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Hi, everyone and welcome back to America under the Microscope. 欢迎你回到闲话美国.

Hi, James.

Hi. Lulu.

What are we going to talk about today?

We're gonna talk about an aspect of language that some people really like to learn when they study a foreign language. And in fact, probably some of the first words anybody ever learns.

I think I got a clue but go on.

Yeah, they're all those bleeping words you hear in the bleeping TV.

They are like beep. So today we're going to talk about dirty words.

Swearing, yes.

But first things first, when you hear说脏话, you hear in English you have swearing and cursing. If you look them up in dictionary, they have other meanings. A lot of them are having to do with god, religion and all that. So people sometimes say, oh these are not saying dirty words. They're more like religious meaning. What is that about？

Cuz originally when we are thinking of swearing and cursing, it was saying bad things about religious beings like Christianity, like saying bad things about god. But in modern context, when we say swearing or cursing or cussing, it's just in general using all these bad words, all these vulgar words and just general conversation.

Actually, I'm a bit of an expert in this. I am the type of person that's gonna learn all the curse words when I learn a language because…

They're fun?

First of all, they're fun. Second of all, I want to be sure that I probably won't use them, but I want to be sure if people use it on me, I need to know when to fight back and when to get angry. But do Americans really swear like you would see on TV or in movies?

Sadly, no.

Sadly?

Yeah, I know some people was like I was hoping that Americans were gonna say F-this or S-that, but they don't. We don't use them regularly because it is very impolite.

I guess it depends on the crowd you're hanging out with, really.

That's the biggest factor because at work, at school and even with our own family, we’d almost never use these words because at work we can actually get fired for using them.

Oh really?

Sure if that's the workplace environment you're in. School, you will get in trouble with your teachers. Some people, families are a bit strict about it. Kids will get in trouble for it or even adult children will get told not to use those words.

So when especially for learners of a language, you don't really get the culture, you don't really get what's behind it, be very careful with those words. Do you swear? We’ve been friends for years. I don't think I've ever heard you really swear.

I don't swear very much in any language, because I know Chinese swear words too and I never use them.

I mean I only swear with a few people like probably with my best, best friend when we are alone. I would swear both in English and in Chinese but not with any other friends, definitely, definitely not with colleagues.

Right. This is because unless you really know the person you're talking to and how they feel about these words, it is just, the best advice is don't use them. You don't need to use them. They don't have any functional purpose.

I know. I guess when you're young, you kind of want to swear to be cool.

Edgy and cool.

Yeah, to be street. 就有点街头风那种. But honestly, as an adult, when you swear, most people will not have a positive impression of you.

No, they won't. In fact, they might think it’s like that’s very uncouth.

That's just rude.

It is quite rude.

But still, let's talk about swear words. So at least our listeners know what we're talking about.

Okay, so talking about swear words for this lesson, we're gonna keep it PG (parental guide) or PG-13.

So nothing like the F-word.

Yeah, we're not gonna be talking about the F-word or some of the other much stronger language. If our audience don't know what those words are, they should just watch some American TV. They will learn them very quickly. So the key thing about swearing in American English or any language really is intonation and this is where a lot of learners get wrong.

就是语调. Yeah, of course. Because you need to sound angry to make an impact, to have the power of it.

We don't always use swear words for anger, we can also use them for excitement. It is like DAMN! versus damn. Intonation is really important for all of these where it's like these three common ones that are pretty low on the scale like damn, crap and bastard.

Damn. The whole thing is God, damn it.

Yeah. God, damn it.

How bad is that? I mean among just say, to your average Americans.

To average Americans, not really that bad at all. Some more religious people really hate that one. That's the one I use most of the time. If I like kick something with my toe on a cold day, that's the word you'll hear me say or if I drop a hot coffee on my hand.

As far as swearing goes, this is not that bad.

No, not at all. Even the next word like crap. Because we use crap all the time. Usually when we're just talking about a thing that doesn't work very well like this book is crap. So like not good quality or this food is crap, not good thing.

But it can also be like you said before is the damn it's like he drops…

It’s like I love this crap.

Yeah, that's true. So you can use it both ways. It's really like intonation is the key. Listen for the intonation. I think with the right intonation you can make any word into a swear word.

That's actually what my grandma taught me. My grandma actually taught us is like, well, any word can be a swear word depending on how you say it. In America we have a lot of these replacement swear words. Some people will say instead of the more vulgar word like instead of saying the F-word, they'll say fudge.

Oh, I've heard that.

Or shoot or dang it.

I usually just say when I want to say the S-word, I usually just say sugar. Okay, right. That’s acceptable.

Most people will accept it. My grandmother wouldn't. My grandma was like theret's no difference than using the swear word because you mean the same thing.

She sounds like a tough old lady. But all of these PG-13 words you said like damn or crap or bastard, are they more commonly used by average?

Yeah, you'll hear those ones a lot more often. You won't hear them at work, but general out and about, you'll hear them like people like dropping things or bumping their head or forgetting something. You will hear these words.

But the harsher words like the F-word, S-word that they're definitely no no.

Much less common. You will hear them from time to time because people are all different. But if you start using those stronger ones, you're gonna start hearing people say some phrases to you, such as you kiss your mother with that mouth?

I love this one. You kiss your mother with that mouth. Basically, they're saying you have a very dirty, foul mouth.就是嘴很脏You kiss your mother with that mouth？

The next one like watch your language, which is like how do you watch your language? I can't see my lips.

Watch out for what you're saying, but they sometimes also get shorten to LANGUAGE!

Yeah, just language. You’ll hear teachers say that one a lot in class like LANGUAGE!

And parents also say that, LANGUAGE!

You curse like a sailor.

Is that based on the fact that sailors curse a lot?

It's not just sailors, it's just military in general, I have family members who are in the military and all boys do. They swear.

Why? Is it just because it's seem as a…

In their work environment, swearing is normal.

So it's all about environment, 所以在什么军队还有什么水手这种里面. They accept it. To be honest, language is language. It's always cultural and the words themselves don't carry much weight. How it's what kind of meaning people put into it and kind of impression people get when you say it. There's one more expression about cursing, swearing is when sometimes people say some bad words or they say a bad meaning, they would say pardon my French. That's like pardon my swearing.

Yeah, I don't know what French has to do with swearing, but maybe in the past people didn't like hearing French words.

So in the end of our basic episode about swearing. James, do you have any advice, suggestions to language learners in terms of swearing?

Yeah, I do. In general, don't use them. I know that's not a lot of people want to hear. It’s like but they're so cool. I hear them in music and TV. It is like yes, you do hear them, but you're unlikely to get how they're used or the intonation and all the other aspects of it to communicate the ideas. And to a native speaker, it will sound very out of place. It can even sound humorous to us. Because it's like that’s weird.

It doesn't really carry the weight that you want. If you truly mean it as like a harsh word, it probably doesn't carry enough weight the way you say it. But if you don't mean it as a harsh word, you just are joking about it, people might still find it really offensive. Either way you don't win.

You can show anger without using these words. Easier ways.

I think sometimes people get it not just from movies or TV. They also get it from music, especially like rap.

Yeah, music. It's a lot in music.

Yeah, but you cannot. That's a specific cultural form. You cannot really talk like a rapper. It just doesn't work.

No.

All right. So share with us in the common section what you think about swear words. Do you swear in Chinese or in any other languages? Are you interested in learning swear words in when you're learning a language? Let us know and we will see you next time in the advanced episode.

Bye everyone.