You have a physical reaction when you hear a sound? Have you considered therapy? Or meditation? You have an unnecessary, irrational response that is affecting your appreciation of the world.
If this were a drooping eyelid, or an eye deficiency such as short-sightedness, you would take steps to correct it. If this were super-sensitivity to sunlight would you wear sunglasses, or demand that the sun not rise? You perceive your reaction to be Zach's fault, you blame Zach and state that Zach should change his behavior.
Edw519 merely stated his opinion that the use of swear words adds nothing to Zach's speeches, and you, instead of writing a post explaining why there's nothing wrong with the occasional use of swear words in presentations, decide to write a sarcastic comment advising edw519 to consider theapy. Why? Do you really think this type of comment adds something valuable to the discussion?
If edw519 had said "swear words adds nothing" and left it that then he'd have made my fucking point for me. It was the part where he said that it made him cringe that I was responding to. Clue: that's the bit I quoted. Did me quoting that part not help you?
Why? Do you really think this type of comment adds something valuable to the discussion?
Valuable??? LOL. We're having 150+ comments on swearing. I'm sorry. What exactly are you expecting to get out of this whole thing? That we'll all go wash our mouths out with soap?
It's not wrong to have a reaction to words - they have connotations and power (particularly expletives), and people often use words carefully to manipulate their audience (for good or bad).
There's no suggestion that the cringe is an unhealthy personal reaction - quite the opposite, it's an observational cringe, and the implication seems to be that Zach would do better without swearing, since he already has good arguments and an attentive audience.
Sometimes personal therapy is a good idea - and sometimes it's a good idea to call people out on their manipulative tendencies (I think you're pulling this thread off-topic, for example).
Of course edw519 doesn't actually cringe. If we were to observe edw519 while he read Zach's post, we wouldn't actually see him cringe. So edw519 is a liar. But of course I don't call him out for being a liar, because exaggeration is something that reasonable people do to make their fucking point.
However, edw519, is specifically making the assertion (no mere suggestion) that in some way his ability to absorb the information that Zach presents is "distracted" (and I assume that means in some way reduced or impaired). All because Zach uses these letters: 'f' 'u' 'c' 'k' one after the other. That's not rational. Its victim mentality.
Imagine a world where one had to moderate what one said or did based on whether or not someone might be offended. Are you going to require that all women wear a burqa so as not to offend our fundamentalist muslim citizens?
No. The idea is preposterous.
Oh, but when it comes to your squeamish morality, thats reasonable and Zach should modify his behavior.
Since there is no objective moral reason for Zach not to swear, it comes down to the relationship between Zach and edw519. edw519 is saying either "don't swear or i wont listen", or "poor me, you swear and i get all distracted and just can't help myself". One is a threat and one is victimhood, and neither have a consequence for Zach.
So my advice on meditation is sincerely offered. If one is going to go around in life being upset or distracted by "fuck", that's a pretty sad way to live. If you give someone else power over your emotions or ability to process information that's a victim mentality.
If I were to say "Every time I hear the f-word I stab myself in the leg with a pocket-knife while screaming the lord's prayer at the top of my lungs", I think we'd all agree that I have a fucking problem. But as long as I'm just "cringing", well then that's entirely normal behavior and the other person needs to stop whatever the fuck it is they are doing.
> You have a physical reaction when you hear a sound
Only deaf people and psychopaths probably have no reaction to spoken words, the overwhelming majority of people, however, does - one of the reasons lie detectors are even possible.
Are you equating edw519's response to the stress involved of lying to the FBI on a lie detector test? I agree, that would be a very dangerous and absurd level of stress in response to hearing the word "fuck".
My point is that, unlike lying to the FBI, hearing the word "fuck" should elicit no more of a response than "potato".
Or were you saying that cringing is an entirely reasonable response to hearing the word "potato"?
I am saying that it can generally be considered normal and human to react to words. Which ones you react to and how is a whole different topic and will vary a lot depending on the person, context etc.
Your point is nothing but spinning a figure of speech out of context and exaggerating it ad absurdum and neither add anything to the discussion at hand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech
You have a physical reaction when you hear a sound? Have you considered therapy? Or meditation? You have an unnecessary, irrational response that is affecting your appreciation of the world.
If this were a drooping eyelid, or an eye deficiency such as short-sightedness, you would take steps to correct it. If this were super-sensitivity to sunlight would you wear sunglasses, or demand that the sun not rise? You perceive your reaction to be Zach's fault, you blame Zach and state that Zach should change his behavior.
This is absurd.