LONDON - A massive language research database responsible for bringing words such as "podcast" and "celebutante" to the pages of the Oxford dictionaries has officially hit a total of 1 billion words, researchers said Wednesday.
In lieu of our wordy accomplishment, I want to chat about words -- specifically what makes a curse word bad. Other than social stigma, which lessens as the days go by, what really stops us from using the infamous four-letter word? Why are some so astounded when a dirty word is said? I just don't get the point. They are all just words!
Didn't your mom ever tell you, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?" Now we all by now know that that is the furthest from the truth as possible. Words really do hurt, and sometimes take longer to heal than flesh wounds.
I suppose I am confused as to the big deal -- for example, when South Park said "shit" for the first time on cable television. It was such a big deal. Depending on who you ask it was either a great step forward to combat censorship and maintain free speach or a horrible decision that shouldn't be allowed. (The episode was actually done quite well. It played up the meaning of curse in curse word. South Park became cursed from using "shit" repeatedly and eventually decided to never use the word again for fear of the return of the curse.)
So how do you feel about profanity? I know I use it, and you probably do too. So to any who abstain from cursing, why does it offend you?
I agree that typical responses to cursing are completely blown out of proportion and I think a lot of the social stigma about those words comes from what they're associated with. For example, we all know what the "f-word" means when its used as a verb and that topic is extremely taboo in our society. Most people don't talk about sex in public. Just look at how our society has reacted to certain bits of pop culture like Sex in the City or Brokeback Mountain.
I think there are less crude, more intelligent ways to express yourself than by using those kinds of words, but they are a very important part of our vernacular, nonetheless and shouldn't be discredited. I mean, they've helped me express a lot of what I've felt in the past and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I'm still in high school. I resent it that I have to censor myself in front of teachers for their insensitivities' sake. Actually, I'm certain it's not their actual personal dislike of cursing that would make them censor students, but that public school and the philistine mindset has imposed a "you can't do that!" attitude on those independent minds. It reveals a lot: public school sucks, teachers are willing to accept an arbitrary code that their authorities agree with, and that they are all afraid of a sound, a syllable, not unlike a sneeze or a pencil striking the ground; euphemisms are useless, the intent and meaning is fully there, only restrained for the prurient interest.
In writing and serious speech, there are more articulate ways to express oneself.
Happy one-billionth, English Language! Thanks for bringing me prestidigitation, ikontinct, sempiternal, crepuscular, schediasm, lambent, enceinte, houghmagandy, angasm, tetrapyloctomy, and gloam!
Michael Allen Yarbrough
A curse word is exactly what it sounds like... a word. What makes it so different from any other word? I've always wondered this.
That is the heart of my inquiry! I understand there is a "proper" way of talking according to where you are and who you are speaking to -- i.e. always say maam or sir to elders or those you respect. But I have never fully understood the purpose of having "curse" words but being constantly told not to use them.
I did a search and came up with this site
http://www.rhetoricaldevice.org/ClassAndProfanity.html
which explained that...
The history of profanity in the English language is part of the history of social class in England. Most vulgar — meaning common — words, such as fuck, cock and shit, have old Anglic, Gaelic and Saxonic roots, whereas their gentile counterparts, copulate, penis and defecate, are Latinate words taken from French, the lingua franca of royalty and the upper class until the second half of the twentieth century, while some words with Latin origins, like cunt and piss, were relegated to the lower social classes because they had been part of the English language for long enough to become common.
Interesting... so originally it was a matter of money. Those with more money used "nicer" terms than the poor. In fact, the "curse" words are more english than the proper words being that lower class language derived accordingly while the higher class in effect keyed new terms from Latin origins to sound more educated.
Funny how society makes a distinction during one era of time and it morphs into something completely different!
I think that curse words have become what they are through the development of our society. They have been looked down upon because of the meaning behind them and how they are received in conversation. These words are generally ill-received in certain situations, so it's out of respect that they usually aren't used when speaking to people of authority, etc.
everyone overreacts to a curse word...im not really proud to say it, but i curse EXCESSIVLEY, but it doesnt make me look like a bad person or anything...if anything, curse words help to express emotion and they are very effective at it