I used to swear a lot. I decided to not swear at all (except for possibly mild swears), instead replacing most swears with minced oaths.
My family is Christian and I would get yelled at for swearing even if it just slipped out. So far, I don’t swear unless I’m feeling a strong emotion or acting impulsively, but I’ll usually say things like “F/eff” or “fudge” instead of the F-word.
I like to be “creative”, so my go-tos are usually “Go fudge yourself”, or “What the cluck?”
I might say “mother lover” instead of MF
I’m trying to swear less. Or rather, to swear only where a swear is warranted.
My Dad has a habit of interjecting constant cuss words into everything he says, like “I was at the fucking supermarket right and then I’m just trying to find a fucking tin of beans…” and it’s just so unnecessary, to the point where the swears mean nothing because they are just peppered everywhere. I have to keep reminding him, “Dad, please tone it down a little”
And that’s an easy habit to get into but its exactly what I don’t want to be doing - swearing just as punctuation.
If a situation calls for a swear then I will swear quite happily, “Ouch, my fucking toe!!” and I’ll use the proper word. There’s no need to find childish swear-alternatives.
But I don’t want to sound like I can’t even stop it.
100%. I’m trying to swear less just to avoid the punctuation-level swearing that feels childish to me. But replacement swear words that have the same sentiment feel even more childish and pointless to me.