Curse Words

Gabriela Rios

Professor Bloom

English 100: English Composition

31 March 2013

Language Usage – Swear Words

What is it about some words that offend people? Why are some words acceptable to describe something but others are “rude” and “vulgar” even though they mean the same thing? Why have we chosen these words and condemn their usage? I believe that condemning the usage of a word is not only harmful but also makes the words more intriguing and forbidding than it needs to be. So therefore we must discard the concept of swear words by not censoring the usage of language in the media and by making it socially acceptable for people to swear.

To understand why keeping the concept of swear words is harmful we must first understand what swear words are. In Webster’s Dictionary, profanity is defined as “Blasphemous and obscene language”. This basically means the usage of words intended to offend or speak sacrilegiously about God or sacred things. Studies suggest that swear words came from the belief that spoken words have power. Some cultures believe that spoken words can curse or bless people or can otherwise affect the world. This leads to the idea that some words are either very good or very bad. While spoken swear words from different languages don't sound alike, they generally fall into one of two categories. Most of the time, they are either deistic (related to religion) or visceral (related to the human body and its functions). While some linguists classify racial slurs as swear words, others place them in a separate category. So the words themselves are similar, but in different cultures people swear at different times and in different contexts. There are certain words that contain this stigma of being “offensive” and “sacrilegious” that we know as swear words. But why do these words carry such weight on them? Why do we swear so much anyway?

Unlike most other language rules, we learn about swear words and how to use them without any real classroom...