@#$%!
We are all familiar with swear words. Whether they are taught to us by an older sibling, or a particularly mischievous kid at the playground, or you happen to overhear adults swearing, these words often fascinate us as children.
It makes sense. Children, particularly very young children, are among the most powerless members of society. They have to be fed, clothed, taken everywhere, they don’t have or make money. And yet, just by speaking a particular set of words, they can elicit a reaction from adults all around.
These words also hold some fascination, even for adults. You may or may not swear yourself, but cursing is everywhere. Certain words are bleeped on broadcast TV, sometimes with humorous effects. For example, late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has a recurring segment called “This Week in Unnecessary Censorship“. In it, non-swear words are bleeped, with the intended effect to make seemingly innocuous speech sound dirty.
But what is it about these words that makes them bad?
$#*!
To help examine this question, let’s look at the word shit. What makes this word bad? What are the qualities that make it so offensive that it can’t be spoken in polite conversation?
Certainly it isn’t the action itself. We are all familiar with going to the bathroom — it is among those things that everybody does. There is even a children’s book called “Everybody Poops”. The concept of pooping is something that is explained to every child in every language and in every culture. It has to be, because, well, everybody poops.
So there must be a difference between the word poop and the word shit. They can’t simply be synonyms, or else why would you be able to say “poop” on broadcast TV and not be bleeped, but “shit” is censored every time?
What is the difference? Is it the context in which it is used? Is it simply that everyone agrees that it is a bad word? Would it be possible to just agree that a bad word is no longer a bad word? Why are bad words bad?
Related questions: How does your vocabulary influence how you think? Where do shared ideas exist? What do we have in common? What words have the most power?
What often makes bad words bad is that they are intended to add a vulgar, demeaning, or derisive quality to a statement.
Some would say that curse words are simply shorthand to put an exclamation point after their thoughts or feelings. As someone who tries not to swear, I would say that curse words are lazy ways to get a point across, ignoring nuance.
That said, and for some unknown reason, there are moments of intense anger that I do feel a compulsion to belt out a bad word. I don’t understand this. I could, after all, simply shout, “Oh, poop!”
Good question. I’ve wondered about this also. Here is what my dictionary says:
swearword: a profane or obscene oath or word. In other words, if you used one of these words at home, your Mom or Dad might wash your mouth out with soap. That happened to me once. Of course that was many years ago. Times have changed and some words have become more socially acceptable. I guess it all depends on the time and place. If I see a vulgar word on social media, I often quit reading.
You picked the perfect word to use as an example. That word is only bad in so many countries. I’ve watched many foreign cartoons that aren’t specifically made for adults with “shit” being said. I run a Discord bot that helps tame a few channels and that word ended up being taken off the list because of the array of ethnicities in my server that disagree on its curse status.