swear like a f*kin' sailor.
Hey!
So then, anecdote time, circa the 1980s.
'
Swear like a sailor.'
A cliche both true and not true.
True, because our conversations were definitely laced with words polite society considered vulgar.
And not true, because most of those instances were inane and idiomatic*, more akin to a Canadian's
eh or a Southerner's
y'all than actually swearing
. More of a just-the-way-we-talked kind of thing.
The usage was also nuanced, freely done in one's shop and off-duty but almost never when duty and decorum were involved—like watchstanding, where our communication was to be clear, concise, and precise.
And my transition to civilian life did involve cleaning up my word usage, because I did receive strong negative feedback from friends, family and employers alike.
Now, it's only the idiot drivers in the town that bring those words out of storage.
As for its usage in Trek, I find it to be anachronistic. But that's just me.
*(A common one on the ship was
fuckin' a, which was used to indicate agreement in the same manner as
right on,
you bet, or
absolutely.)