>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).
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....