Reply #22: Cursing is often associated with hostility.

[Speck Tater]

It is often the result of anger, and anger can be a precursor to violence, so it is not so irrational to be fearful of, or at the very least cautious around someone who is swearing. A swearing stranger could well be on the verge of throwing things, or taking out a knife and stabbing people. Who knows? Granted that's an unlikely extreme, but a gracious, polite, non-swearing person does not show any symptoms of immanent violence, and leaves people in the vicinity more at ease. It's a simple matter of being civilized, something that seems to be lost on the younger generation who put themselves and their "rights" before all else so that their right to swear and be crude and vulgar supersedes the comfort of other riders. "I'll exercise my rights and you can go to hell."