UKC

Quick canvassing of your points of view on language at the crag.

Would you be a bit peeved (as I was) to find yourself sharing a small climbing venue with a group of 40 or so, most of whom couldn't construct a sentence without use of the good old 'f' word, and at least 25% of whom required at least 3 'effs' per sentence. All of which expressed at a fairly jolly volume.

After a while did express my displeasure at this, which went down well (not). Was I being unreasonable at requesting modicum of restraint in the four letter word frequency, or was I being a tad over-sensitive?

In reply to AndrewW:

Sounds reasonable to me to have a polite word.

I'm usually restrained when walking about at the bottom but expletives do slip out when struggling......I find it a bit like the Sharapova grunt, quite hard to keep in when my mind is preoccupied with a tricky move!

In reply to AndrewW:


Yes. Couldn't give a f*ck about the language though.

In reply to Babika:

Quite, but most of them weren't climbing.

In reply to AndrewW:

>"a group of 40 or so, most of whom couldn't construct a sentence without use of the good old 'f' word, and at least 25% of whom required at least 3 'effs' per sentence. All of which expressed at a fairly jolly volume"

Some people, c#%*s, just can't moderate their behaviour one, f#%*ing, wee bit. You should have told them, f#%^ing c#%*s, to f#%^ing shut-up.

Must dash, c#*t, my Tourette's climbing group has an indoor wall meet tonight.

In reply to AndrewW:

I generally moderate my language around the elderly, people who looks like awful bores and young kids. Anyone else can just be adult about it.

I know loads of words, and f**k is still one of the most useful.

R

In reply to Roberttaylor:

I tend to not swear when in public sharing an area with people I don't know, as I don't know how they'll be about swearing, I see it as a part of being considerate.

In reply to Roberttaylor:

Coming from you!

Tiresome young whippersnapper - we haven't forgotten ...

In reply to AndrewW:
I think you were probably brave to ask a group of 40 to stop swearing so much.

In reply to AndrewW:

It really wouldn't have bothered me how much they were swearing as i can easily treat it just like any other descriptive word. In a situation like you were in I doubt the word was being used in an aggressive manner as is often the case with most swear words these days. Even if someone was using the word aggressively towards me it would be the aggression rather than the word that would bother me.

In reply to AndrewW:
Oh well just me then I guess. Admittedly my wife seemed less bothered than me - I just found it something of an irritating distraction. Maybe because I was failing for the umpteenth time on the thing I was working on.

Mind you, where we were is something of local 'beauty spot', and there is often a few tourists milling around (there was on that day). Not sure how good an image such behaviour gives of climbing and of climbers.

In reply to AndrewW:


Yes, I would probably be a bit peeved. I don't think you were being unreasonable or over-sensitive. However, I personally would not have spoken to them.

In reply to Roberttaylor:
Anyone else can just be adult about it.

Adult?

Have a word with them - they could tell you to f*** off and start throwing bottles but probably they'll be ok about it.

Climbing (often at its best) can be an emotionally fraught business and often brings out some ripe language. I tend to be quite sweary when things go wrong (conversely when things are very difficult but are going right I tend to be very quiet).

I'd be less bothered myself about stopping a climber expressing their emotional state when actually climbing but this sounds like a group of nob-heads who weren't swearing themselves up through the crux but generally mouthing off loudly with no good reason which, regardless of the words used, is rather impolite at a nice peaceful beauty spot (much the same way as music or littering).

In reply to AndrewW:

tbh I dont think you can really impose your views on acceptable language on other people at an outdoor venue. your views on swearing being unacceptable are really not all that different to someone elses views on crying children at the crag or blokes taking their tops off to boulder - if you really find it that offensive then I think the solution is to go elsewhere

In reply to AndrewW:

It would annoy me too, but I'd not climb with another 40 people at the crag.

In reply to NottsRich:


You possibly have the luxury of more alternative venues than I.

In reply to AndrewW:

I can swear with the best of them, but swearing is often best used selectively.

If swearing is used as frequently and loudly as you indicate that it was on your recent climbing trip, then it just gets a bit tiresome and annoying; similar to those people who pepper their speech and overuse uptalk with it's rising inflections.

In reply to AndrewW:

I'd say you were perfectly entitled to be peeved and to ask them to tone it down. Offensive language is called that for a reason. Unfortunately (he said sounding like a retired colonel from Tunbridge Wells - well I am 62) some people have no concept of a shared space and behave as if they were on their own, eg chattering away in cinemas as if they were on the sofa in front of the tv, playing loud music on buses and trains and in parks etc. Others of course have no idea that certain words are offensive to others. Just another manifestation of consideration for others and basic courtesy being trumped by 'I'm entitled to do what I want and everyone else just has to put up with it'

In reply to AndrewW:

P.S. http://foaas.herokuapp.com/everything/Darren

In reply to Clauso:

In reply to AndrewW:

On a related note...

What would people find more annoying, someone swearing a bit but in a non-aggressive way...

or this http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=601229 playing Nicki Minaj really loudly.

In reply to Roberttaylor:

I wouldn't be bothered about the swearing, but I would be bothered by cr@p music or whinging or crying kids. Each to their own. I used to work with young people who tended to swear a lot. I would only intervene if there were small children around, or if they were in a situation where it was clearly inappropriate. Climbing wouldn't be on my list I don't suppose. I mostly only swear when I am stuck or think I am going to fall.