Can someone please explain to me what makes bad words bad? What makes saying **** worse than saying poop? Some guy decided he didn't like the way it sounded and so it was dubbed a bad word. Same with screw and ****. Same meaning, different word. I just don't understand it.

It's become a bit of a problem recently. I go to school and swear my mouth off whenever a teacher isn't looking, then come home and have to watch my language once again. I can't even say "suck". Why? WHY are these words considered bad? It's how I express myself, I prefer those words.

I just don't understand it. There's no sense to censoring a word, and not censoring its synonym.

Society attatches bad meanings to those words, and thus it is profane to use them. Simple concept, really.

Also, suck refers to oral sex, which is why some people find it distasteful. (no pun intended)

Dude, **** *** *** ****** ** **** ******. Thanks.

http://tinyurl.com/h6vzv

*WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE*

*IRONY WARNING: SEE ABOVE*

OK, bad example on my part. But screw, for example. "I screwed up" and "I ****ed up". Same meaning, different word. I just want to know who's to hold accountable for me being limited in my language.

Which is odd considering that f*** is considered a much worse word. It's a retarded thing really.

Nobody? You can swear all you want.

You "shouldn't" (that is, it's an unspoken courtesy) say things like "****" in certain places because it's disrespectful. Why is it disrespectful? Because the word implies a certain abrasiveness that insults the situation. The reason there is this implication is that the way in which you use it makes it inherent--YOU are implying it, not the listener.

I'll use the classroom as an example since you brought it up. Most teachers expect an atmosphere in which they can teach; that is, in which the students are respectful of what the teacher is trying to say. Saying "****" suggests that you consider the atmosphere to be one in which you can be abrasive or unimportant to you -- regardless of whether or not you actually feel this way. This compromises the "civil" atmosphere of the classroom and disrespects the teacher.

In short, it's a civil courtesy not to swear in certain environments or in the presence of certain people because to swear would be to disrespect the persion--not because it's a "bad word deemed by society" but because you imply a certain disregard when you use it.

(By the way, I swear a LOT)

Above Pommy made very good points. Unfortunately, I see no real place for profanity to fit in, for the atmosphere would have to be equally distasteful.

I have consulted the bible, and found this verse.

I use profanity all the time. Being able to switch it on and off depending on the situation comes second nature when you get accustomed to the giant stick America has shoved up its ***. Do I see it as wrong? No. Do I understand there's times when it shouldn't be used? Sure.

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in it the driving instructor lady's car is the same kind as mine :O

OH NOES

It's a good vid, P&T nail it.

I never got why piss was considered a bad word. I've never seen anyone take offense to it. 'I have to take a piss' or 'He looks pissed' is totally normal to hear in everyday conversation.

EVOLUTION!

FREE WILL!

STEM CELL RESEARCH!

ABORTION!

HOMOSEXUALITY!

JERRY ORBACH!

There's some profanities for you!

Pen and Teller are complete idiots. To take their show seriously is (in my opinion) stupidity.

I'm not hugely offended when people around me swear, but I am glad that you can't say any profanity that you want on television/radio. I don't go around telling people to stop swearing.
I don't use profanity, though. It doesn't seem noble/intelligent/gentlemanly to me. It also conflicts with my beliefs as a Christian.

I realized this as soon as they said drugs don't kill people, and that marijuana should be legal.



We agree on these terms. Although I don't let people use profanity inside my house, since its my house and they should respect it if they are located inside it. I should mention that this society things that you are either really gifted and intellgent if you don't swear, or your a really stupid wuss. I love it when girls say they think I'm special because I can make them laugh without sex jokes, profanities or DISTASTEFUL jokes (such as when I saw some kid shove a pencil up some kid's anus and I was totally grossed out, the only one laughing was the kid with the pencil).

It only gets annoying when people swear constantly. It just makes me think that swear words are the extent of their vocabulary.

It makes me angry to hear some one swear, yell, throw fits and all, when all they could have done is go straight to the issue and we'd never have a case.

No one is really giving you the literal reason why some words are bad and others arent.

Many, many centuries ago, England was made up of about 20 different warring kingdoms. One of these kingdoms called on the help of some Germanic tribes on mainland Europe to help defeat a rival kingdom, since the people occupying England couldn't fight as well as the Germanics who sacked Rome. The Germanics saw that England was a ripe country for living and after attacking one kingdom and seeing how much of a fighting advantage they had, Germanic tribes (norman french, to be precise) took over almost all of the contiguous England (the only one who offered any real resistance was Artorius in Northwest England).

So now that the Norman French Germanic tribes have sacked all the royal families in England and assumed control of the political systems and communities, they are left with the peasants who they had no need to destroy, because they are peasants and posed no threat. However, the Norman French speaking new upper class speaks a completely different language than the gutteral English that the peasants spoke.

Specific language differences include the reason why in modern english, we distinguish the food from the animal, whereas in almost all other languages this does not happen. For example, cow in the field is called cow, but on the table it is called "beef", which is a french word. When the new upper class demanded, LE BEEF, the peasants understood that they had to go kill the animal that they call the cow in the field and cook it for their masters. Upon setting it on the table, the french could exclaim, AH! LE BEEF! You get the picture? Same works with chicken being poultry on the dinner table, ect.

