Definition:
A “curse word”, also known as a “swear word” or an “expletive”, is a word or phrase that is considered offensive or rude.
Etymology:
The word “curse” comes from the Old English word “curs,” meaning “a prayer that harm or misfortune will come to someone.” The use of curse words has ancient origins, and many of the terms considered offensive today have evolved over centuries.
The word “swear” comes from the Old English word “swerian,” which means to take an oath or vow. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic swarjan, which also means to swear or take an oath. The root of these terms traces back to the Proto-Indo-European *swer-, which means to speak or talk.
Description:
Curse words are often used to express strong emotions such as anger, frustration, or surprise, but they are also used to emphasize the importance of what is being said.
“Curse word” is synonymous with “dysphemism.”
Curse words vary widely across languages and cultures, but they share common characteristics in their ability to shock, offend, or express strong emotions or importance. They can be categorized based on their origins and the contexts in which they are used.
Types of Curse Words:
- Profanity: Words that are irreverent or blasphemous, often related to religious concepts (e.g., “damn,” “hell”).
- Vulgarity: Words that are crude or coarse, often related to bodily functions or sexual content (e.g., “shit,” “fuck”).
- Obscenity: Offensive words that are often regulated by law or social norms (e.g., certain racial or ethnic slurs).
Examples of Adjectives Considered Curse Words Used to Emphasize Importance:
- Bloody.
- Crazy.
- Damn.
- Fucking.
- Hellishly.
- Insanely.
When used this way, these words have the same meaning as: “absolutely,” “actually,” “certainly,” “extremely,” “highly,” “honestly,” “in fact,” “immensely,” “incredibly,” “indeed,” “really,” “remarkably,” “surely,” “tremendously,” “truly,” “undoubtedly,” and “very.” You can test this yourself by creating a sentence with an adjectival curse word and replacing the curse word with one of these words that are not considered curse words, and see that the meaning of the phrase does not change. For example, “He is fucking ugly.” It is noticeable that all these words emphasize that there is truth in what is being said.
It is important to note that curse words and swear words are fictional concepts.
The reason why it’s called a curse word is that a curse word is associated with a specific superstition. If someone believes in the superstition, the word has an effect on them. However, if someone does not believe in the superstition, the word has no effect. If they believe in the superstition, using a curse word at them will cause them to add meaning to the word based on their beliefs. For example, if you call a black person who believes that they are less worthy a “nigger,” they will be offended. But if they don’t believe in it, the word has zero effect and is completely harmless. Similarly, if you call someone who thinks they are less worthy a “bitch,” they will be offended. If you call a girl who has had a lot of sex a “whore” or a “slut,” she will become offended. But if these people don’t believe that there exists supernatural power in the curse words, they have zero effect. Telling someone who believes that hell exists that you want them to go to hell is extremely offensive because you are literally wishing them infinite torment. This is especially accurate since people who believe in the existence of hell often believe that wishing has power.
The movie “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)” is worth a watch, as it is a very well-written story about children in South Park sneaking into a Canadian film called “Terrance and Phillip: Asses of Fire,” which features a lot of profanity. The kids begin to mimic the dirty language from the movie. This behavior sparks outrage among the parents in South Park, who blame Canada for corrupting their children, which escalates to the USA going to war against Canada. The movie is very good at demonstrating the absurdity of reacting to profanity, as the dirty words themselves never caused any harm, but the reaction to the dirty words broke out into war. The fantastic thing about the South Park movie is that it itself is a real-life film filled with profanity, just like the fictional movie “Terrence and Phillip: Asses of Fire,” which sparked a lot of outrage from parents, as children got their hands on it and watched it, then mimicked the dirty language from it. The movie was a musical, so it had a lot of songs filled with profanity that a lot of children loved. Click to read IMDb article.
When people shield themselves or others from dirty words, they get shielded from a lot of information, particularly free speech. People who don’t find dirty words offensive tend to prefer speaking openly, whereas people who do find dirty words offensive tend to prefer censorship in conversation topics. Especially when it comes to the topic of sex, people who are censored from it tend to miss out on a lot of language, as much of the structure of language is derived from or hidden in the topic of sex.
People’s view on censorship is so absurd that, for instance, TikTok use algorithms to detect certain words with negative connotations to ensure they don’t end up on the feeds of sensitive people. This has resulted in a lot of content creators using words like “unalived” instead of “killed,” and “pew pew” instead of “gun.” The content creators who censor their speech this way are being very hypocritical, as they support the censorship by not using the words, yet they talk about the subjects so they still end up on the feeds of the sensitive TikTok users.
George Carlin’s stand-up routine “7 Dirty Words” is worth a watch, as he puts a comedic effect on the absurdity of the concept of dirty words. Click to watch the video clip.
Symbolism:
There are symbols that function similarly to curse words in terms of their meaning and usage, conveying contempt or insult without spoken words.
Examples of Gestures That Can Be Seen as Equivalent to Curse Words:
These symbols and gestures, like verbal curse words, are highly culturally specific and can vary widely in their interpretation. What may be a severe insult in one culture might be meaningless or even humorous in another. They serve similar communicative purposes as curse words, often used to express anger, frustration, or disdain.
Religion:
Curse words and the act of cursing are often addressed in religious texts, usually in the context of moral guidance and societal norms.
- In the Bible, in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 29 (KJV), it says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
- In the Bible, in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 22 (KJV), Jesus warns: “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
- In the Quran, Surah Al-Hujurat 49:11 (Sahih International), it says: “O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them. Nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one‘s] faith. And whoever does not repent – then it is those who are the wrongdoers.”
To understand why it’s called “swear word”, read the article: God’s Name, as it stems from religion.