What Makes Bad Words Bad?

WindSock

What makes bold words offensive to people? Is it their implications, or the way they sound, for instance the F word, the C word. They sort of sound the same an 'uh' with a hard constantant at the end. How is shit worse than poop? Who decides these things?

Mr Magnolia

It's down to how they're used and whether offence is intended or not a lot of the time.

A middle aged friend of mine swears at every juncture, they just roll off the tongue and tbh I couldn't see him offending anyone as it's simply not intended. Wouldn't have him any other way either, he's comic anyway swearing aside.

Jesus Wept

Intent.

Anyone who gets offended upon hearing a word is a moron whom I want nothing to with.

genericguy

any word with connotations about weight is bad if you use it around wimmin.

Basq

To be honest.. I'm more offended at the term "smear test" * than any swear word!




* I shuddered even just typing it!

WindSock

basquille wrote: »

To be honest.. I'm more offended at the term "smear test" * than any swear word!

I agree. Horrible word, smear. No wonder so many women are put off by it. That and the forceps!

Now I shudder

kowloon

I get offended by pretentious words that exist only to make the speaker sound smart. The word 'frog' on the other hand is one of my favorite as I think it perfectly captures the essence of the frog.

chin_grin

Tone, delivery, intent and the emotion conveyed.

"Alright yeh b*stard!" to a friend.

"All right you b*stard!" to start a fight/continue a fight/as an exclamation as to your disapproval of something that you need to do that you didn't really want to do in the first place.....or something.

Yeh pack of............very nice people.

ejmaztec

Bad people make bad words bad, and really bad people make good words bad as well.:eek:

Bonito

I would like to revert to childhood

"sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me"

When someone uses words to offend or hurt you they're looking for an aggressive/upset response, you get more satisfaction by not replying/walking away, it does their nut in and they'll continue to try rev you up but eventually get frustrated when you show they're not phasing you

AnonoBoy

basquille wrote: »

To be honest.. I'm more offended at the term "smear test" * than any swear word!




* I shuddered even just typing it!

I love smear tests. Must book one soon actually. Love the freaked out expression on the doctor's face when I pop myself up in the stirr-ups and say "Smear away Doc!"

TheZohanS

The-Rigger wrote: »

Anyone who gets offended upon hearing a word is a moron whom I want nothing to with.

I feel the same way about anyone who feels the need to use them frequently in conversation.
Wow they know a few curse words, get over it you're not 10.

WindSock

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I love smear tests. Must book one soon actually. Love the freaked out expression on the doctor's face when I pop myself up in the stirr-ups and say "Smear away Doc!"

Even better when you can train your labia to say it





/knock off Billy Connolly joke

AnonoBoy

WindSock wrote: »

Even better when you can train your labia to say it

If I had labia I'd give it a go.

stovelid

Frogs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails of course.

Failing that: intent.

CrazyRabbit

Bonito wrote: »

I would like to revert to childhood

"sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me"

Tell that to the parents of kids who have killed themselves due to verbal bullying. The above saying is akin to the proverbial emu putting its head in the ground.

Foul language really only has a few uses.

1. For comedic effect. (Eg. Brendan O'Carroll)
2. To display your poor grasp on the english language and demonstrate an inability to clearly express emotions.
3. As a poor attempt to make oneself appear 'hard'.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm not offended by 'bad' language. I just don't see it as being neccessary.

Cunny-Funt

Good thread.

Basically, and this is with intent aside because non curse words can be offensive depending on intent too, someone said that the combination of these letters should result in you being offended/disturbed.

In other words someone decided that , when hearing the single word alone, poo is okay, but shit is not.

Even though they mean the same thing. They just use a different combination of letters. This is highly illogical and to be blunt, I think anyone who chooses to get offended by such a single word is an idiot.

I say chooses cause its their choice. They decided to be offended by it.

I find it ironic that some people, usually religious fundamentalists, view it as unintelligent to use such a word, when being offended by the single word on its own, merely because they were told to, is highly unintelligent in itself.

Making the choice to be offended by words such as Damn and Hell is just as retarded as choosing to be offended by Wow or Limerick.

CrazyRabbit

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

Good thread.

Basically, and this is with intent aside because non curse words can be offensive depending on intent too, someone said that the combination of these letters should result in you being offended/disturbed.

In other words someone decided that , when hearing the single word alone, poo is okay, but shit is not.

Even though they mean the same thing. They just use a different combination of letters. This is highly illogical and to be blunt, I think anyone who chooses to get offended by such a single word is an idiot.

I say chooses cause its their choice. They decided to be offended by it.

