Non native speakers often don't have the instinctual grasp of slang and swearwords in English and so tend to use the F C and S words a lot without fully understanding the severity of the words.
"seriously crazy shit" seems a bit restrained for Linus though
No, we understand them all right. We are just not generally as prudish as English-speakers. Perhaps it's more a culture difference than a language barrier.
Understanding them is easy, because when used as swear words instead of during discussions about fucking or shitting, they don't mean anything. 'Motherfucker' just doesn't mean anything.
>We are just not generally as prudish as English-speakers. Perhaps it's more a culture difference than a language barrier.
There are a lot of native English speakers who swear a lot; they're generally[1] aware of the impression that they're making when they do it, though.
Maybe this is what you see as prudish: it's a somewhat unusual thing about English that we have taboo words that are taboo no matter what context (and weren't once untaboo words that started to be seen as euphemisms, therefore avoided), rather than just taboo things that you can say or taboo modes of speech when you're talking to a superior or an elder. The history of 'bloody'[2] should disabuse you of any notion that swearing in English has to do with prudery or sex.
Noticing that non-native speakers sometimes don't completely get the effect of English swearing generally comes from knowing non-native English speakers and knowing the impression that they're trying to make, and watching them misjudge the tone that swearing introduces and failing at what they're trying to do.
Like swearing while meeting someone's parents, or loudly within earshot of a lot of kids.
I'm sure Linus probably started his swearing thing by misjudging tone, even though at this point he realizes exactly what he's doing.
[1] I say 'generally', because there are differences between groups of English speakers as to which words are magical, and the frequency of use tolerated.
In case you never noticed, swearing loudly within earshot of kids almost always makes them laugh uproariously. And what could be more uplifting and pleasant to the ear than the sound of the laughter of children?
I have more of a problem with cheerfully lying through your teeth to children about deceptive frauds like Santa Claus and Jesus and the Tooth Fairy and the Stork who brought your little sister.
What's worse: kids learning that adults occasionally swear, or kids learning that adults systematically lie to them?
Kids learning that adults systematically lie to them is probably beneficial and adaptive (which I suspect is why humans feel compelled to lie to kids).
I'd prefer for adults to adapt to not systematically lying to kids, if it's not so much of a disruptive inconvenience to your lifestyle, thank you.
Speak for yourself, if you believe the benefits of lying to your own kids outweigh the benefits of raising children honesty. You can have an honest discussion with your children about how OTHER people will lie to them, without having to lie to them yourself to prove it. It's not something that's hard so hard to prove that you have to betray their trust by doing it yourself. Because if they don't trust you enough to take what you tell them at face value, they already know you're a liar.
I believe the main reason some humans feel compelled to lie to kids is simply because they're compulsive liars.
Yep. Most of us understand them just fine. It's not really difficult to know what are the swear words in a foreign language, and what impact each of them has.
Plus, Linus is no "foreigner" in that sense. He has been speaking english for 30+ years, has had professional correspondence in english for 2+ decades, and has worked in several american companies. And he was located in the states for decades too, if I am not mistaken. And of course he is not some naive foreigner, he is hiqhly intelligent and technical, and can understand such things as the emotional etc impact of words very well (he has also explained hilself, several times).
The difference is, as the parent said, he is not prudish. He enjoys their use.
How do you define "prudish"? Does it have something to do with sex or body functions?
Because if that's what you think most native-English-speakers think of when people use these swear words, you're wrong.
There are plenty of swear words that have nothing to do with sex or body functions that shock people just as much or more than those that do originate with those things.
>We are just not generally as prudish as English-speakers.
So you're speaking on behalf of the entire non-English speaking world?
I think it's important here to distinguish between swearing about something ("aww, fuck") versus swearing at someone ("fuck you"). If you are more inclined to swear about something, then yes, perhaps you can say you're "less prudish".
But if you're more inclined to swear at someone, then it has nothing to do with prudishness and everything to do with aggression and rudeness. Is your culture more aggressive and rude than that of many English-speaking cultures? Some are....
I admit I was deliberately generalising, because so was the parent.
My culture might seem more aggressive and rude, but more often than not Northern/Central Europeans will tend to be less subtle than English speaking people. This can sometime come across as aggressive and perhaps even rude, even if no swear words are used.
As an example: Linus refers to the term 'Management by perkele', a Swedish term referring to Finnish management, that he himself uses. The word »perkele» is generally considered on par or worse than the English term 'fuck' (in the context of a swear word). Effectively, this term could be translated to 'Fucking Management', but whereas in Sweden this term is used rather publicly, it would hardly be conceivable to have such language in an English-speaking environment.
It's not that we are completely casual with swear words, it's just that they usually have a context, like you said; about something. Against someone is generally frowned upon. (Although, the latter reasoning usually have people objectify the person they are really swearing at.)
I do think the foreigness is part of it. Danes in particular treat English swearing much different than Danish swearing. If you used seriously off-color Danish words in a professional environment, people would be shocked; but you can say "fuck" all you want, because it's foreign and doesn't really carry any weight.
> The word »perkele» is generally considered on par or worse than the English term 'fuck' (in the context of a swear word). Effectively, this term could be translated to 'Fucking Management', but whereas in Sweden this term is used rather publicly, it would hardly be conceivable to have such language in an English-speaking environment.
Doesn't that mean precisely that it isn't on a par with or worse than the English term 'fuck'?
>So you're speaking on behalf of the entire non-English speaking world?
Well, you spoke for the non-English speaking world too, and you don't even belong to it, unlike the parent. If anything, he was less paternalistic.
>But if you're more inclined to swear at someone, then it has nothing to do with prudishness and everything to do with aggression and rudeness. Is your culture more aggressive and rude than that of many English-speaking cultures? Some are....
You can be aggresive and rude without ever uttering a swear word. The only thing that makes swear words appear "worse" in this regard is some kind of prudishness.
There is indeed evidence of significant cross-cultural differences in both [1,2,3]. Cursing itself is universal; but its contextual, relative social acceptability as offense and interjection varies quite a bit across societies.
Put in another way: even cursing that you might perceive as self-evidently "aggressive and rude" --in the limbic sense of the word-- might be perceived quite differently by someone from another culture. And viceversa (eg American-style drunken loudness, to think of one).
I don't think it's even an all-English-speaker thing; rude words are sometimes practically used as punctuation in Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England.
"seriously crazy shit" seems a bit restrained for Linus though