Are you a teeny bit shocked that I used the F word in my last diary entry? Someone unsubscribed from my notify list after I posted it, and that's unusual enough that I suspect there's a causal relationship. Probably not, but either way it is a little more explicit than I usually allow myself to be. I generally avoid swearing when I write, just as I generally avoid swearing when I talk. I've noticed most people who curse constantly in their writing are lazy writers. They're cursing to be clever, or because they hope it adds some kind of edge to their otherwise lackluster prose, or out of failure to articulate how they feel about something or someone.
Which is not to say I eschew cursing in my speech. Why, I use bad words on a daily basis. The source of my cussin' and fussin' typically involves interacting with a computer. Sometimes it's California drivers, but mostly it's software, hardware, or some unforeseen and deplorable conflict between the two. At work it's an integral part of working on a database where the time it takes a vendor's computer to send back a response is just long enough to lull me into thinking I had time to complete an additional transaction. How I dread the "simultaneous changes -- ignore and retrieve" error messages. As they say in France, merde d'or.
I don't have a problem with curse words in general. I use them judiciously for the edge, or the shock value, or because it conveys in nice, punchy shorthand how I feel about something. It's the constant use of bad language that gets on my nerves, both in prose and in person. It stops meaning anything and becomes white noise, valueless filler.
Somehow, though, I'm starting to let swearing filter into my writing. Certainly in the last six months I've been aware of using it casually if irregularly, a way of letting off steam. I hope this doesn't mean I'm in danger of becoming a lazy writer or speaker. That would really irritate the shit out of me.
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