Poll: What swear offends you the most?

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Obviously the J-word. Ever since the button, I've been horribly offended by those two words.

[sub]It's pretty hard to offend me just with a word.[/sub]

[EDIT] Please give your reasons and dont just do the poll.

Historically on this site polls generate more polls and votes than responses explaining the vote. Just the way it seems to go.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

I'm not easily offended, in fact I'm not offended by anything. The whole concept seems ridiculous to me, but I still voted Bieber.

 

[SillyBear]

A word itself isn't offensive to me at all, but I rarely see the word "******" used in a way that is appealing.

By the way, who is Justice Beaver?

 

[thylasos]

Swearing doesn't offend me. Racial or homophobic slurs, though, I won't tolerate.

 

[The Apothecarry]

Justin Bieber takes the lying cake.

I hate **** just because I can't use it on anybody. The ones that bother me are racist insults. I don't ever use them. I just don't.

 

[SckizoBoy]

None of them really offend me, it's their excessive use that annoys me. (And for one reason or another, I find myself swearing less and less on the Escapist... go me...)

Also, it's more the direction and intent of the cuss/swear that does the damage, less than the word itself.

 

[Custard_Angel]

Fuck - Fairly common word. The only time I use it is... in intimate settings i.e. let's... perform acts.

**** - As an Australian this is a nationally embraced word amongst the working class i.e. "yeah nah, you're a **** mate"

Fag/****** - No... not at all... it's just not offensive to me.

Retard - I called my cereal retarded this morning. Nothing wrong with that.

Justin Bieber - Can't say I've ever described someone as being a complete and total Justin Bieber. Cos I'm not 14 years old probably.

Other (please specify) - I suppose... prostagoblin... but I don't really use that word outside of my own group...

 

[Belluavir]

What kind of asshole writes to a TV station?

I dislike the word fag and I'm glad it's being used less nowadays, but there are cases where I don't mind its use.

The general rule for me though is to focus on the meaning of what is said rather than the actual words.

 

[Gigano]

None of them.

Though words can certainly be used to harm, swears carry no inherent harmful intent to them, and are thus ethically neutral and not worth getting one's panties in a knot over.

If you're going to get offended over something, at least be so over a context in which they - or more refined phrasings - carry some actual malice behind them.

...so I guess people who are offended by swears offend me. They must all be censored to protect my delicate sensibilities, and every network giving voice to them must be fined! Though I'll just ignore them as I have no reason to seek them out or need to accommodate to them anyway.

 

[KrubixCube]

Never been a big fan of ****. I'm not really against swearing or anything but that one just seems...harsher than the others.

 

[Wintermoot]

Kanker it,s a curse word only used in the Benelux (Belgium Netherlands and Luxembourg) it translates to cancer in the English language and is used in the same way as Fuck it even sounds horrible and is the only curse word I will never use (I only used it once in my entire live as curse word)

 

[katsumoto03]

They are just words. There is literally nothing you can say that can hurt people. It's always self-inflicted.

That said, referring to someone as 'Justin Beiber' is just a dick move.

 

[kittii-chan 300]

i have a very thick skin, very few things offend me, especially when its words, i mean words dont hurt ya. unless they are Words Of Power....

lilac la lac lilac lililac. Ôὸ óõìâüëáéïí äéáêïíῆôù ìïß, ἡ êñõóôÜëëéíç âáóßëåéá! ἘðéãåíçèÞôù, ôáἰþíéïí ἔñåâïò, áἱþíéå êñýóôáëëå! ÐÜóáéò æùáῖò ôὸí ἴóïí èÜíáôïí, ὃò ἀôáñáîßá! Êïóìéêὴ ÊáôáóôñïöÞ.
???thats what you meant right??? im giving a free............. kitten to whoever translates this cuz i wanna know. (warning: condition of kitten is uncertain)

OT: its not really the word that offends people, its the context in how the word is used. although justin bieber is a terrible foul insult that can only be met with torture and death.

 

[siahsargus]

I voted fag/****** because I have to hear that way more often than is reasonable. But honestly, if I heard someone use "Justin Beiber" as a swear I would just start laughing.

 

[curintedery]

I can honestly say that not a single word offends me. I use them all on a regular basis, and, simply put, they are words. I will never understand the offence that they bring...

 

[thylasos]

Swearing doesn't offend me. Racial or homophobic slurs, though, I won't tolerate.

What if a typical racial or homophobic slur isn't used in that context? Say for sake of example if someone was to call another a ****** or fag jokingly, as a term of endearment, or otherwise out of context?

Just curious.

I don't approve. I'm not at the condemning-people-to-hell stage of apolplecticism over it, and obviously there's leeway to be given inside the communities attempting to reclaim these words.

Outside of that context, however, in my view it's simply ignorant. You can train yourself relatively easily out of the use of certain words, and if other people hear it out of context, they're likely to think you're a moron, and/or take offence and/or be hurt by the casual use of said terms.

There's plenty of other swear words, and other ways of expressing your close relationship with someone, so why use words which carry racist or homophobic connotations?