I never got why they think these are curse words. Is it a weird religious thing?
Dear Brits: “Bloody” is not a swear
Nor are knob, fanny, bollocks, or bellend. Buncha wankers.
What about Semprini?
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
cries in British colony
I mean historically there was a difference between vulgarity (saying rude stuff) and cursing (insulting/invoking disdain at people or circumstances).
People said fuck and shit (or their equivalents) etc for thousands of years, but not necessarily as cursing or insults. Mother fucker, shit head etc are much more modern, even if the words are older.
People were much more religious so saying god damn you/burn in hell etc was serious and often the thing used to curse. “What in damnation” sounds silly but it was offensive. Some people still are really religious.
Blasphemy/taking the lords name etc was a bigger deal. I know in Italy if you’re really pissed off you still say “porco dio” or god-pork/pig, it’s an absurd thing, but the severe blasphemy makes it so rude.
Endorsing this answer and adding some more info and examples.
Etymologically: blasphemy comes from ancient Greek, meaning “hurtful speech”. In the Christian context, this was extended to mean impious speech, or taking God’s name in vain. Euphemy, in contrast, “good speech”, includes ways religious people modified these invocations against God to avoid blasphemy. Damn > darn ; God > gosh; sacré dieu (fr) > sacré bleu. Of course this is not just limited to religious speech: shit > sheesh; fuck > fudge; putain (fr) > purée.
More etymology on the terms we use to discuss these categories of words: “vulgar” = of or relating to the common people (i.e., not "polite society’). “Profanity” = religiously impure (literally “before the temple”, i.e., before being consacrated).
In a state with laws which reflect this Christian tradition, blasphemy is considered impolite, antisocial, and absolutely a corruption of the youth to allow children to hear such words. This is how these words get tied in to legislation which also prohibit other vulgarities. This is why you can’t say “God damn” on American public radio or tv. These laws often blanket ban the words without any mind to context. Sometimes they loosen them, however, so you might hear “damn” on the radio, but they censor the entire phrase “god damn”.
Cross-culturally, common insults, vulgarities, or invectives involve invoking the taboo: what’s impolite or improper to talk about in the culture? Scat/urine (shit, piss, s/cum, pissintunicus(medieval Latin), sex or sexual organs (dick, douche bag, fucker, pendejo(sp), dirtbag/scumbag (referring to a used condom)), blasphemies (go to hell, God damn you, hostie de tabernak(fr-ca)). What animals have a negative reputation (ass, cow, ayı(tr), bitch)? In what ways did you or your family break social norms (bastard)? Bonus if any of these overlap (mother fucker, ppb).
Note that a lot of profanities and insults are misogynist in origin. There are some obvious ones that refer to female genitalia or to female promiscuity, but even “Son of a bitch”, “mother fucker”, and “bastard”, while all directed at a male referant, impugne his mother’s character within the patriarchal system.
Euphemy, in contrast, “good speech”, includes ways religious people modified these invocations against God to avoid blasphemy. Damn > darn ; God > gosh; sacré dieu (fr) > sacré bleu.
I learned not long ago that phrases like “Jeepers Creepers!” or “Jiminy Crickets!” were euphemisms for “Jesus Christ!”
I don’t know why it took me so many years to realize that.
Puts a whole new spin on that Justin Long movie.
Ohh this is a great conversation, thank you!
To add onto this: many Christians may be familiar with the term “benediction”, which is literally “good speech.” This is a blessing, where good words are invoked to bless you (usually as the end of a sermon, to bless you as you depart).
Its opposite also exists: malediction. A malediction (literally “evil speech”) is a curse. Curse stems from Gaeilge (Irish). Cúrsachadh means abuse, so to curse someone is to literally wish harm upon them; it is a very real and dangerous threat. Malediction stems from Latin, but there is also an Irish term, mallacht, that has the same root as malediction.
Cursing in Irish was seen as a literal violence: it is a poetic art with the power to disrupt lives. In fact, it was common for a poet to be brought to battles to curse enemies. The satirical verse (glám dícenn) was one such form, and often the point was to render the target unclean (escaine). Essentially, to besmirch them. Another was conntracht (from Latin contradictio), which was literally to speak against someone. With conntracht, someone could even speak against royalty, which was a serious accusation that required legal arbitration. In the County Waterford area, a word for curse–guídóireacht–is also used to mean praying.
All of this to say that cursing was built on the belief that speaking evil against someone was actually harmful–that it would be literally damaging to them, not just through diminishing of reputation. And that this evil was usually connected to making unclean, impure, abusing, or making common–in a Christian society, this then naturally lent to the most powerful curses being ones that targeted someone’s connection to God. To paint someone with sin, or to curse–to pray–to God to bring justice and punishment. (Pre-Christian curses were wild too, I could go on forever about Irish curse-culture, but I just wanted to add a bit on the Christian elements and why praying to God to damn someone was a literal call for someone to be tortured for eternity and seen as one of the highest forms of punishment).
Edit: recommend The Book of Irish Curses by Dr. Patrick C. Power
Awesome, love this, thanks for the rec!
