Language (swearing)

I am sure that, at some point in our lives, everyone asks that question, "Why is 'shit' a bad word?" I mean - why is "poop" acceptable, but not shit? And to be quite honest, I still don't have a clue. In fact, while doing just a little research, I noticed that a study was done to determine how often profanity is used in normal language. What constitutes "profanity". Well there's the obvious - fuck, shit, ass, etc.. But then there's "Jesus Christ", and even "oh my god". This leads to 2 implications. 1) Who gets to decide what a "swear" is? and 2) There are obviously varying degrees. And although the second implication is not a stunning revelation - it is interesting to try and understand how certain words have come to be worse than others.

But this isn't the actual nature of my post. What I find fascinating, is how we use other words as substitutes for curse words. Religious conservatives will often resort to "darn" or "poop" as opposed to actually using profanity. In more secular environments, you may hear "darn" or the occasional "damn". Recently, I was listening to a Podcast. in which the host stated they could only swear if they were willing to mark their podcast as "Explicit". Their solution? Use the term "F-bomb".

And the irony of all this just makes me laugh. Generally speaking, anyone technologically inclined or capable of downloading podcast, are certainly aware of what "F-bomb" means. Thus, using this substitute doesn't make the podcast any less explicit. And of course, from the religious perspective...Do they believe God doesn't know what words they are trying to avoid? If the meaning is conveyed, and the intent the same, does God really care what words you chose to express it?? A message of hate is still hateful, regardless of the profanity I choose "not" to use.

Don't get me wrong. I still believe there is a time and place for it all. Meeting your girlfriends parents for the first time? Probably ought to cut back on the "fucks". But in the end - these are just common courtesy things like not ripping a loud audible fart in the middle of your boss' retirement speech. You shouldn't need to write a thesis on the ontological argument for profanity to understand that. But to think that simply using substitutes is an acceptable way of conveying your anger or disgust, is just ignorant.

Then again, I could be completely wrong...