What makes a curse word a curse word?

[saturneptune]

What makes a curse word is usually a word formed by the culture that is offensive in general and usually centers around bodily functions, sexual activity or anatomy, the Name of God, or some other out of the way concept. It is meant to get attention, or be part of the crowd. Some do it so long they are unaware of doing it anymore. For those words in the gray area, its just best Christians refrain from them when in doubt.

 

[Johnv]

Originally posted by SaggyWoman:
Words change through the years. What makes a curse word a curse word?

As noted earlier, it's generally the context. Some curse words today were not curse words in the past. Some curse words of the past are no longer curse words.

 

[Hope of Glory]

"Screwed" is interesting. It was not vulgar originally. It meant "to fool around" or "take advantage of". But, it was also vulgar slang for intercourse. It depended upon how you used. Now, so many people use the "f" word instead, that inference is made that the other one also means that, when it does not.

 

[rbell]

I've watched our TV's do an interesting progression...

The "seven words you can't say" is down on networks to one or two...and sometimes they slip in. But, a couple of other words...the "n-word" racial epithet and the slur beginning with 'f' to refer to homosexuals...those words are almost never allowed through.

I don't argue they should be...I don't, and won't use them. However, it's interesting how society is getting more sensitive about some words, and less about others...

 

[bapmom]

Seriously,

Ive started just staying away from all expressions of exclamation. People laugh because I'll say "Oh my"......and that's it. It's just a personal thing, because of my own conscience.

 

[MRCoon]

I have taught my kids that there are no 'christian cuss words'...you know like dang or shoot. I have taught them that it doesn't really matter what they say (word wise) but the attitude they say it with. If there attitude is wrong then they are wrong! I've also taught them that there are some words that have no good meaning and should not be in their vocabulary (familiar vulgarities) and similiar words.
(profane word edited)

[ March 25, 2006, 04:08 AM: Message edited by: DHK ]

 

[billreber]

An example of how some people consider a word or set of words as "cursing" and others do not occurred in a Sunday School class I was teaching a couple of years ago.

One boy (fifth grade at the time) would not settle down and listen to the lesson. I told him to "shut up and sit down". (He quickly did so). That night, I was called on the carpet by the parents of two other children in the class for using "that bad language" in front of their children. After some discussion, we decided to agree to disagree about the use of certain phrases.

As another example, a joke came to mind. Three people at a school reunion were sharing how their lives had turned out. One shared about becoming a prominent and rich lawyer, at which point another said, "Fantastic!" The next person shared about becoming a prominent and rich doctor, and the same person again responded, "Fantastic!" The first two asked the third one what he had done with his life. He told them he had gone to a school where he had learned, rather than telling someone they were full of "bovine manure", to instead say "Fantastic!"

Amen, MRCoon!

Bill

 

[James_Newman]

I would imagine that screwed probably came from the idea of 'putting the screws to'. When a man puts the screws to you in a business deal, you get screwed.

 

[Pipedude]

Originally posted by James_Newman:
I would imagine that screwed probably came from the idea of 'putting the screws to'. When a man puts the screws to you in a business deal, you get screwed.

Nope. "To put the screws to" means "to apply pressure."

The vulgar use of the term refers to being cheated.

It is derived from what it appears to be derived from.

 

[Hope of Glory]

Originally posted by Pipedude:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by James_Newman:
I would imagine that screwed probably came from the idea of 'putting the screws to'. When a man puts the screws to you in a business deal, you get screwed.

Nope. "To put the screws to" means "to apply pressure."

The vulgar use of the term refers to being cheated.

It is derived from what it appears to be derived from. </font>[/QUOTE]That's funny: The etymology says that it happened the other way. It was not a vulgar word (and most wordsmiths think it came from the idea of putting the screws to, as in thumb screws); then it became an idiom for a vulgar word, so people automatically inferred that it was vulgar because of the later usage.

It's no more vulgar to say that you are screwing around than it is to ask for someone to pass you the box of screws.

 

[Pipedude]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
That's funny: The etymology says that it happened the other way.

Fair enough: what etymology and which wordsmiths can you point me to?

The semantic ranges of two expressions do not overlap to any recognizable degree. I repeat, the vulgar expression means to mistreat, cheat, or doom. Those ideas are not referents of the expression "put the screws to," which means to apply pressure.

The vulgar expression is a precise synonym to the same expression using the F word, which would not be the case if the expression were "fooling around" or "messing around."

 

[rbell]

This thread is still going?!?!

#$%%##@!!!!

what can I say...there was this fire, and I had a gallon of gas, so....

(P.S.: Those without the spiritual gift of a sense of humor please ignore this post).

 

[Pipedude]

Heckuva way to spend time on the computer, ain't it?

 

[Hope of Glory]

Look in the American Heritage Dictionary if nothing else. You can look it up online. The "slang" usages are separate from the "vulgar slang" usages.

BTW, when I posted the expression "screw around", I was referring to it in the "goofing off" way, not the other. This is an example of the way that it started out not being vulgar and ended up being considered vulgar. The two expressions are separate, but are perceived as being the same. (I was thinking of one usage, and not the other.)

Using the word "screw" to mean "prostitute" showed up as early as 1725. Using to mean copulattion (noun, not verb) in 1929. Used as a euphemism first in 1949. However, using it as a sense of pressure or coercion (screwing over) was used as early as 1648, probably in reference to means of torture.

Using this word as a euphemism for the "f" word is something that is fairly recent, and by association, many people think that "screw" is a naughty word in every case.

 

[Pipedude]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
Look in the American Heritage Dictionary if nothing else. You can look it up online.

I looked it up online, but most of your info wasn't found there. Where did you get those dates?

 

[Hope of Glory]

The dates were an afterthought. American Heritage only offers the origins.

"The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology" is an excellent resource for etymologies. If you don't have a copy, a quick Google search came up with http://www.etymonline.com. They don't have a reference to every nuance of "screw", but they do have this:

Sense of "means of pressure or coercion" is from 1648, probably in ref. to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews).

as well as this:

Slang meaning "to copulate" dates from at least 1725, on the notion of driving a screw into something. Meaning "a prostitute" also is attested from 1725. Slang meaning "an act of copulation" (n.) is recorded from 1929. First recorded 1949 in exclamations as a euphemism.

 

[Taylor42]

I always found intent and context to be the two deciding factors for curse words.

Darn, shoot, dang, crud, and all the rest mean the same thing as their crass counterparts.