What makes swear words bad?

[Sneaky Paladin]

Hey guys I wanna know this one thing I have never figured out. What the hell makes swear words bad to people I mean shit is bad but poop isn't? So now we have a scenario where fuck is bad but the word sex is fine I don't get it. I don't see why two words with the same meaning can have one word be perfectly fine while the other word is offensive and wrong. Can anyone explain this to me?

 

[GodsOneMistake]

Soccer moms, thats what

 

[pantallica95]

i want to know WHEN they became bad. they had streets called Gropecunt Lane way back in the day and i dont think anybody minded.

 

[AlexTheBucket2112]

Religion mainly. Most religions condemn cursing. Other than that some just don't like the words.

 

[Stoic raptor]

it gives a worse image.saying "i fucked her" instead of "i had sex with her" gives a different image in your head

 

[Unreliable]

nothing, your just growing up and realizing that sections of our society cling to an ancient mentality when saying fuck might make someone want to actually fuck, and thus blame a verb for rape, rather than accept responsibility for their own sexual urges.
Its like the same reason Muslim's make women wear the Burka.

 

[j0z]

I don't understand it either. Poop, shit, and crap all mean the same thing, but poop is not as "bad" as the other 2. Why? What makes it so vulgar in the first place? Everyone does it, it is as natuarl as breathing. This same logic can be used on most cuss words, I just chose the 2 "tamest" for this post.

 

[razer17]

because society decided they were bad. its just a fucking word, if you are offended then thats a wee bit silly. If we hadn't added a taboo then no one would care if it was said.

 

[Steeveeo]

Curse words are nothing more than abrupt versions of the same concept, or modifiers to make something sound more bold.

I take offense to curse words little more than I do normal words.

 

[PureBredGentleman]

I know the story, once upon a time in 1851, a man was walking down the street when he came across an old gypsy caravan. He walked inside and accidentally knocked over a gypsy lamp.
The gypsy came in and looked directly into his soul and said: "From this day forth, you and all your family, anytime you want to talk about sex or poop or somebody's rear end, you will instead say 'fuck, shit, and asshole". These words were considered evil from then on. Most curses are evil after all.

THAT'S how it happened END of STORY.

 

[DuplicateValue]

I suppose some words sound harseher/rougher/more aggressive than others.

Like "damn" can be slipped into a sentence unnoticed, but the word "fuck" would draw more attention to itself because of the sharper sound it has.

 

[Ancientgamer]

It's an arbitrary thing to make them be "bad" words. But when you get right down to it, all words are just sounds with arbitrary meanings attached to them. Some words are swear words simply because we need to have words that invoke a particular intensity in and of themselves. You can't say they just don't matter, because then no language matters.

 

[Lukeje]

i want to know WHEN they became bad. they had streets called Gropecunt Lane way back in the day and i dont think anybody minded.

They minded enough eventually to rename it "Grape Lane" though...

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

People's reactions to it. Its all in how you think about it and if your sensitive to that.

 

[Bazaalmon]

Hmm...political correctness? I dunno, but it's the same reason that middle fingers are blurred on TV. I don't think there's a single person alive who sees that and thinks "what could possibly be behind there?" It's gotten to the point where it doesn't matter anymore. Shakespeare used foul language in Hamlet, but you don't see anyone censoring that. Maybe it's too clever for the people who care so much to figure out.

 

[queensbomb]

Hmm...political correctness? I dunno, but it's the same reason that middle fingers are blurred on TV. I don't think there's a single person alive who sees that and thinks "what could possibly be behind there?"

You sir, have never met my grandmother.

 

[fulano]

I think it is a matter of emphasis myself. Undue emphasis seems o get into people's nerves. For example, I get annoyed when people swear all the time without thinking twice about it. Makes anyone look like they don't know how to speak, and ergo they look like idiots.

I'm not realy offended by language but rather by the context in which said language is being used. I can be told to "fuck off" if someone wants me to leave and not get my panties on a stick(as a matter of speaking. I'm not a girl) but someone can say "hello" to me in a dismissive way and that's all it takes to get me going.

It's all about context, I think.