I guess my parents did a pretty good job of not swearing in front of us when we were young. By the time we were teens they stopped pretending, but by that time we were old enough to understand when it was appropriate to swear.

The problem with little kids using curse words is that they often can’t understand the social situation. And the whole point of curse words is they’re attention grabbing. It’s like giving your little brat an air horn, but one you can’t even confiscate.

Edit: fixed typos

Swap Cantonese and Taishanese with Venetian, and that’s basically my mum. Although she speaks Portuguese (local language) natively, a good chunk of her family is colonials from Veneto, so she got bits of the language… including swear words.

Then she complains when I use those very swear words I could not have learnt from anyone but her. While using those words. *sigh*

For example. Last week, one of my cats vomited on the floor. And given my poor sight, I may or may not have stepped on it, with a bare foot. And the following conversation happened (Venetian words in italics):

• [Me] Ma que casso do caralho, quem que foi a porcona??? (Wha’ a dick from the dick, who was the swine who did this?)
• [Mum, to me] Ô seu tronso, cê se tá com o casso na boca? (Hey you shit, are you with the dick in the mouth?)

I don’t know why we prohibit fucking curse word, ever. How the fuck does it do anything to a kid if they say shit? Or fuck? Or damn?

They’re just fucking words.

And why the fuck are these words not appropriate anywhere? It’s fucking assinine.

I learnt all my swears from my friends lol, be it Canto or English or Mandarin

Swearing in Quebec is very interesting, because it is based on items from the Roman Catholic Mass.

• Chalice
• Tabernacle
• Christ
• Host

I guess it makes some sense because Quebec was so thoroughly Catholic until the middle of the 20th century, so using sacred words in vain is shocking and appalling.

Listening to someone swear proficiently in Quebecois French is quite amusing, although other times it becomes boring and repetitive.

The odd thing is that there is no such swearing in France.

Yep, parents are human.

Story at 11

I always told my kid they can curse all they want, but they need to be aware of when they do it, because some people find it offensive. I told them I don’t care if they curse around me with their friends, or even when talking to me, but I also told them if they do it around their teachers, or other parents, will need to wear the consequences.