Poll: Profanity: Why?

[ejb626]

Not much offends me, I find it hard to take insults wheather or not they have profanity. But thats just me if I hear or see it in a movie or game I don't mind. Why the fuck are "cuss words" profane anyway (see what I did there?) but seriously there just words for expressing frustration thats all, I guess because they're ussually also associated with excrement and intercourse.

 

[Mukiwa]

Profanity is the linguistic crutch of the inarticulate.

That said I accept that turning the air blue is warranted in certain occasions and I don't judge people for doing it, contrary to my opening statement. To each his own. If you feel the need to intersperse every other word with some sort of profanity be my guest.

However, I personally try to avoid swearing where possible. I feel if I can adequately convey my point without having to rely on curse words to try gain some kind of edgy shock value then I'm doing alright.

 

[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