The programme is not designed just for laughs but to evoke all kinds of emotions on many subjects. Hence those subjects will be discussed here. If you want to keep it to comedy then watch a comedy programme....just saying.

If it is run of the mill behaviour where you hang out then I feel very sorry for you, thankfully not everyone feels like you do. I'll leave you with that thought as we obviously have very different standards.

I get your point, but it used to be far more lighthearted. It seems now to get too serious. and emotional come to that, I'd rather keep it lighter, but just my opinion, of course.

Thanks for that. I am not a prude by any means, but as you say, it is all about respect, and the sad lack of it these days.

It was so funny Bella. Do you remember that young threesome who drove out to the woods with their home-made masks? They expected some sexy fun (wouldn't have known what to do with it if they'd found it), got cold and went home for a cuppa?

You must only know middle class families then, lol

Did you ever watch the tv series 'The Osbournes?' All of them were swearing, including the Parents.

If you are referring to Sharon Osbourne, no, I make a point of avoiding anything she is in, and if you are holding that dysfunctional family up as a good example, then we obviously share different values.

I belong to a gym and a running club, with members of all ages, and we manage to have a great time without cursing, Maybe because we can have conversations using words with more than four letters.

The father's comments are, always, very short, honest & to the point.

Mother Michael tends to burble on - but is very endearing. The daughter seems to patronise her - as does the Moffatt daughter with both parents.



She, certainly, drapes herself very artfully on the sofa

Giles & Mary are becoming the stars of the show.

Have the Vicar & husband been written out ? She hosted a religious show, during Easter, for another channel.

Osbourne family disfunctional? Understatement of the year!

And I've never heard my son swear or either of my four nephews or my niece. (All over age 40) And my group of pals (6 of us) that go to the pub together, none of us swear - not even when we're drunk! And I've still never heard my Dad swear (he's 90+), never heard my Mum swear, nor my wife, nor her Mum or Dad (who was a miner!).

I reckon if I ever swore in front of my parents, I'd have got seven bells knocked out of me!

Sorry, but this modern trend of using the F word all the time I just find offensive - and completely unnecessary. Plenty other words in the English language to choose from.

Well said Sir. I am glad to hear that I am not the only one here who finds excessive swearing offensive.

I grew up in a very rough part of Battersea in the 1940's, years before it became the trendy place to live. Yet I can honestly say that I never heard the F word until I went in the army at 18.

I find it sad that it is now used regularly on TV, and that anyone who objects is considered old fashioned, and a figure of fun.

Being taught good manners by your parents is one thing....then comes the influence of whatever peer group you hang out with. This is where the good work can so readily be undone. Sadly, swearing can be seen as cool, daring/rebellious and a (dumb) way of being outspoken. In terms of having a debate/dispute, if someone resorts to swearing, they have already lost in my view (ineffective, low blows).

Wow, what a rude, snobby comment. Because I cited the Osbournes, you seem to think I respect or revere them. I was merely giving you an example.

...And I'm pretty sure your last paragraph is meant to be a dig at me, seeing as you assume my friends swear for some reason.

The only thought I'm left with is why can't you respond to what's actually written.
Twice you've done this now, I even pointed out that you've responded to something I haven't said.
See your response to another FM citing the Osbornes as a swearing family.

Same no way I would swear in front of my parents, not keen on hearing too many swear words on tv.

Oh leave off the sanctimonious condescension. Who are you? Mary Whitehouse?

I don't swear that much personally but lots of people do, and in an entirely trivial non-aggressive way with family members. Doesn't shock me at all and neither, in reality, does it shock anyone else beyond contrived outrage.

I don't always agree with Stephen Fry but this is spot-on:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNRM

Wow, and aren't you sensitive, I can't even bother trying to explain why it wasn't meant to be snobby, lets just say that we obviously have different standards.

I am really not interested in what you have to say, because I can't argue with a closed mind.

And how the car struggled to pull away with the 3 of them in it

Stephen Fry made a total prat of himself at an awards show when he announced "It's F#####g Tom Cruise. It wasn't funny or clever, and so I didn't even bother to look at that video. I won't change your views, and you certainly won't change mine.

Oh the irony of you saying you are not interested in what someone here says because you said they had a closed mind!!!! Ha!!! Hmmm....

The unexpected can be funny i.e. no one expects Fry to swear. (I think he is vastly overrated - he may be charming but I have never found him that intelligent).

Again, you're not actually responding to what's written.
You haven't actually asked my opinion, you keep responding to stuff that FM's haven't actually written.
You're clearly on a gee-up and I've had.

'Prat' - how uncouth! That is far more rude than a word like 'f**k' used in a casual and trivial way as an exclamation eg by the Michael family on Gogglebox.

Glorious irony how you preach about others being 'close minded' when you yourself refuse to watch a perfectly innocuous video of someone musing about the acceptability of swearing
And then top it off by saying your mind is unchangeable - the very definition of being close-minded. Enjoy your hypocrisy pie.

To swear does not necessarily define someone....it's a question of degree and frequency.

If someone has a great, congenial personality but is apt to swear occasionally (say, if they get something badly wrong) then this is quite normal and I would not look down on them.

Precisely. No-one in my immediate family swears profusely though I did have a great uncle who did it offen; it was part of his speech pattern and he used swearing for emphasis. He was a lovely man though - genial, a gentle giant and a friend to everyone.

There is absolutely no correlation between swearing, intelligence, education or culture. None. You might like to think that people who swear do so because they have no other options at their disposal but you'd be wrong. You refused to watch Stephen Fry's comments on the subject which is a pity because he's eloquent and to the point.