How do words become 'swear words'?

Question

How does your average word become socially unacceptable?

Answer 1

A profanity will have an original meaning (which may change across time and language) which in itself may give some cause for offense. Additionally, many profanities will have applied meanings of their own, usually associated to their context and which therefore may vary significantly depending upon the intended purpose of the word in the sentence. For example, "****", a common (often considered strong) profanity in English, is a verb for the act of sexual intercourse and may be used literally in this sense. It is also used in the context of an exclamation for example ("Holy ****!") or ("******* h**l!") ("I'll ******* Kill YOU!") often to refer to acts of violence or ("He really ****** that guy up.") ("I'm looking for a ******* guy!"), or to an error ("You ****** up again, you're fired.") ("d**n ************! ****! Look what I have done!"). It can also be used to add emphasis to a sentence.

The degree to which a profanity is offensive relies upon how the use of the word affects an individual. Some will consider the original meaning of a word (for example, the sexual act) to be offensive or a subject not fit for polite conversation (cf Ephesians 5:3 "..it is not right that any matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed should even be mentioned among you. Nor is it fitting for you to use language which is obscene, profane or vulgar.") while others will have no objection to these subject matters. Some will feel that certain words, having an established social taboo are simply offensive, regardless of any context; others will find profanities offensive mainly when used in a way deliberately intended to offend.

Furthermore, some may be in the habit of using profanity in order to seem cool. Thus, insults can even be used as terms of endearment.

A 2007 peer reviewed study by the University of East Anglia found that banning profanity in the workplace and reprimanding staff for using it could have a negative effect on morale and motivation. According to the study, while swearing in front of senior staff or customers should be seriously discouraged or banned, in other circumstances it helped foster solidarity among employees and relieved frustration, stress or other feelings.[2]

Finally, profanities may cause offense, regardless of context, if they have some religious meaning which may cause their use to offend those who follow a particular religion. The original meaning of the term was restricted to blasphemy, sacrilege or saying the Abrahamic God's name (or an identifier such as Lord or God) in vain. Such religious profanity is referred to as blasphemy.

As the concept of profanity has been extended to include expressions with scatological, derogatory, racist, or sexual interpretations, the broader concept of "politically incorrect" language has emerged, with religious meaning playing a varying role, and the more vague and inclusive interpretation blurring the distinction between categories of offensiveness. This modern concept of profanity has evolved differently in different cultures and languages. For example, many profanities in Canadian French are a corruption of religious terminology (the sacres), while many English obscenities tend to refer to sexuality or scatology. A term that functions as a profanity in one language may often lack any profane quality when translated into another language.

Some words that are considered profanity are ****, d**n, and ****.

Terms of profanity have historically been taboo words. Some words that were originally considered profane have become much less offensive with the increasing secularity of society. Others, primarily racial or ethnic epithets, can be considered part of hate speech and are now considered more profane than they once were.

William Shakespeare hinted at the word **** in Hamlet, Twelfth Night and Henry V: Hamlet makes reference to "country matters" when he tries to lay his head in Ophelia's lap; Malvolio has the salacious line (although the term **** was an accepted euphemism for v****a in the early sixteenth century) "These be her very c's, her u's, and her t's, and thus she makes her great p's"; and the French Princess Katherine is amused by the word gown for its similarity to the French con[citation needed]. Interestingly, the word ****, while retaining its original meaning in America, has changed in meaning somewhat in Great Britain in the past thirty years. Where American usage of the word mostly refers to either female anatomy or (in extreme cases) an ill-tempered woman, **** in the UK has attained the status of a gender-neutral insult.[citation needed]

In the U.S. today, racial slurs are uniquely profane words in that they are considered highly offensive and hurtful. This is most clearly shown in the attention given to use of the word ******, now effectively banned in American public discourse, although many African-Americans use the word ***** context is very important; thus, Americans of African descent might use '******' in informal situations among themselves, without being considered offensive. Blacks are now becoming more sensitive to the word being used even amongst themselves and may still offend. The word in mention, in certain social groups, as a casual reference to black people is still in frequent use. Some mistakenly associate the unrelated word ********* (meaning "stingy") with '******." [3] As with other types of profanity,[citation needed]Words such as ****** and f*g, though incidentally sexual in nature, are considered highly offensive and derogatory toward g*y people, yet have undergone similar changes to ***** when being used by the g*y community. The most famous example of this is prominent s*x Advice Columnist Dan Savage originally having his readers send letters with the salutation "Hey ******".

Many of the words now considered most 'profane' are held to be so because they were created to insult and disparage a particular group (see pejorative terms). Some of the targets of these words have however attempted to reclaim them and reduce their power as insults. Other ethnic slurs like coon, porch monkey, Alabama porch monkey, afrodite, sausage lips, tar baby, darkie (African-American), dottie (Indian/Pakistani)[citation needed], c***k, **** (Asian), beaner, *******, **** (Hispanic-American), guinea, w*p, dago (Italian), honky, gringo, cracker (whites), heeb (Jewish), k***t (German -- used especially during World War II), sand ******, raghead, towelhead, "rug merchant" (Sikh, or Arab in the US); and pejoratives like fattie, r****d, and redneck or hillbilly aren't entirely profane at all times, but can be considered very offensive when used in the company of certain people, and not socially acceptable in polite settings or social situations.

The offensiveness or perceived intensity or vulgarity of the various profanities can change over time, with certain words becoming more or less offensive as time goes on. For example, in modern times the word p**s is usually considered mildly vulgar and somewhat impolite, whereas the King James Bible unblushingly employs it where modern translators would prefer the word urine (2 Kings 18:27; Isa 36:12) or urinate (1 Sam 25:22, 25:34; 1 Kings 14:10, 16:11, 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8). The word **** has seen a similar evolution; its ancestor—queynte—was not considered vulgar at all, but the word is now considered among the most offensive in the English language.

--- Wow they blocked all the colorful swears OUT!!! Shiity.. Haha I got them.. Blah!!

Answer 2

What a very good question, have a star!.

Answer 3

Originally, many of the four letter words that are considered "swear words" now were actually common language in old english. However, they were common among the "peasants" and the "commoners." They were put under a category of words called "vulgar" words that were used by lower classes of people, to describe common practices. For example the  "F" word actually is an acronym for "fornication under the consent of the king" the "D" word was used when someone was forcibly put under punishment, or "cursed" to a certain location (i.e. D*** you to H***)

When the language became what we now consider modern english, some of those "vulgar" or "common" words were carried over, and are considered unacceptable, because of their roots in the lower class.

Answer 4

I've always wondered that.

Like, why can't pickles be a bad word?

Is it the sole definitions that make a word bad?

Because Jerk means the same thing as the "A Bomb" and it's not deemed bad.

Now, to answer your question, I think words are deemed bad by one member of the royal family, and then it's just passed on by the generations.

Answer 5

good question!

I think when it offends all people all the time.

Answer 6

Swearing is an example of social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude and vulgar, or desecrating or showing disrespect. This is when a word becomes a swear word.

Hope this helps XD

Answer 7

nothin worse to hear a foul mouth

Answer 8

when it becomes offensive to someone

Answer 9

I don't believe we should have swear words.

Blocking them out on TV just puts more emphasis on the word and makes it stand out more.

When you tall someone they can't say a certein word then they want to say it. People are like that. When you tell a kid he can't watch Family Guy then thats all he wants to watch. Telling someone they can't say something is just going to make them say it more.

People get offended when you say "Merry Christmas" or "God Bless" so it's apparent were always going to offend someone.