Also, this leads to swear words. Eff you see kay simply meant to fornicate, it had the same (and still does) meaning as intercourse. However, it was considered unruly and low class to use such peasant words and so instead we have the upper class french word Intercourse.

Overall, this invasion of england created the version of english we use today. Most words over 2 syllables long come from norman french, like fornicate or intercourse or even all the political terms in todays society like barister, ect. However, the words we use most per day (about 1000 of them) mostly come from the Old english that the peasants spoke.

Now go tell all your friends my story.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]I never got why piss was considered a bad word. I've never seen anyone take offense to it. 'I have to take a piss' or 'He looks pissed' is totally normal to hear in everyday conversation.[/QUOTE]
I think that just gives whaever you're saying a certain vulgarity. Think of it like this. There are situations where you use contractions and slang. When writing something professional or formal, slag and contractions are inappropriate. Swearing has similar (only more so) vulgar and irreverant connotations, which is why it's common courtesy not to swear in certain circumstances.

I can say what I want to,
even if I'm not serious.
Things like....
"**** yourself,
Kill yourself,
You piece of ****."

People tell me what to say,
what to think,
and what to play.

I say...
"Go **** yourself,
You piece of ****.
Why don't you go kill yourself?"

Just kidding.

Not all drugs kill people. Marijuana should be decriminalized at least. It's safer than tobacco and alcohol, both of which are legal.

I haven't seen much P&T, but you shouldn't take it completely seriously. They do a good job of making fun of idiots and stupid ideals but don't back up their arguments well sometimes.

Drizzt covered awesome history into why certain words are considered bad. There's also a much more broader reasons why swear words on a whole are considered bad -- their original (and current even) use was the equivilant of pledging or swearing an oath, usually for some great power to arise and either bring harm to someone. In the Biblical sense, saying "God damn you" or "In the name of God, I will blah-blah-blah" could be pretty arrogant/sinful, and with the Christian ideal that you're supposed to love your enemy, well, that's makes it even more bad.

South Park covered the idea pretty well in the episode where they say the s-word over 100 times.

No one is. But you want to be a respected member of a society, don't you?

You English speaking people have absolutely no concept of true offensiveness. Your language is simply lacking the words. The so-called 'bad' words are so harmless and innocent, it's hilarious. Trust me when I say you have no idea.

You mean your parents house?


Since I work at a Tool shop, ever other word seems to be profanity.

"This CNC machine ****ed, the drill bit keeps getting ****ing stuck. ****!" a fellow worker comments.

"Take this **** off the edge with the grinder" says my lead hand.

"**** off" says the always grumpy worker when you say hello.

Please then ORJ_Jos, enlighten us with your mystical language.
From what I've heard (and that's been a lot since that 'where the bloody hell are ya' debate) English seems to be the leading language for swear words (both strength and numeracy).

I don't mind when people swear, not even if they're the sort that swear all the time. But what I hate is people who swear to try and fit in and just can't pull it off.
I only swear when I feel the situation calls for it, my coworkers swear all the time, our surpivisor swears all the time but can't pull it off. You can tell he's not accustomed to swearing, and he's only doing it because 'all the cool kids are doing it' and it's just sad.

you dont even need bad words to be offensive, the best reaction i got from someone was when i wished with all my conviction that they got cancer.

Didn't have to use a single curse to be truly offensive. Being offensive doesn't even require bad words.

I don't really have anything against small amounts of swearing (so nothing against swearing in general) mostly because excessive makes one sound, look and all in all seem like a retard.

I don't swear often, but by producing a "shortage of supply" when the demand comes up and I do swear, it's somewhat more profound.

Also, I like creative swearing. Saying "f***!" Isn't nearly as much fun as saying something along the lines of (my personal favorite) "S***-f***er!"

It's all about the vivid imagery.

It's also about the amount of use. If you don't swear often then when you -do- swear, it has wieght. But when you swear all the time it's just another word, not even that, it's a semi-colon.

Exactly. It has more weight, it has more meaning, and people take notice and it puts a lot more emphasis on what you're saying when you don't use profanity like two dollar korean whores.

Like the prank where you go into MS word and set the autocorrect feature to change every "the" to "the ****ing".

I thought that was french.

Swearing loses something in the translation.

<%kiwibonga> Je ne donne pas un merde - I don't give a ****
<%kiwibonga> THAT MAKES NO SENSE
<%kiwibonga> you cannot give a **** to someone
<%kiwibonga> in french
<%kiwibonga> that sounds like "I'm taking a **** in my hands and I'm keeping it for myself"

Yeah, the Frenchman from the Matrix
Swearing in German sounds a lot more pissed off, even though some literal translations to English seem silly.

LOL have I told you today how much I loved you?

I just wanted to jump on the bandwagon with what happydud says -- I try to swear as little as possible so that, if and when I do, it carries more weight, and being creative with the swearing is optimal.