I'm the sort of person who has trouble not saying what they think. It just rolls right off my tongue. That's not always a good thing. Learning to nod and grin would often be in my benefit, but I find it difficult to do.
How about you?
I self-censor too much, actually. I've long felt that learning to nod and grin was the tactful way to be, but I know now that it disagreements can be expressed honestly, as long as it's done in a respectful and rational way.
With adults, almost never, which regularly gets me into situations where people are "offended" because I just said what I think about e.g. Jesus or Mohammed or because I just said "fucking hell" or both.
Luckily I tend to live in places where currently one does not get arrested or flogged for that, but I would probably already have been killed if it was 200 years ago in the same place or even these days in Saudi Arabia.
All the time.
I'm not super profane but I cuss enough to offend the occasional prude. In a setting like this I keep it to a minimum. On other sites were I participate, cursing is much more common and accepted, but even there, I don't become egregious with it.
I'm pretty good at giving people the benefit of the doubt and being gentle with them but sometimes I am so weary of bad thinking and getting crankier as I age, and I let 'em have it. I don't often regret doing so. It usually takes quite a bit of Stoopid to set me off, even now.
I those moments when I stop caring I do the same thing, I just speak and whatever comes out comes out. I then spend some time questioning why I said what I did, or sometimes it is just the way I have said something that comes across the wrong way, nothing I can do about it except try and learn from mistakes
Sá sem lifir án aga, deyr án heiðurs
That is the saying in Old Norse that I have tattooed across my back. It translates to:
He who lives without discipline, dies without honor. That is my motto. It keeps me from letting things go, including my rather sharp tongue, my appetite for cake and ice cream and my tendency for pain and suffering.
@silvereyes And the bitch is you cannot read it in the mirror. So I say it under my breath.
Self-censor or trying to say what's appropriate to the situation? If cussing someone out is what's called for then I do it. If gentleness is gonna work better with fewer 'f' bombs then I'll do that. I would say, unless you have Tourettes, that we always self-censor.
I have the opposite issue, ie. I've had a doctor say to me, "You're awfully quiet. Help me out."
I don't have a problem keeping my mouth shut when it's not worth the trouble.
This is an instance where women have a better chance of getting away with not biting her tongue.
A man has a chance of getting slugged in the mouth for blurting out something to the wrong guy. lol
People are strong willed and will think and feel whatever they do regardless of what anyone else says. Generally I shake my head and walk away if it's too ridiculous. I don't like to fight and if people are already shooting off about some nonsense they are likely more excitable than I care to handle. I have no interest in stirring it up so no worries, no real problem keeping my mouth shut most of the time. It comes down to weighing just how much danger a person is in with what they say. Will someone die if I ignore it? Will they be injured? Will the topic at hand being challenged or left alone make any real difference? If no, then it isn't worth my time or effort to get into it. I reserve that for damage control alone.
I think faster then I write...lol, yeah right!...lol.... so I go back and read a post or comment and realize I've left out a word... I open it up and correct it..
The only time I tend to do it is at work. I do not care what others think outside of my job and I act accordingly.
Some days are better then others. However I've stopped even trying to censor my self with flat earth believers. I've found it to be a good release. It's usually a string of course words like douche-pickle, twat-waffle, cock-nose, or dumb-ass-ball-chined-mother-fucker.
Is against my nature to censor me. So a Fucker here and Asshole there will happen here often.