Are cuss words becoming more socially acceptable?

[Tani Coyote]

In many places, yes. We're allowed to use all swears besides the f word at home.

I suppose there's a hierarchy of swears.

A-word/H-word/D-Word
B-word
S-word.
F-word.

This hierarchy is supported by Hollywood as well as CFC; the first three are okay as I recall, but the second three are autocensored.

Then, you have the vulgar terms and slang. Pretty much any word pertaining to racism or sexuality is forbidden.

So, it's kind of interesting the f word is the only one really banned in our home due to its relation to sexual activity. So ordinary swears are mostly-okay(we're still encouraged not to overuse them as it makes us sound uneducated), but any pertaining to racism or sex are no-nos.

For me, indeed, the rules on swearing are relaxed.

For society in general, it would make sense; kids are pottymouths. The repressive society many parents force upon their kids lets them vent their frustrations outside the home... and may even be encouraging them to use the words more frequently. So, come next generation, there will be PLENTY of relaxation.

--

Also a minor complaint. I hate "cuss." What the bloody hell is a cuss?

I prefer curse. Since the terms are often viewed negatively, "curse" is more appropriate, due to that being a severe form of affliction.

 

[classical_hero]

It's almost unbelievable, when you think about it

Massive stereotyping going on with that name.

 

[Cheetah]

They shouldn't! They should be used sparingly like when you eat your favorite food. If you eat your favorite food all the time, you get bored of it quickly, much like cuss words lose their punch and pzazz after being used constantly.

Totally agree.

I do have several further thoughts on the subject though.

First of all, the point of swearing/cursing/cussing is to use terms which represent strong emotional values to add emphasis to whatever one is saying. If one stops using them sparingly, they will lose their effect. So logical contradiction is that if one wants to keep swear words around, one shouldn't use them, and if one wishes to make them stupid and unusable, and thus make them disappear in the long run, one should use them constantly.

Secondly, all our swear words are just bad words because our cultures have some strange feelings towards them. There is no system or hierarchy of bad words between cultures, and in many ways the entire cultural focus on certain words as "bad" just seems stupid.

Thirdly, I do feel that swear words are not polite or good to use in civilized conversation. Ideally, I'd like people to speak properly while holding civilized conversations, but on some level I reckon that there must be other words in addition to the swear words which are not appropriate for such conversations. So some parts of me feel that we should have a broader list of "uncivilized" words that we should teach people not to use in polite conversation, and then more or less lift the restrictions on the swear words.

I imagine the list of "uncivilized" words would include most insults and such, but perhaps wouldn't need to include all the swear words. So perhaps the "uncivilized" words would then become the "new" swear words?

Err... I'm starting to ramble, so I'll leave this for tonight.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

"Home and Away" is by far the most offensive phrase in this thread

 

[Bootstoots]

Here are a couple of interesting graphs on the subject.

Summary of the graphs: Two of the most popular swear words are almost unheard of in English-language books between 1820 and 1960, then take off after that. Interestingly, the one that rhymes with duck does actually show up in the early 1800s - I wonder what happened there?

I love Google Ngram viewer! I can spend hours typing things into it. Examples include words like "postmodernism" and "feminism", country names, things like "steam" (rises and falls with the importance of steam engines), swear words and racial slurs (the former rise, the latter usually fall), and so on.

 

[jtb1127]

For people my age it it completely acceptable Even with my parents it is acceptable.

 

[NovaKart]

I'm not a prude but I think it's a bit weird when people use cuss words in casual conversation. Some people just throw them around like they're nothing, like "I went to the ******* mall today and had a ******* awesome time. I mostly just use them when I'm pissed off and around people who I know are OK with it, unless I'm really pissed off and then around just about anyone with a few exceptions like someone I knew it would get me in trouble with or someone I highly respect or if there are small children around.

 

[Dachs]

"I just wanted to say to you by the way of introductory remarks that I'm extremely miffed about today's events and in my quest to try to make you understand the level of my unhappiness, I'm likely to use an awful lot of what we would call 'violent sexual imagery', and I just wanted to check that neither of you would be terribly offended by that."

