The Art of Swearing: From Petrosian to Carlin

I grew up in Moldova, watching a lot of old-school Russian stand-up, people like Evgheni Petrosian, Efim Shifrin, and Mikhail Zadornov were my source of laughter. They were clever, funny, respectable. You rarely heard a bad word from them. Maybe that was the era, you could make people laugh without saying "fuck" or "shit." And I loved that.

Because of them, I grew up appreciating clean, articulate language. For most of my youth, I barely swore at all. Maybe an occasional "băga-mi-aș" when I hit my small toe on a stool, but that was it. I thought bad words were for people who ran out of vocabulary.

Then I came to Romania. And the world opened up.

I got YouTube. I got Filelist. I got the damn internet.

Suddenly I had access to George Carlin, Dylan Moran, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Bill Burr, Tom Segura, the whole gang.

And holy shit, that was a different universe.

These guys weren't messing around. They didn't care about sounding polite or respectable. They said whatever the hell they wanted, and somehow it made sense. It wasn't vulgarity for the sake of it, it was sharp, funny, and honest.

I realized something then: swearing can be an art form.

I'd grown up with Romanian and Russian TV, two channels, same old polite crap. Even when I watched American movies like Die Hard, I learned all the swearing in Russian. I didn't swear in Romanian, still rarely do, it feels strange, kind of flavorless. But English? That hits differently.

Maybe it's because English isn't my native language. Swearing in it doesn't feel that bad, it feels like theater. I only ever heard those words from people on stage, in movies or in jokes. It's performance, not aggression.

Unlike your native swearing, the kind you hear at a train station from some drunk yelling, "băi pulă, ce te uiți la mine?".

That one freezes you. It's not funny, it's not clever, it's just raw and ugly, because it could have consequences, it's happening in real life, to me.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. They still hurt though, sometimes :D

English cursing has a rhythm, a tone. Saying "fuck" feels liberating for me, not insulting. It's like emotional punctuation, a small explosion in a sentence. "Fuck this," "damn it," "screw you", they all carry energy, frustration, or even humor. It's dirty, but in a beautiful, satisfying way.

I still remember watching Californication for the first time. David Duchovny drops a line:

Right you are, motherfucker!

I swear to God, that line still makes me smile. It's not just the word, it's the timing, the confidence, the complete lack of giving a damn.

That's what I love about bad words. They cut through the bullshit, they're honest. Sometimes a well-placed curse says more than a full paragraph ever could.

And maybe that's the point, swearing, when used right, isn't rude. It's real.

From the clean, clever comedy of Petrosian to the raw honesty of Carlin, my relationship with language evolved. I learned that there's room for both in this world, the articulate and the profane, the respectful and the rebellious.

The difference isn't in the words themselves, but in how you use them. When wielded with intention, timing, and honesty, even profanity can be beautiful.

Have a great damn day!

Note: The gifs are from giphy.com