One of the joys of teaching English to teenagers (and to adults actually) is correcting the grammatical errors in their clumsy attempts to swear. One of the things we can thank our Saxon heritage for is the rich range of swearing we have – it really makes the Spanish language’s ability to swear look very weedy. I think the difference is that in Spanish they can use nouns and exclaim (mainly to exclaim or as an insult), whereas languages with the Saxon influence find that not only do they have nouns and exclamations, we can also use swear words as verbs, adjectives and adverbs. I along time ago decided address the use of swear words in a neutral manner (applying what I think are BBC standards) as there’s no point in people learning advanced level English if they aren’t going to recognize it in real life situations, so when they use a swearword in a grammatically incorrect way, I correct them. I also think that explaining the grammatical inaccuracies of their swearing also takes some of the mystique out of it.
I did finish a long tirade to Ian, venting my computer-directed frustrations, which probably would not be suitable for delicate ears with ‘and they couldn’t say that in Spanish‘!