MrsGrahamS chided me the other day for saying "Damn" in front of young children.

I maintain that "Damn" isn't a sweary word. In fact I specifically used it in place of a more vulgar expression. (See also "Hell", "Heck", "Shhhh…ugar", "Fuuuu..rgoodnessake.")

What say the STW massif?

Would you cover your little cherubs ears when I was speaking?
If a bishop can say "Damn" in a public church then how can it possibly offend?

Damn only just scrapes in as a naughty word.

Damn – no, you're fine. Just don't let it slip to more than that or I may have to cull your children before they continue the spread of pointless swearing in every other word.

"Puck" works for me. although I still maintain that "Shitting tits" was nothing to do with me, and was in fact entirely my son's handiwork…

"Puck" works for me.

Why even bother trying? That's like sticking a * in to remove a letter from an obscenity on here!

teaching other peoples children swear words is awesome.

The little girl who lived next door to me thought ducks were called f*cks and cats were called tw*ts.

Made me laugh every time!

Perhaps you should explain that you are spelling it dam?

dmiller – while funny as hell to the adults nearby, it could actually cause kids a lot of confusion, not really fair! That's like picking on a disabled kid.

'damn' is borderline.

Really? 😳   😳

So like the entire concept of damnation and hell? Or just the word "damn"?
Is "Hell" okay? 😕

What are acceptable words for exclamation, surprise and frustration to use in front of kids then?

Not sure I can say "Cripes", "Crivens", "By jove" etc without feeling like I've escaped from the 1972 Dandy annual.

while funny as hell to the adults nearby, it could actually cause kids a lot of confusion, not really fair! That's like picking on a disabled kid.

Where I come from we have a strict code of honour. You do not pick on the disabled children. I'm disgusted you even suggested this on a public forum. Infact I hope the mods see this as disabled children should be treated with love and respect.

We pick on the gingers round here.

When my son was about 3 he was playing with toy cars and he said "These cars are fu^*ing great aren't they?"
A bizarre moment, as we hadn't said anything like it in front of him. He's 7 now and swears like a fishwife never says anything like it.

A bizarre moment, as we hadn't said anything like it in front of him.

You have a friend / relative like me.

Either teach them to swear or give them Dr Pepper and smarties 30 mins before sending them home 😉

They slip out from time to time, I do it a bit much but the kids seem to know not to use them. That cartoon above is very accurate example.

Not sure I can say "Cripes", "Crivens", "By jove" etc without feeling like I've escaped from the 1972 Dandy annual.

"Cripes" is a deliberate alliteration of "Christ" (as is "crikey"). Just like "Jeepers" is an alliteration of "Jesus".

OK, this is blasphemy (rather than swearing; a subtle distinciton, I know), but it's therefore no worse than other no sweary swear words like damn, or hell or blast or goddamnmotherf***ingsonofac**tingb***h.

dmiller if you had my kids spouting f*ck for your amusement i would probably resort to giving you a good kicking.just for fun though.

You have a friend / relative like me.

Or leave them in front of the TV/films 🙂

'damn' is borderline.

Really?

So like the entire concept of damnation and hell? Or just the word "damn"?
Is "Hell" okay?
Damn, damnation and hell all fine* as all based around something fictional. *Unless the child in question is a rabid godbotherer and will burst into tears at the very mention of anything 'evil'.

Alternatively, note rest of post to identify slightly less than serious content.

whilst driving down a country road not so long ago a flock(?) of pheasants flew just over the top of a hedge in front of me narrowly missing the car windscreen, upon seeing this spectacle i announced that they were lucky pluckers. it wasn't till we got home that my 2.5 year old daughter told my wife that she'd seen some lucky f*ckers!!!!! 😳

boy, was i in trouble.

They'll pick up more foul language at school than us parents could ever teach em! Little Doog stopped swearing cos i didn't react when he did, they only really do it when they think its wrong. Thats my humble theory anyway.

Realised yesterday I've let slip with 'shit' a couple of times recently in front of my 4yo, so expecting that back any day now.

We used to let him watch Spaced on DVD when he was a bit younger (seems mad now), but that stopped the day he called my mum a f**king plum.