I find it ironic that some people, usually religious fundamentalists, view it as unintelligent to use such a word, when being offended by the single word on its own, merely because they were told to, is highly unintelligent in itself.

Making the choice to be offended by words such as Damn and Hell is just as retarded as choosing to be offended by Wow or Limerick.

Reported for using the word 'Limeri*k'.

Wazdakka

ME...
I decide it..

Also,
- Pluto is no longer a planet.
- Pi is now exactly 3.14
- The answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything is now 43.

*Laughs manically and runs out of the room*

orourkeda

Offensive is an offensive word

Prof.Badass

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Foul language really only has a few uses.

1. For comedic effect. (Eg. Brendan O'Carroll)
2. To display your poor grasp on the english language and demonstrate an inability to clearly express emotions.
3. As a poor attempt to make oneself appear 'hard'.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm not offended by 'bad' language. I just don't see it as being neccessary.

4. To distance oneself from uptight prudes who are offended by words such as cunt and motherfucker. "Foul language" is also useful for setting an informal tone in a conversation.

opinion guy

Don't priests decide this kind of thing...

Oh... wait....

kowloon

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Tell that to the parents of kids who have killed themselves due to verbal bullying. The above saying is akin to the proverbial emu putting its head in the ground.

Foul language really only has a few uses.

1. For comedic effect. (Eg. Brendan O'Carroll)
2. To display your poor grasp on the english language and demonstrate an inability to clearly express emotions.
3. As a poor attempt to make oneself appear 'hard'.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm not offended by 'bad' language. I just don't see it as being neccessary.

Not the first person that comes to mind under the term comedic effect.

faceman

This is probablies one of the nerdiest things Ill ever do...

This scene from the Matrix, from 1:40 onward, sums it up for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFp7TGH754

CrazyRabbit

kowloon wrote: »

Not the first person that comes to mind under the term comedic effect.

True. But he uses foul language as a regular part of his 'act'.

pickarooney

I just want to know who decided 'cunt' was a bad word. It never used be.

Sofiztikated

I do shudder when I hear kids cursing though. Disheartening, I think.

For example, my OH's brothers kid (would have been easier to say her nephew, but I didn't think of it) has been taught to call people c*ntrags and droopyarse.

Her brothers inlaws think this is the height of hilarity, but I cringe everytime I hear it, and I'm no prude, I use vulgar words regularly.

And to those that say it is an inability to express emotion, I say, well what I'd say would end up as ************* You, *************. Sometimes a well placed swear is as good as going on to Dr Phil, and crying about how the world doesn't understand my delicate mind.

More often than not, I can convey my emotions with just a look or raised eyebrow, but the words are more for impact than anything else.

eoin1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Nrp7cj_tM


the late, great george carlin should have the final word on this

Cunny-Funt

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

EDIT: To be clear, I'm not offended by 'bad' language. I just don't see it as being neccessary.

Just to be clear I had not read your post until after I typed mine. Just in case you think I was directly talking to you. If I had I would have added something along the lines of what vinylmesh said


Since people are posting videos, this one is my fav's when this discussion is brought up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ISil7IHzxc

Stay with it, its fucking brilliant.

& no, I don't think merely saying "its brilliant" would have sufficed.

Whosbetter?

A couple of years ago, I was putting together some flat-pack furniture.

Daughter 1, then 2 insisted on helping me with this task.

Anyway, cos it was close to her bedtime, I rushed the job a bit.

The screwdriver slipped & without thinking, I said " Ah Shiiite!"

Next second, I looked at little Whosbetterette?, hoping she hadn't twigged this 'language malfunction'.

She looked up sweetly & said 'Ah for fucks sake Daddy'.

I was stunned, mortified & impressed at the same time!


We still laugh about it though.:D:D

Columbia

Bad words are bad because some people still maintain the incredibly primitive belief that uttering certain sounds in a certain order can bring bad luck to [or 'curse' - the belief that 'swear' is more appropriate is incorrect, they both apply equally] anyone within earshot.

My opinion is that you'll often find that the people who cling to the dogma surrounding swearing will often also hold on to other ridiculously outdated beliefs, such as religion.

SomeFool

pickarooney wrote: »

I just want to know who decided 'cunt' was a bad word. It never used be.

Americans.

Dublin_Gunner

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I love smear tests. Must book one soon actually. Love the freaked out expression on the doctor's face when I pop myself up in the stirr-ups and say "Smear away Doc!"

Especially that your a male.

And then the look on your face when you realise your in the STI clinic, with 'Umbrella' playing in the background...

What makes bad words bad?

People.