GUEST,memyself,

"..."It always struck me that those Americans I had experience of (not an overly large sample, but varied), seemed to go from very mild "non-oaths" to "God-damned" then straight to variants on "F*ck", there seems to be very little between."

Can you expand on this? (Polite listeners can avert their ears). I'm Canadian, but I suspect the phenomenon you're talking about applies here - but I'm not quite sure what these more subtle "gradations in swearing"..."

I was trying to express that there are/were certain terms or expletives which, in use, are considered stronger than others.

For example:-

Go Away: (starting mildest)
Bugger off -> Sod Off -> Piss Off -> Fuck off

Likewise with expletives:-
Blasted (innoffensive)-> Damned -> Bleeding -> Bloody -> Sodding -> Fucking

As you mention there are certain circumstances where some terms are acceptible and others not.
Without these gradations, I feel that swearing loses its impact both from the swearer's point of view, and becomes monotonous from the point of view of the listener.

W