WTF Taboo? : Swearing Edition

So among my many considerations of the ridiculousness of certain taboos, one of the most interesting is the subject of swearing.

I have wondered extensively on the subject, and have found that the entire concept of "swear words" is ludicrous.

For example, why are there words (take fuck for example) where their synonyms are considered less impolite than the actual word. THERE IS LITERALLY NO DIFFERENCE IN MEANING BETWEEN SEX AND FUCK. They are mainly interchangeable, even using sex as a verb :ie "to sex it up" Why then is one considered to be so much worse as to be banned from use in TV and Radio?

Therefore I came to the conclusion that it must simply be a matter of phonetic pronunciation, and Fuck being harsher sounding than sex. I still found this slightly ridiculous, but at least it was an explanation... but wait... What about Crap and Shit? Shit is much softer phonetically than Crap, and yet it is considered so bad that one cannot even say it on daytime television, while crap is perfectly fine, and poop is used in children's shows constantly as a cheap joke. I therefore came to the conclusion that the only difference is that we as a species at one point decided that it should be so that certain words were much worse than others for no real reason.

But that left me with one final question: WHY?

Why would we consciously make the decision to ban the use of certain words for no reason?

Why would someone take the ridiculous, arbitrary filthiness of these words so seriously as to make it against federal law to "air ... profane language during certain hours."?

I always become agitated and irritable when I come across stupidity with no justification, so I am asking anyone:

Why are certain, apparently randomly chosen words considered inherently more vulgar than their synonyms?

This is my post on censorship from a year and a half ago, with a few edits. Doesn't fit hand in glove, but it's coming to much the same conclusion that I would otherwise forge. This is not an affront to your thread, I just don't think I could say it any better.

The problem is always where you draw the line. If you censor one joke, just like if you censor one word, what else should you censor? Even when you've decided which words are acceptable, meanings change, and less exposure makes things more exotic and interesting, compelling people to find them out and use them, and thus further increase their controversy and the level of censorship.

Parents and their children are an obvious point of reference in the argument against. There will be things that children cannot comprehend and shouldn't be exposed to, yes, but they aren't the sort of things you tend to stumble upon, and again (as has been stated) there are web filters of various intensities. Anything else is already in the public domain, and it being acceptable for adults, and there being so many adults, children will pick things up. If material is censored it is swept under the rug, it is controversial in some way or another, and so it will not be readily discussed; not being readily discussed will lead to understandings being gleaned from other sources, or not sought at all - this is far more dangerous than learning about them in a 'controlled environment'. The protective parental environments, by which some children will know these things and some won't, are dangerous for forming opinions and morals, and for the child's well-being amongst peers. If you don't get a clear, early understanding of good and bad things, if you don't have the knowledge of the two extremes, the two sides of humour or language or human/animal behaviour or human depiction, how can you make reasonable judgements? Linked into this is the idea that something is censored essentially because is it bad or wrong - why is nudity wrong? Why is it wrong to say a certain word? Because something gains certain connotations, society as a whole decides to surrender it rather than reshape it.

Society naturally limits certain controversial materials as a result of demand, itself as a result of morals. This is key. Parents teach morals in what they do and what they say, not necessarily in the sense of bringing their child up within a religion etc, but in what their actions tell their children. Removing all censorship won't lead to mainstream child pornography, snuff etc because there would not be enough demand; there is demand for so called swear/curse words and pornography because a majority of people enjoy these things, and everyone should be able to learn why and make their own judgement, based on the context presented to them by their upbringing.

I understand that that is why censorship happens and the like, but I am asking WHY specifically these arbitrarily chosen "swear words" are considered worthy of such censorship? Gaining notoriety as a "dirty word" does not make it any dirtier than its synonyms, only more prevalent, thus making it even more useless to censor since it is already saturated into the culture. As for connotations, take the sex and fuck example. Both are equal in connotative as well as denotative meaning, and yet one is inherently filthier as a word.

WHY?

Well, purely because they tend to have anger, stigma or ulterior meanings attached. It's an ongoing reaction to the development of popular culture. I can't tell you why certain words take on meanings that their synonyms do not; that may have something to do with the sound, but it's more likely just the gradual warping of an already prevalent slang word. There will, no doubt, still be bans on words that have lost much of their meaning some years down the line.

