How offensive is swearing — and why?

 Posted by on 28 June 2009  Modern Life, NSFW
Jun 282009
 

fuck

A great column in the Guardian asks why it is that people are so offended by a simple word, like “Fuck”:

“If you overuse them, they’ll lose their effect.” Well, so what, if you hate them so much? Or is the prospect of a rude word losing its offensive power too unsettling for the offendees, as it would reveal that it was only ever a word and the power was an illusion of their own making? It would emasculate their attempts to censor with their censure.

They needn’t worry. People will always find new words to offend with or be offended by – it’s a limitless resource, so why don’t we enjoy it? Let’s say “fuck” as often and conversationally as we can and we’ll be on to “cunt” before you know it. Bookmakers could take bets on what the word after that will be. As surely as we move on from MySpace to Facebook to Twitter, so shall we pass seamlessly from the f-word to the c-word to, let’s say, the d-word. “Drung” – meaning a combination of Jesus’s snot and a paedophile’s desire. Obviously its sense would soon be lost, but it would be a satisfying thing to yell if you’d just hit your thumb with a hammer.

I wonder if our language would be richer or poorer if we didn’t have so-called “forbidden” words.

(Image from Bob the Angry Flower)

Grant Hamilton

  • MPot

    Cartman said it best: “Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. What’s the big deal, bitch?”

    I suspect that the sentimental attachment to the “naughtiness” of certain words is due, in part, to the deep human desire to complain and take offense. These people worry that if “fuck” and its ilk are no longer considered naughty by their communities, they won’t be able to take offense.

    We need to reach out to these people. We need to let them know that there’s no need to worry; they will always always always find something to offend them.

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    I like that phrase: “the deep human desire to complain and take offense.” It explains so much of life!

    If you delve into the history of (English) swear words, I believe that many of them are descended from Anglo-Saxon terms that would have been considered lower-class and impolite by the ruling Normans.

    There’s a pretty interesting discussion of Anglo-Saxon swear words here:

    http://www.tha-engliscan-gesithas.org.uk/gegaderung/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2123&FORUM_ID=11&CAT_ID=1&Topic_Title=Anglo-Saxon+Swear+Words%3F%3F%3F%3F&Forum_Title=Anglo-Saxon+Discussion

  • MPot

    That’s true. That’s the assignation of German and Anglo-Saxon terms to “lower-class” crude, vulgar (that is, “of the people”) speech, and the elevation of Latinates to “higher-class” polite, elite speech. The prudes unconsciously perpetuate ancient classisms.

    Why is “penis” considered acceptable, “cock” not so? Why “feces” but not “shit”? Ancient classism!

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    What I really find interesting is some of the terms we use for food. English servants raised cows, but it was the French nobility who ate it — calling it “boeuf,” which we now refer to as beef.

    Let’s break down these ancient class barriers!

  • Colin Corneau

    Yeah, let’s give French people more to complain about. Great idea! ;)

  • MPot

    Neato — hadn’t heard the story about beef before. I think we should just call all meat “flesh”, with the name of the species as an adjective to distinguish, say, “cow flesh” and “goat flesh”.

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    There’s also pigs/hogs and “pork” or “ham” (porc et jambon) … chicken and “poultry” (poulet) … veal (veau, which means calf) … and many more.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other words relating to finished product that we can trace back to this — I’m guessing, but maybe things like leather, or lumber, or drinks like beer and wine.

  • Colin Corneau

    Grant Hamilton, aspiring etymologist!

    Language, especially one as free-wheeling and dynamic as English, is constantly evolving. Beef now means cow meat to everyone, regardless of its origins. And may I suggest that swear words will always be around because they fulfill a need — sometimes we need to have words that define forcefully-delivered anger or impact. That need won’t go away, so neither will obscenities.