Should Swearing be illegal?

Wife beating is common [[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926135,00.html]] [[http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2001-08-22/bangalore/27250512_1_wife-beating-police-stations-vanitha-sahaya-vani]] , gang shoot-outs are common, knife crime is common[[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/knifecrime]] , there’s a painstakingly long list of things that are very very common but very very wrong. A crime is not defined by it’s commonality but the degree of it that should be tolerated. The emphasis being on ‘should be’ rather than is.

This ‘should’ is contingent upon the diabolical nature and effect of such an act. If the effect is tremendously negative, and the nature/intention(mens rea) of the act can only be interpreted as negative and nothing else; then in my books it is criminal and must be made punitive. Abusive language serves to hurt, demoralize and demean victims, therefore fits the effect and intention criterion for being a crime.

This whole argument is stupid…
It’s like saying that long hair is illegal, who determines what length hair has to be before it becomes offensive. Who determines what an offensive word is. It can’t be defined, what words would actually be considered a “Swear” word.

It wouldn’t make sense to ban swearing because it is how humans work now. People just say it now because they are used to it. If you do ban it imagine what the future would be like, there would be more police officers around everywhere and giving people tickets for just simply saying s***! Why would you want to give a $40 ticket to basically everyone on this planet? Why wouldn’t you want to have officers where you need them like; bad places where people get mugged or catching someone for doing drugs in their home. Already police officers today sit in a hiding place with a gun and check how fast some people are going, and if they’re speeding then he/she would give them a ticket for being 5 km’h the limit? Why wouldn’t you want that same police officer chasing down a speeding car that just killed someone? It wouldn’t make sense to ban swearing just because it is too common for people, and that is how people are these days.

Actually I can hurt someone even harder without swearing at all. By telling how ugly, useless, incompetent they are… If there was a such a law. I believe that some people will get that frustrated by not being able to swear, so instead of swearing they will be beating someone.

I’m sorry, but I don’t exactly understand your argument here. You think that swearing should be illegal because it causes a watered down vocabulary and makes it difficult to communicate?
There are many flaws in that thinking pattern.

First off, if you think realistically, how would one be charged for swearing? Would it only be in public? or also in the privacy of your own home? What would the penalty be?

Does this not infringe upon freedom of speech?

What about the studies that prove swearing helps increase pain tolerance in people?
Swearing is a cultural phenomenon. A society collectively agrees that a certain set of words are considered “bad” or “Harmful”. They are just words.

I understand certain words have a history of being derogatory towards certain ethnic groups, but if I slam my finger in a drawer and yell “Sh**!” Then that is just an expression of pain. It isn’t harming anyone. When people are offended by a single word, said in no context, that is their problem.

-Threat to society

-Public wrong

-Morally reprehensible conduct

-Wrong which is pursued by the sovereign or his/her sub ordinates (Austin)

-Wrongs whose sanction and is in no way remissible by the crown alone

et cetera( and the rest)

Is swearing a threat to society? Well, yes it takes away the respect that fellow residents/citizens should have for each other. It creates a sort of resentful familiarity and familiarity breeds contempt.
Most offices/schools/libraries have stringent rules of etiquette keeping people from swearing.
It is a public wrong? Well no one in the public would say swearing is a public right, eh?

Really you should not be arrested for swearing. The least they should do is fine your for some money. Really swearing is one of the things you wont be able to stop in a few weeks, it will take years to make a dent. Think about how many people there are in the U.S and about half or more of them have used a swear word. It would be to many people in the jails and there might be protests against the law so just give the people a ticket and be on your way.

It should be illegal, but around little kids who will be influenced by what they see, since swearing is commonly associated with violence.

Swearing is a public right, and a way to express your anger without actually hurting anyone, physically.

Will saying a swear to someone is mean and could the hurt person depending on who it is, but it much less painful then punching him/her and also swearing is not different then saying to a person “Hey your wearing an ugly shirt”. Swearing is basically like that just in 1 word. Making swearing will not get rid of bullying but will just make it more annoying. Also people don’t always swear at people sometimes when someone is angry, or just got in trouble he / she will sometimes say something like ” OH S***!” There is nothing wrong with that since he is not offending anyone. Besides it should be a right to say what you want to say you are a human being and if you are angry you should be able to express it, all swearing is a word which holds a bigger meaning. for example once again if your angry, you won’t see someone yelling “Oh my god im in anger!”. they will probably say something like “Oh snap!” or a bad word. it is just the way people are, not just in swearing. For example when someone is hungry they don’t say “oh I am in the mood to eat” instead they will simply say “I’m Hungry”. Its just the way we humans are so why take away the right to express your feelings.

Swearing is not the best thing. Bad influence on children. But it’s a way to express children. No one would probably go swear themselves off one day just because they want to, there would probably be a reason to. Swearing is a way to express your anger, happiness, etc. Swearing being illegal? Being charged or erased for saying a certain word? It wouldn’t necesarily be a legit reason to be messing with the crime. We do have “freedom to speech”

Swearing should be in no way illegal. I believe that people are entitled to their free speech, and if people are putting a law against that what happened to our rights? I feel that people are allowed to swear as long as they aren’t hurting someone and targeting them with the swear word, however even if they do this they shouldn’t be charged. Everyone should be entitled their own freedom of speech, and making it illegal to swear takes away from this. Even though swearing is rude, trashy and a sin people should be entitled and be able to say things they want to, but only if it’s not harassing and bullying. Almost everyone swears if something goes wrong, they get hurt, or something just happens and a little swear words pops out, and if we put a law against this i think a lot of drama would happen, when you discuss this topic. In conclusion i feel that people should be able to say what they want when they want, and making swearing illegal would take away from this.

Freedom of speech! And it’s illegal not illeagel. Freedom and power to the people!

Whenever a new crime is created the police have to spend resources stopping it instead of murders, burglaries etc. If the police had to stop every time someone swore they would have no time to do anything else.