Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why would otherwise chaste people shout "FUCK!!" when they stub their toe? Because in a moment of pain, people are emotional and inarticulate. Obviously. Vulgarity serves many purposes, but the fact that the words can be used almost anywhere, in almost any grammatical form, makes them substitutes for the more specific expressions that they replace. "Vulgarity is often just a verbal tic for the inarticulate." (Empha…
You are right, audience is everything. I liked the original comment and wouldn't change a word of it. Not every statement is to be boiled down to intellectual delivery devoid of emotion. We're expressly humans, not computers. The idea that "Intelligent people resist emotional persuasion, or at least try to." is for the consumer to apply, when and how they like. Communication with vulgarity is not to make you emotiona…
Exactly. And unless you have a bias toward agreement, or you are already spun up like the poster, a stranger's dissonant communication style is more likely to be alienating than persuasive.
And re: knowing one's audience, the consensus position seems to be that I do not, here and now. So I concede the issue, in this context at least! Alas. :)