Swearing

They were swearing at each other at the top of their voices.

Swearing makes you feel relieved.

Swearing relieves the pain.

Tom is swearing.

Tom is swearing at Ken.

Yes, I am swearing!

I am swearing at that jerk!

Tom was asserting, judging by the verb in front of him, that the sentence was past tense, while Mary, seeing the gerundive under her eyes, was swearing it was a present.

He started swearing.

Tom says he's swearing off smoking.

Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.

No man is believed a jot the more for all the asseverations, damnings, and swearings he makes.