Q&A for How to Make a Friend Stop Swearing

Just say "Hey. I don't feel comfortable with you guys swearing. Do you mind stopping?" If they make fun of you, they are not true friends.

Tell the truth. You don't accept her as a person who swears all the time. It really doesn't matter what other people think; the reality is your personal boundary is one where you don't like swearing. If your friend can't communicate without it, then she did the right thing to leave and be with other people who accept that. Nothing wrong with sticking up for what you believe.

Don't feel silly. If they dislike or judge you for that, they're not true friends.

It's up to you if you would like to cuss less; you're the one that's doing it. However, people tend to see excessive cussing as lazy or stupid sometimes, especially as you get older.

They are pressuring you because they know they're wrong and resent your strength in standing for what's right. If the pressure if getting to you, perhaps you should hang out more with people who share your convictions.

Have a chat with him. Let him know that the swearing makes you uncomfortable, and if you think it would help, tell him why. If he's a good friend, he should respect your feelings and at least try to stop. Keep in mind that if it's become a habit, it might take him a little while to give it up completely.

There are only so many different sounds, and all languages use a certain subset of those to create their own meanings. That meaning is then represented in writing. Since there are, at least in Indo-European alphabets, far fewer letters than sounds, many sounds use similar letter combinations across different languages. So it's a coincidence. In this case, however, the sound really is not close at all. The U's are pronounced like the /oo/ in booze, and there's a stop between the U's.

You could politely ask him not to swear around you and remind him of that whenever he does. However, it would probably be easier to get used to that kind of language since you'll hear it often throughout your life.

You can't make her stop, but you can ask her to respectfully refrain from speaking that way, as she is making you feel uncomfortable.

Make them aware that what they are saying is wrong, and explain to them how it could hurt a person's feelings.

It depends on the situation. If someone you know pretty well is swearing, go ahead and politely talk to them about the issue. However, if a stranger walks by swearing, just leave them alone. They might be going through something rough and you don't want to enrage them even more.

Talk to your teacher about setting up a swear jar.

If you're already not friends with her anymore, you don't need to do anything. If she's bothering you, ask her to please leave you alone, or ask a teacher or counselor at school to talk to her. If she is still your friend, you can either have a talk with her about how her language is bothering you, or you can just tell her you don't want to be friends anymore.

Talk to him about this again, and tell him that swearing makes you uncomfortable and you really don't want to hear it. Ask him to please be a little more careful about the language he uses around you. Don't worry about hurting his feelings, as long as you treat him with respect, he shouldn't be offended (and he should treat you with the same respect!).

At some point, you will have to weigh your options. If he doesn't stop, you'll have to either give up fighting this and accept a life with F-bombs or give up being married to him. Luckily, before it gets to that, there are huge number of steps you can take. You asked nicely; now ask firmly. Next, end any conversation as soon as he does it again, physically leaving the room. He must take your feelings into account, but you must also accept one or two F-bombs a week.

Some people believe in God but aren't that religious. You kind of just have to deal with the cursing because you can't force a friend to stop.

If she's a good friend, she should be understanding about this. Be honest and tell her it makes you uncomfortable. If she's the type of person to end the friendship because you don't like swearing, she's probably not someone you need to have in your life anyway.

If someone doesn't care what you think and the behavior bothers you, the best thing to do would be avoid/ignore the person.

If telling her you're uncomfortable doesn't work, try acting uncomfortable instead. Tell her you don't like her cursing, and she should ignore you. Then, each time she says a curse word, look down at your feet, laugh nervously, or run to the bathroom. After a bit, she should be able to take a hint! Sit her down and explain how you don't like her cursing.