Poll

I got into this big arguement with my moms boyfriend about the word “fuck”. He said that its too offensive and that most people are offended by it. I said that most people would prefer to use it but are either too conditioned or too afraid of the punishment to use it. So im wondering… whos offended by the word “fuck” and why?

People are offended by it because it’s basically a crude word for to have sex with.

cba,

For awhile, I too was thinking about swearing and wondering how people could be offended from hearing a mere word. Saying that, I am polite and would never swear in front of my parents, and actually don’t use that particular word too often myself. But continuing. If I am angry, and choose to say, “Oh, blast!”, that is not seen as especially rude and is not labelled a swear word. So why, in the same context, are swear words considered obscene?

I have come to consider that, as Metavoid points out, it is the definition and use associated with the word that people object to. If I was angry, and shouted out “Make love!”, I would be considered very strange, yet not rude. The particular words that are swear words - “fuck”, “shit” and “cu*t”, being the worst (and see how I actually chose to star the last word, considering it the most obscene) - are crass and degrading nouns. Take us back a century, and these words would only have been thrown around amongst the peasants, and within the seedy businesses of any large city. Therefore, I assume, the well-off came to attach these words to a world they looked down on, and one they would not wish to be seen in. If anybody uttered a swear word, it might have been seen as a reminder of the other lives people live, and thus offended those present.

That is just my take on the situation, and my historical suggestions are just suggestions. Please feel free to correct me if you do not agree with my thoughts!

i think it’s a good question, and am partly in agreement with samatha. i would never think of asking or answering a question in class with, ‘why the fuck does empedocles think…’ but i would say something like that with my friends…it is the mark of an educated person not to swear i think. so i’ll swear in front of my friends, because they aren’t in school and that kind of thing, (thus i’ll fit in more) but i won’t with my profs because, again, i want to fit in. i don’t think that offence has anything to do with it anymore. metavoid description offends because there is, in most religions, a sacredness with sex. in today’s age, with sex as recreation, i don’t see why the stigma would persist.

Yes trix, totally agree that to hear the word doesn’t offend us in the same way it used to. If it offends, it is only because it is said at the wrong time (as you demonstrated with your class situation!), because it is excessive, or because the words are still believed to be crass and derogatory. In fact, it is not a case of believing - I assume everyone here will agree that the words are what I suggested, and it’s just a case of whether hearing the words offends us personally.

See that was part of my arguement. I don’t think it’s the definition that gets people angered. Using it in that context makes it meaningless. Saying “Fuck you” makes absolutely no sense. Besides the idea of sex isn’t offensive anymore. It’s taught to elementary level students. If it was offensive why are kids able to be subject to it yet adults aren’t? I think it’s more the use of the word which again makes no sense. Why would it be appropriate sometimes to use a word but other times not appropriate? I could say it to my friends but not to a member of an older generation. The arguement from there went to the idea that I’m part of the rebellious part of a younger generation and that I’ll eventually come back more towards the center. I argued that over time people have gradually moved to the left. He disagreed stating that in the 70s people were just as rebellious as the times now. But that’s not fair either. Those were times of radical change. Besides he admitted that per capita the use of the word has probably increased.

By the end of the arguement it boiled down to this. I thought he should just get over the idea that using the word was bad mostly because he admitted he might commit a violent crime against me if I said a deragatory statement with the word fuck in it. He argued that why shouldn’t I just stop using the word. I figure though he’s going to have to get used to it despite whether I say it or not so why should I have to conform to his rules?

depends on the use if you ask me. adding it in a sentance i think adds a level of emphisis that otherwise isnt there. and that is only because of its vulgarity.

i would love to see somone say “what the fuck do you want?” without fuck and make it be expressing the same sort of emotion along with the meaning. (im not saying its impossible, just will make the sentance MUCH longer)

Or you could just raise your voice.

or you could just give a really nasty look. the debate over the meaning of language is a long one. but the one point cba is trying to make, over if he should follow his mom’s boyfriends rules, is entirely different.

I’m not gonna be prude, the f and the c word are used.

The truth of the matter is even if all swear words were to become acceptable something else will pop up that will be as offensive. The whole point of an offensive word is that it is offensive, otherwise how do you let someone know you really want to offend them. Those who use fuck profligately, as I do, are just creating the conditions for the next offensive word (which happens to be cunt). When cunt becomes more main stream and acceptable the next will come along, or an old swear word will get recycled.

So in a way your mum’s b/f is right, but in another he’s not. The fact is that I think the information age has speeded up the, ummm, death rate (can’t think what else to call it) of swear words, the rate at which they aren’t considered terribly offensive. The way that he’s right is that not everyone is fully plugged into the information age and so haven’t noticed the rapid spread of people using fuck as people used to use bloody (fucking great!!!), twit/plonker (you fuck!) or something like damn (fuck!).

What’s even more fantastic is that this very discussion is paving the way for acceptance of both fuck and cunt into mainstream language!! Language is a very interesting subject.

But getting back to what you should do around your mum’s b/f, somehow I manage to have an onboard censor that tones down my language in front of children and parents, all I can suggest is try to develop one, while he should realise he shouldn’t be pissed off with you if he happens to overhear you say it to a friend as he’s passing your room or something like that, as in the context of you speaking to your friend it’s not offensive.

Heh that’s not really debatable. I never planned on listening to his rules. I mean first I’ve been doing it for a couple years now. Second I’m way too closed minded to respect that line of thinking and hes too closed minded to respect mine especially being that he’s old enough to be my father.

But honestly though where would a curse come from? A deragatory term for a type of person is the only new curse I can see. Like “fag” is considered very offensive now but only because people are overly concerned with being politicaly correct.

I think curse words are b.s! It is all expression. Where do they come from, or what would constitute a curse word is pretty much the censorship involved with it. Think about it. On TV you could say the word Ass, and also the word Hole. But put together it has to be beeped. As long as some parent tells somebody not to say something, it becomes a curse word. If we all went ahead and told our kids not to use the word freak (for example) then that would turn to a new curse word.

I think swear words are rude depending on the culture and context. In Australian Aboriginees language (before colonisation of Australia) the English equivilant of their most offensive word was silly. They didn’t really have swear words. And in Japan and other cultures it is still offensive to swear.

Also the more frequently you use a swear word, the less impact it has. I rarely use swear words (other than when singing along to a song or discussing them), and have never used any swear word in anger. I stop myself so that if one day someone makes me REALLY mad (and that person knows I don’t swear), then I can use it and they will know how angry I am.

So in my opinion the word starts of being rude because of it’s meaning, then it progresses to the word itself being offensive, then it becomes used more frequently by everyone and then it stops being rude. In Shakespeares time the word zounds (that came from swounds, that was shortened from Gods wounds) was an obscene expression.

A funny song I can recommend is Usage Of The Word Fuck by Denis Leary.

Here is a funny pic -