Poll: Profanity: Why?

[TheSkaAssassin]

While I do swear often, it has a tendency to make you seem less educated.


EDIT: happy 200th post to me.

 

[JayDub147]

Profanity is profane simply because of the stigma attached to it. Because such words have been labeled as such, people who used them are judged based on their willingness to abide by society's standards. Whether or not those standards are valid is another issue entirely.

Personally, while I use bad language, its use sometimes pisses me me off. Because bad language is viewed as "bad," some people will use it as much as possible, whether it is to try and exxagerate descriptions or just seem "hardcore." To me this gets annoying because it seems like someone doesn't know any other words, and the repetition can get boring. Especially "fuck." If you can construct a whole sentence out of one word, it's time to broaden you're vocabulary.

"Fucking motherfuckers fucked that fuck like the fucking fuck that he is."

Amusing at first, but enough repetition makes it start to sound pretty fucking stupid.

 

[ninjajoeman]

I have a philosophical(ish) question. What makes profanity profane? Is it purely the exact meaning of the words, or is it the intent? Or maybe it's just the vulgar association we give them?

First are a set of statements that would hardly offend anyone over the age of twelve:

"I'm gonna kick your butt, you dog!"
"Aww dang, I stepped in dog poop."
"What the heck are you doing?"
"I caught my dog trying to mate with my neighbor's dog."

Now I give you the profane versions:

"I'm gonna kick your ass, you son of a *****!"
"Damn! I stepped in dog shit."
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I caught my dog trying to fuck my neighbor's dog."

Pick apart the meanings of those statements, and you'll find that the dictionary will tell you they mean the same thing, but with a few notes of "vulgar slang" thrown in there. So why is the second set offensive and profane while the first set is not?

So tell us what offends you, and why.

[If you use profanity frequently, and think it's not offensive, please explain why.]

Thanks all.

you forgot ***** for mate with my neighbors dog