Friday 2 May 2008

Swearing and Taboo Words.


If I say "I really didn't like that" or "I've a strong aversion to it" noone would bat an eyelid (depending on what I was talking about obviously, but thats immaterial). But the second you say "That was shit" or "I fucking hate that" then jaws drop and people just can't believe 'you mouth'. But what, seriously, is the big deal? The statements relay the the same message just in different ways so who cares? Why are 'swear words' or 'profanity' so stigmatised in society? It seems to me to be a highly pedantic and snobby method of maintaining a class system.

Its nothing more than a means of glorifying the educated (who more often than not are the more wealthy members of society) and holding them up above the less educated and poor etchelons in our social hierachy.

People who swear are accused of lacking vocabularly and are pictured as being stupid which is quite hilarious considering almost everyone in society does swear. The only difference lies in when people choose to do so. So surely then the whole notion of swearing being anti-social is nothing more than a facade - its a guise we keep around for no better reason than that's what we were taught when we were growing up. So is swearing so wrong?

If you argue that its the action or the gesture that a swear word represents that is offensive then words like penis, vagina, sex and masturbation should all be as equally offensive, but of course they're not - they're not because they are less common and are less used by the "Simplier" members of society.

An Interesting Article About Swearing in Society

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