"Y'know, I've come across a lot of psychos, but none as [intercourse]ing boring as you. You are a real boring [intercourse]. Sorry, sorry, I know you disapprove of swearing so I'll sort that. You are a boring F, star, star, [vagina]!"

"Listen, you know what I have got at the back of my [intercourse]ing filing cabinet? I have got a [intercourse]ing photograph that I've been waiting for a [intercourse]ing rainy day to show everyone, which is a photograph of your [intercourse]ing Shadow Chancellor [of the Exchequer] at one of his [intercourse]ing parties dressed up in [intercourse]ing bra, suspenders and [intercourse]ing blackface! What's his defense going to be, hey, when I email that to the [intercourse]ing Sun?"

"Stop swearing? Oh ok, I'll stop swearing, you MASSIVE GAY [excrement] - [intercourse] OFF!"

 

[Godwynn]

Cussing has always been socially acceptable.

We hold these bishin' truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are well-endowed by their Creator with certain god damn Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the mother frackin' pursuit of Happiness.

 

[Save_Ferris]

Have you ever watched Hurt Locker? It's chock-full of cussing. You can hardly go three minutes without it. And that's only a movie. Trust me, it's socially acceptable in the U.S.

That's nothing compared to Pulp Fiction.

 

[uat2d]

To anyone over ~13 and not accompanied by under ~13 years old it's acceptable. At least from where I come from.

 

[EnglishCrusader]

I only swear when no other words are strong enough (like when I'm saying how much I hate certain people). Which, by the way, is quite a lot of times.

I honestly don't mind swear words. Alright, when they are used after every other word it is annoying but I don't mind people occasionally swearing.

 

[innonimatu]

This led me to think: is cussing becoming more and more acceptable? How is it in your community?

I take it from later posts that "cussing" is similar to "cursing"? It would be nice if people kept in mind that not all people on this forum are from english-speaking countries and familiar with all its slang and weird terms.

More acceptable? I hope not, or I'll lose one more thing to mock conservatives over.

The whole thing is pathetic anyway: it's an obstacle to proper communication between people just because some of them insist on pretending that they don't understand (or are "offended" by) certain words, as if that charged the message at all. And they do understand the message, they're just being obnoxious and trying to trying to make a point about which side has the most control in an argument. No wonder, then, that the crusade against curse words is always led by the conservatives, and that the use of such words is always more popular with the "marginals".
Objections to he co-called curse words are part of out social theater. And the funny thing is that it's the objections which give curse words its special power and popularity among specific groups. This also means that if some words become popular, others will come up to take on the role of unacceptable words, so long as there are marginals. The banning of "impolite" words goes with social stratification on each society.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Cussing, cursing and swearing are all the same thing just under different names.

Cuss seems to be a slur on curse, even more reason to not use it, I feel.

 

[Newbunkle]

As soon as they become acceptable people will think up new ones.

Now bugger off you bloody sod.

 

[Quackers]

Original post is surely a fraud, I mean Count Cockula? That must be a lie

 

[Arakhor]

Now bugger off you bloody sod.

Land of Hope and Glory film reference, maybe?

 

[Arwon]

Sexual taboo words are losing their power once as religious taboo words once did. Racial epithets remain as taboo as ever or even moreso. I note that virtually nobody is discussing those.

I should note that Americans and even some Englishers are hilariously uptight about what I suppose I should call the C-word. I know Australian women who live in the US who make men blush with some of their language and have to tone it down for fear of social ostracisation.

Also:

I suppose there's a hierarchy of swears.

A-word/H-word/D-Word
B-word
S-word.
F-word.

Do you know how long it took me to realise you meant arse, hell, damn and bastard there? I also like how the N-Word and C-word don't even exist in your world. c

 

[Newbunkle]

Land of Hope and Glory film reference, maybe?

'fraid not - I've never seen it. A remarkable coincidence!

 

[Arakhor]

Oh well, in the film, a group of boys are exploring London in the Blitz and the main character only knows one swear-word, so they get him to say, "bugger off, you bloody sod" to join the gang. I only saw part of that film (at school) and I still remember that bit.