Uses of profanity (idea)

My personal epicenter tells me I've been around since 2001-03-20 20:57:02 -- not very long as far as the half-life of most of you noders is concerned. The number of writeups to my credit demonstrates the degree to which I've already become addicted to E2. It's a great place to show off what I thought was my esoteric knowledge. It's gratifying to learn that there are many folks out there who know as much or more about Ishtar as I do, or who are as interested as I am in the Musical Instruments of India.

However, there is the element of profanity in some writeups that does have me perplexed. The uses of profanity can be divided into the following categories:

Stress Relief

As far as I can tell, the primary reason for its use, according to its users here, is stress relief. Are they saying that E2 causes undue stress that needs immediate relief? I say "immediate" because it seems to me that the kinder course would be to relieve themselves on their own time. Still, stress relief does seem to be a legitimate use of profanity and I would be the last one to deny anyone his/her relief.

Limited Vocabulary

For someone who saves profanity for those very special occasions, I invariably suspect that the user must have rely on a woefully limited vocabulary to have to resort to a limited number of expletives to express him/herself. And vocabulary, being a measure of intelligence, often betrays a person of limited intelligence. Somehow, I don't think this is often the case in E2.

Arrested Development

As a teacher, I've seen kids go through a period of development when among themselves profanity is a regular feature of their conversations. I'd guess it makes them feel more grown up. But they grow out of it and revert to a more standard English or Spanish. When the phase persists into adulthood one might suspect arrested development for some unknown reason.

Rebellion & Protest

In my early adulthood, I can recall rejecting society, because I felt it had rejected me for being different in so many ways. My protests took many forms from the way I dressed to the language I used. Those were the days of Jack Kerouac and the beat generation. But Keroac and Ginsberg are no more and my reasons for protest evaporated with my advancing years. Looking at the current generation, it's difficult not to project my reasons on to them.

Conformity

I suppose the same dynamics are at work in this generation as they were in mine. While we shouted NON CONFORMITY, we slavishly followed the norms set by our hippy peers. We all played chess, all read the same books, all hung out at the same coffee houses, all wrote haiku and all just chilled out. In the current generation of freedom, the same thing seems to be true. Among its norms it seems that cussing is the acceptable mode of expression -- just because they are free to cuss. So everybody does it.

Like MacArthur's old soldiers, we old hippies seem to be fading away or at least mellowing out. I have no doubt that the current generation will do the same. Meanwhile I'll just have to put up with their foibles, as my contemporaries had to put up with mine. But, shit, man, sometimes its awful hard to do!