I couldn’t care less about places in which profanity is discouraged.
If you’re going to be disrespectful, you’ll be so regardless of language.
For instance:
“You suck donkey balls”
vs.
(And bear in mind that I don’t use this term!)
“You’re mentally retarded”
No profanity in the second one. And yet, I’d feel like punching the person’s face who would say the second one to me. Not because someone would say that to me, but because I find the use of the label offensive in general.
If you want to get technical, only saying things like “Jesus Christ” as a statement of exasperation are profanities, because they are supposed to disrespect sacred things, but I think these days, we could consider the profane to be the disrespectful. In which case, I would say that the R-word is a profanity, for the same reason the N-word is a profanity.
If we’re trending technical in our etymological taxonomies, then the X-words are all slurs because they insult people for belonging to specific groups. As you say, profanities and blasphemies need to address the sacred in some disrespectful way. I believe that leaves… curse words and expletives as the remaining categories of naughty words. Any others? I suppose vulgarity and obscenity, but those feel like subtypes of expletives to me.
You make a good point about the potential for harm in all types of language, regardless of whether it’s considered ‘profanity’ or not. I also agree that intent and impact matter more than the specific words used.
At the same time, I’m curious about how this relates to words like ‘bullshit’ in different social contexts. Do you think there are still situations where using ‘bullshit’ might be seen as more or less appropriate, even if we agree that any word can potentially cause harm?
I’m just an individual, so my opinion may be just that. My opinion.
To answer your question, families may ban the use of said words in the sanctity of their own homes, for example.
The only reason I may feel that curse words are inappropriate in any situation is because I’m already conditioned, from childhood, to think of them as “they may offend.” But if no such conditioning existed, I’d say they would be okay in any instance, because the words per se are not offending. The intent is.
Take, for example, an eulogy. A person speaking of someone who recently passed away, may say “Excuse me everyone, but gosh darn, why did he have to leave so soon? I feel like a failure, because I could have done more. I’m a failure!” Why should it be different from “Excuse me everyone, but fuck, why did he have to leave so soon? I feel like I fucked up because I could have done more. I’m a fuckup!” Really, the only reason we may silently gasp at the second version is because we were conditioned to “gasp” at those words while growing up. Not because the words cause actual psychological, irreparable harm.
You touched the topic of religion in other comments. I guarantee you that when God, before killing everyone with a flood during Noah’s ark times, I’m sure He at least, at the very least looked at the state of the “failed world” and said “well, shit!”
I get where you’re coming from. Ideally, we should be able to say whatever we want whenever we want. But based on my experience as an autistic living in a country where context is very important, the way you convey words affects your standing in a society, at least one that caters to neurotypicals that are highly dependent on context. I have no easy answers to how we can eliminate this hurdle, but your words truly made me think about language usage and how society should perceive them and I would like to thank you for that.
I couldn’t care less about places in which profanity is discouraged.
If you’re going to be disrespectful, you’ll be so regardless of language.
For instance:
“You suck donkey balls”
vs.
(And bear in mind that I don’t use this term!)
“You’re mentally retarded”
No profanity in the second one. And yet, I’d feel like punching the person’s face who would say the second one to me. Not because someone would say that to me, but because I find the use of the label offensive in general.
So, fuck it.
If you want to get technical, only saying things like “Jesus Christ” as a statement of exasperation are profanities, because they are supposed to disrespect sacred things, but I think these days, we could consider the profane to be the disrespectful. In which case, I would say that the R-word is a profanity, for the same reason the N-word is a profanity.
If we’re trending technical in our etymological taxonomies, then the X-words are all slurs because they insult people for belonging to specific groups. As you say, profanities and blasphemies need to address the sacred in some disrespectful way. I believe that leaves… curse words and expletives as the remaining categories of naughty words. Any others? I suppose vulgarity and obscenity, but those feel like subtypes of expletives to me.
You make a good point about the potential for harm in all types of language, regardless of whether it’s considered ‘profanity’ or not. I also agree that intent and impact matter more than the specific words used.
At the same time, I’m curious about how this relates to words like ‘bullshit’ in different social contexts. Do you think there are still situations where using ‘bullshit’ might be seen as more or less appropriate, even if we agree that any word can potentially cause harm?
I’m just an individual, so my opinion may be just that. My opinion.
To answer your question, families may ban the use of said words in the sanctity of their own homes, for example.
The only reason I may feel that curse words are inappropriate in any situation is because I’m already conditioned, from childhood, to think of them as “they may offend.” But if no such conditioning existed, I’d say they would be okay in any instance, because the words per se are not offending. The intent is.
Take, for example, an eulogy. A person speaking of someone who recently passed away, may say “Excuse me everyone, but gosh darn, why did he have to leave so soon? I feel like a failure, because I could have done more. I’m a failure!” Why should it be different from “Excuse me everyone, but fuck, why did he have to leave so soon? I feel like I fucked up because I could have done more. I’m a fuckup!” Really, the only reason we may silently gasp at the second version is because we were conditioned to “gasp” at those words while growing up. Not because the words cause actual psychological, irreparable harm.
You touched the topic of religion in other comments. I guarantee you that when God, before killing everyone with a flood during Noah’s ark times, I’m sure He at least, at the very least looked at the state of the “failed world” and said “well, shit!”
I get where you’re coming from. Ideally, we should be able to say whatever we want whenever we want. But based on my experience as an autistic living in a country where context is very important, the way you convey words affects your standing in a society, at least one that caters to neurotypicals that are highly dependent on context. I have no easy answers to how we can eliminate this hurdle, but your words truly made me think about language usage and how society should perceive them and I would like to thank you for that.
You’re one fine poster, and I like your discussion style.
Sorry if I sounded harsh at times.
I didn’t even think of how would neurodiverse people in the picture, and now you have made me think about things.