Poll: Americans see, hear more profanity

[sabra]

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-62/1143577479142120.xml&storylist=national

Poll: Americans see, hear more profanity

(AP) — This is a story about words we can't print in this story. You probably hear these words often, and more than ever before. But even though we can't print them — we do have our standards — we can certainly ask: Are we living in an Age of Profanity?

Nearly three-quarters of Americans questioned last week — 74 percent — said they encounter profanity in public frequently or occasionally, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. Two-thirds said they think people swear more than they did 20 years ago. And as for, well, the gold standard of foul words, a healthy 64 percent said they use the F-word — ranging from several times a day (8 percent) to a few times a year (15 percent).

Just ask Joe Cormack. Like any bartender, Cormack, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, hears a lot of talk. He's not really offended by bad language — heck, he uses it himself every day. But sometimes, a customer will unleash the F-word so many times, Cormack just has to jump in.

...

And it's not just at the bar. Or on TV. (Or on the Senate floor, for that matter, where Vice President Dick Cheney used the F-word in a heated argument two years ago.)

[sutz12]

1. Yeah, it's true.....so what....people are pissed off....

:)

[Sammy Pepys]

2. Sounds like bullshit to me

I don't believe it for a fucking second.


:)

[Wickerman]

5. excellent 666th post!

:thumbsup:

[Sammy Pepys]

8. Hahaha....didn't even notice that!......n/t

....

[Tanuki]

3. or after church,

where Supreme Court Justice and Cheney hunting buddy Scalia felt the need to make an obscene gesture when asked a difficult question.

[RufusEarl]

4. Hey hows everybody F*%Kcing doing? Thats F***KING great

What, a little over the top? Sorry but i do hear this all the time, and from younger & younger people.

[Dora]

6. We're not profane: we're vulgar. There's a difference.

Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. Nothing's sacred any more. The moneychangers have taken over the temples, so I declare open season on pollyannas. Even Scalia's in on the action.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

profane

SYLLABICATION: pro·fane
PRONUNCIATION: pr-fn, pr-
ADJECTIVE: 1. Marked by contempt or irreverence for what is sacred. 2. Nonreligious in subject matter, form, or use; secular: sacred and profane music. 3. Not admitted into a body of secret knowledge or ritual; uninitiated. 4. Vulgar; coarse.
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: pro·faned, pro·fan·ing, pro·fanes
1. To treat with irreverence: profane the name of God. 2. To put to an improper, unworthy, or degrading use; abuse.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English prophane, from Old French, from Latin profnus, from pr fn, in front of the temple : pr-, before, outside; see pro–1 + fn, ablative of fnum, temple; see dhs- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS: pro·fana·tory (pr-fn-tôr, -tr, pr-) —ADJECTIVE
pro·fanely —ADVERB
pro·faner —NOUN

[onehandle]

7. More proof that this "conservative" age is a myth. nt

[Catfight]

22. compassionate conservative is the biggest myth. There's no

compassion in conservatives.

[kiraboo]

9. I know for a fact that my deep distress and anger about what has

happened to our country has had an effect on my language. Yes, I cuss more. A LOT more. I am helpless, and using the word FUCK as often as I can seems to relieve the stress.

[IsItJustMe]

10. Oh, do you mean Chainy and Scalia, Your right there.

These RW'ers are getting racy.

[pinniped]

11. I admit it. Every time I have to refer to the POS* presidunce....

in a conversation, he either gets called POS or asshole.

[NC_Nurse]

12. Oh f*cking well.....

So what else is new?

[Raine]

13. Well with Deadeye Dick as a role model

why would anyone expect anything different from the public? :shrug: These repukes have so lowered the bar for decency and civil behavior. :-(

[Dogmudgeon]

14. Like Scalia flipping The Bird in church this past Sunday?

And by "The Bird", I don't mean an artistic depiction of the Holy Spirit.

--p!

[sweetheart]

15. fuckspeak is no longer profane

It is profane to demand to be given for free,
something that should only be bought, given the embedded work,
to simply say *fuck*, absolutely naturally,
is to say you understand being fucked over by these jerks.
And we've all been fucked around enough, truth be told,
not exactly like being fucked is a priviledged presidential smirk,
its time to take back whatever agreement they say we signed of old,
and force this game to a new level gone berzerk.

Fucking pissed is really fucking pissed off,
not a little bit, christian repressed, unfettered corporate perk,
and no eloquence of tossers, wankers allows us to scoff,
what a total breakdown in civility ultimately lurks.
Reducing English to the fewest possible words,
Fuckspeak, small fry indeed; shit for the birds.

[Bhaisahab]

16. most excellent

how can a four letter word ever compete with the gluttonous fucking of the earth by the powerful and the rich?

i liked your verse very much.

[lakercub]

17. I have to agree

I see more profanity now than ever. Every time I watch the news there is a story about Iraq and all the death there. I can't think of anything more profane than a war based on lies, where thousands have died.

[Solly Mack]

18. In a country that tortures, use of the word "fuck" ain't the problem

Are we living in an Age of Profanity?


Yeah - here's what is truly profane about it

Bush
Cheney
Rumsfeld
Gonzales
Rice
Abu Ghraib
GTMO
Torture rooms
secret prisons
illegal detentions
disappearing people
war crimes
illegal war
erasure of civil rights
...and then some

[0007]

20. I agree, then to have people insult our fucking intelligence

by lying to us.

The US doesn't torture
It was a legal war
There are weapons of mass destruction
We have no secret prisons
It was legal to spy
The American people love junior
....on and on.....everyday about everything.

[Jack_DeLeon]

19. Who gives a fuck...

I dont.

[baby_mouse]

21. SHUT YOUR FUCKING FACE, UNCLEFUCKER!

YOU'RE THE ONE WHO FUCKED YOU'RE UNCLE, UNCLEFUCKER!!!

etc

[Lilith Velkor]

23. "Under certain circumstances,

...profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
--Mark Twain

[raccoon]

24. Somebody did a poll to find this out? Who pays for these stupid polls? nt

[primavera]

25. Don't laugh, this will probably become Hillary's campaign agenda

The Middle East will have ignited World War III, the US will be a police state, and she'll be running on the horrors of the increasingly widespread use of the word "damn" and M-rated video games which depict cartoon characters with nipples pointing through t-shirts.

[DavidDvorkin]

26. Badly written and misleading headline

Maybe all of pennlive.com's headlines are that way. This one should have read:

Poll: Americans believe they see, hear more profanity

It was a poll of people's impressions, not a study of what they actually see and hear.