When he was just starting to talk, we were out on the bike one day with him in the front-mounted seat when a motorist passed way too close and I shouted 'ya fanny' – for the rest of the day he went round calling everything a 'hanny' (fortunately couldn't pronounce an f at that point).

bout right doog.

You have a friend / relative like me.

Actually, I suspect it was an unintentional lesson from his chavvy cousin (wife's side of the family of course)

I swear profusely and treat it as an "exposure therapy" to my children.

Thats my excuse and i'm staying with it.

Well my fingers are crossed he's forgotten "GangBang" by Christmas 😳
(That's not a book by Santa if anyone was wondering )

I should point out that MrsGrahamS' favourite expression of displeasure is "C*nting Arse Minge", so she's not exactly prudish.

Granted though, she doesn't use that one in front of kids. 🙂

Oh my god…….my wife threatens death if i use the C%^T word, jesus the look of death if i use it. It's like the worst swearword ever.

Oh my god…….my wife threatens death if i use the C%^T word, jesus the look of death if i use it. It's like the worst swearword ever.

no women I've ever known like the use of that word.

Grahams does ^^^

We used to let him watch Spaced on DVD when he was a bit younger (seems mad now), but that stopped the day he called my mum a f**king plum.

You must be so proud of him now he's all grown up…

I let my 6 year old play GTA on the xbox, i thought i'd see how it went and if it started affecting him i'd stop it. Well i can report he isn't remotely bothered or affected by the swearing and violence he just loves driving the cars and bikes, he keeps telling me it isn't real. But he does have an alarming tendency to go to the lap dancing clubs in the game and ogle the pixillated strippers!! Is that healthy??

I dont get the whole swearing in front of kids issue, for a start most adults are hypocrites, as they swear in normal life, then pat themselves on the back for being prim in front of children – so you teach kids falseness and dishonesty unless you really never do swear yourself at any time, as most of them know you are hypocrites.
What is also forgotten is no range of adult swearing will ever match that dazzling scope found in the average school playground 🙂

I never heard my dad swear until I started working for him when I was 16. I was honestly shocked when we pulled up at the site in the van and he said to me and the other lad, "Right W4nkers!".

I was in shock.

terrahawk – Member

Oh my god…….my wife threatens death if i use the C%^T word, jesus the look of death if i use it. It's like the worst swearword ever.

no women I've ever known like the use of that word.
it's my wife's favourite word. Used regularly. She has to remind herself not to use it in front of her pupils.

Damn is OK? Wow. How times change. I remember being caned at school for saying 'heck'. And couldn't you be flogged in public for saying things like 'gadzooks'? That was before my time though.

gadzooks was, and still is, worse than c*nt. How Timothy Claypole got away with it for so long is a mystery.

a mates 2 yr old daughter announced to her mum "daddy was very angry in the car today mummy" mum says "why darling"

"cos he said C**T"

i left fairly soon after that was announced.

Damn is OK? Wow. How times change.

Well I'm not sure that's been established. I think it is. My missus disagrees.
(I thought AndyP agreed with her, but apparently not.)

No one here seems particularly shocked – but then they've all established themselves as foul-mouthed navvies anyway, so that's not a good measure.

I remember being caned at school for saying 'heck'.

See that's just mental. I'm fine with encouraging kids not to swear, but I don't think we should prevent them from expressing themselves appropriately, otherwise they'll be up a tower with a high-powered rifle before they are 30.

I'm 27 my brothers 24 and the youngest brother is 11.

So while me and our kid are listening to Tenacious D in the front we've completely forgot about the wee man in the back seats… on the way to the Grandparents house of course. Despite tribute being the best tune for some reason "**** her gently" was the only one he remembers.

Got him Grand Theft Auto 4 for Christmas.

terrahawk – Member

Oh my god…….my wife threatens death if i use the C%^T word, jesus the look of death if i use it. It's like the worst swearword ever.

no women I've ever known like the use of that word.

I've taken re-ownership of the word. Kind of like black people with the 'N' word.

I'm the worst swearer in our house, but I've explained to the children that certain words are not appropriate in certain circumstances and they are very prim and proper in their language themselves. They give me (literally) a slap on the wrist when I say 'bad words'.