The answer you're looking for is basic semantic progression. At some time, at some place, somebody decided to use a word in a certain context, then someone else picked it up and started doing the same thing, then yet another one. As for why only some words are deemed "vulgar" while others are not I guess that people still needed some way to converse about the subject; this way some words got another semantic value. This basically applies to why we use different synonyms in different contexts overall, not only cursing.

Edit: Of course origin of the word also matters. Take "fuck" for example, it's believed to hail from an old Germanic word, "fokka" which is used as a noun, simply meaning "strike" or "to thrust" which in turn is believed to have been a more local word for sex(due to the thrusting movement, also enhanced by the fact that the old Germanic word for penis is "fuk").

 



The more you know. *small rainbow appears*

For the same reason the word nigger is supposed to be offensive but african-american less so: words have history. It isn't just what it means that is important, but its background. A few hundred years from now, "fuck" and "Shit" will likely lose its profane status and we would have picked whole new swear words.

For example, the words "My God!" was considered very profane. The history behind this is "taking the Lord's name in vain" is wrong. However, These days, no one cares and very few people consider it profane anymore.

Maybe in the future "palin" becomes synonymous with stupid, but saying palin is considered a swear word.

I've always felt that using vulgar words was a way of telling people that you are trying to be blatantly flippant and offense. It is like you WANT to upset and make people uncomfortable. I always point out that HOW you say something is more important that WHAT you say. Using a different word shows that you are not trying to be offensive or confrontational.

Like Chlor said, what words carry these connotations are decided by semantic progression.

In a sense it shows how a person really is, the whole "the calm person can be rational" and "the angry person is irrational" is where it all leads to. If someone curses a lot, in the societies I am familiar with, it is seen as low class and vulgar person who just thinks they deserve everything. Meanwhile the people who don't use them are seen as neutral, those who speak with more "eloquent" words are seen as people in high status.

Just as you stated about "Sex" and "Fuck". Both are interchangeable, but there is also another word, which is "intercourse" for example. "Fuck" is used vulgarly and unless with people you really know, you won't use it with your boss or professor. "Sex" is neutral, it is the most common word if vulgarities are not allowed at all. "Intercourse" is a word I hardly even hear at all nowadays, I heard it once probably in the past year but nowhere near recently.

To put it simply, people who use the word "Fuck" are considered rude and sometimes low class. The ones who use "Sex" are in the middle and try to put it in the nicest way possible at times. Finally, "Intercourse" can be considered by professional people and are not playing around with the subject at hand.

Yeah, cuz' youtube is a far more valid source than the etymology part of the Oxford Dictionary.

Not that it's completely off though, I'm just speculating now, but I think I'm more or less correct: Frichen is most likely what the word "Fokka" turned into in Germany, please note that there is a difference between German and Germanic.

youjustgotlearned.gif

I think about this a lot also. I wonder why these "curse" words are labeled as such. What's so bad about them?
Well, I guess fuck is the worst one, but it's not like I care. And shit does sound nicer than crap, I have to say.

Blame religion.

Excerpt from Wikipedia page on Profanity:
"The original meaning of the adjective profane (Latin: "in front of", "outside the temple") referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g., "The fort is the oldest profane building in the town, but the local monastery is older, and is the oldest building," or "besides designing churches, he also designed many profane buildings". Over time, this meaning changed to the current meaning."

This explains why 'Damn' is vulgar. Don't know about other words though.

I think it partially comes down to the tone of voice you use. I can probably say the word Fuck several kinds of ways, and they'll all kinda have a different meaning behind the use, depending on the tone I used.

Not sure if that makes much sense, but eh, I tried.

Fixed.

This is something that has always dumbfounded me as well. if ever i brought the subject up in an academic setting, i was always met with "[sic]because...shut up".

Well, I tend to think along the lines of, "Words, actions, and thoughts have no implicit value or meaning. We, place upon them what we want them to be, and as such, they become either accepted or rejected."

In class discussions, we use the words fuck, cunt, faggot and nigger because they are just words, they aren't directed towards anybody nor do they carry any malice, they are just words. Anyone who is offended by them is offended because of the implications that they themselves place on the words.