thought he had some power in the local area, said he was offended and didn't didn't like the look of it, probably thought it was bad reflection on the local area. And then another lady, elderly, probably well into her 70s, thought it was hilarious. So, yeah, it just goes to show.
Stephen:
So, and what do you think of swearing? Do you swear at all? Do you? Do you say, if you listen to my podcast, you know you're gonna hear swearing and I should. I apologize for that, I don't know. Like there's a warning like, if you don't like swearing, then you know You're gonna hear it. I can't say fairer than that. Um, but yeah, but do you swear? What do you think of swearing? It? Should children swear? Do you think it's bad if you, if you heard a Young child say the word fuck or shit, um, I don't want to age.
Stephen:
Is it acceptable to swear? Is it like is 16 the cut off is like teenager, or is it? You become an adult? That's when you choose what language you can use. In, just to hear your thoughts on that. Um, yeah, well, thank you very much for listening, I think. I think I'll wrap it up there. Um, yeah, swearing it's uh, the topic, isn't it? It's a. It's a topic. Um, I think it's pretty much coming out. It's in our language now, isn't it? So we're not gonna get rid of it, it's just knowing when to use it effectively, would say. And it can be effective. The word fuck is effective. Um, anyway, I think this is the most swearing, heavy podcast I've ever done. Um, yeah, well, thank you very much for listening. Check out the website and all that, all that jazz and uh. I will speak to you soon and check out next week's episode, which will be part two of Johnny's Vietnam um, motorcycle Adventures. So yeah, take care, I'll speak to you soon. Thanks for listening to Infinite Prattle.