“porco dio” or god-pork/pig
Americans are weird because they constantly badger people for being “too PC” and “soy” or whatever, then end up being insufferable prudes who blanch at the idea of saying “hell” or “fuck”. (Not to mention what they think of anyone who actually lives outside their mores and norms)
Damn and hell aren’t too bad but “goddamn” or “jesus fucking christ” or some other way of “using the lords name in vain” is a major trigger for a lot of southern baptist bigots. They take whatever fucked up version of the bible they use very seriously.
“Mary mother of god” must really throw them into a Protestant crisis. Is it idolatry if they claim it’s swearing?
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” in the same vain
(Word play intended, it’s a sickness)
Only somewhat related, but recently a bar that my gf previously worked at got new management. And part of the rules is that neither staff or customers can cuss.
Lmao this place was a dive. Imagine going to a place and paying money at a fuckin BAR and you can’t curse. Unreal.
Just had to put that out there.
lmao this bar I go to has this one fascist who is fairly well known for being a huge reactionary dork, and one night I bullied him out of the bar prompting him to complain about me to the bouncer who came over and was gonna ask me to leave so I just explained that he was a piece of shit and once maced one of my friends.
So friday night on my way into the bar all I got from the bouncers was “hey watch out your buddy [redacted] is in there, just try to ignore him”.
The dives I go to will probably let you throw a few punches before they consider throwing you out.
There’s a chain of pubs in the U.K. that are part of the Sam Smiths brewery, and that’s in their rules.
Saw “Sam Smith” and immediately thought of the Unholy singer, went “well that doesn’t sound like them…”
lol. I did wonder if anyone would get confused…
They did a Trashfuture episode on him and he is a real weirdo.
Massively hated in Tadcaster by all accounts.
I’m going to look that up.
I can’t get over how the radio will bleep it like “xxx damn”.
I think a lot about the time I was at MicroCenter (sort of like a best buy) in Brooklyn, and nine inch nails Closer came on the store radio. I was like “what’s the fucking point of a radio edit of this song??”
It wasn’t a radio exit.
“I want to fuck you like an animal” loud and clear.
Well done, whatever store employee probably just plugged in their phone or connected Spotify.
good song and album though
The radio edit of Everlast’s “What It’s Like” is butchered to hell. “He pulled out his xxx xxx talked some xxx and wound up xxx.”
A local radio show I used to listen to at work about 10 years would say “god damn” all the time. Back then I thought it was a sign of progress because nobody seemed to care, when maybe in the late 90s/early 00s, people would have thrown a fit hearing that.
I listened to the same show a few weeks ago, and now they censor “god damn” among other cuss words they used to allow.
cant offend religious freaks
I know the Bible has a thing about using God’s name in vain, so they don’t like it when you use his title as an interjection. I know ancient Jews didn’t like writing out Yahweh, and nowadays they’ll even write G-d to avoid breaking a commandment. The rules can be weird. So yeah, a weird religious thing.
Hasn’t the name of God changed a bunch? I mean, doesn’t the el in a bunch of names mean god? Every time you say Michael or Raphael or whatever your saying his name in vain
“in vain” is the important bit.
idk about the Jesus fandom but in Judaism there’s the same rule but many would say it only applies to God’s “real” name which may or may not be YHWH.
Yeah. I’m not sure where the specific lines in the sand are. And I’m not really trying to defend them either, this is just what I was brought up being told.
Ye it’s weird
Zounds you’re right!
My mom (born in Ohio, moved to US South as a kid, baptized Catholic, Protestant as an adult) was VERY anti-swear words to the extent that proxies like “frick” were not allowed. The two absolute worst swears for her were fuck and goddamn, on equal standing. Jesus Christ was just below those. I wasn’t even supposed to say butt. At least her anti-swearing applied to slurs, too. I think it boiled down to her sense of propriety - undiagnosed autism and OCPD, she was taught a set of rules to follow to fit in well with society and be a good, inoffensive person, and she followed it all to a T.
What about crap or bum?
bum is on the swedish
swedish
My bum is on the cheese I hope I get a disease
What americans told you this? I’ve never had my friends christian mothers give me shit for saying hell or goddamn? (some were also my teachers) Maybe now under trump rule lol
I was raised southern baptist and I can assure you that these people exist.
Yeah this has been a thing for over a century.
I forget im in california
I mean like you can’t say damn or hell in kids media in the US. It will get you a PG-13 rating. They classify it as bad language.
i never really noticed or cared but now i had to look it up
PG is the lowest rating that allows profanity (usually mild); G formerly allowed very mild terms like “damn” and “hell.” Use of words such as “sht," "btch,” “bastard,” and “ass” are allowed but they will not be persistent or aggressive. Examples of recent PG films that contain moderate profanity include The Long Game, You Gotta Believe and Piece by Piece. Strong, sexual words like “fk," "ct,” and “c**ksucker” are not allowed.
Racial slurs like the N-word are allowed to be used, but only in an educational or historical context (e.g. Disney’s Glory Road). Any other use will get at least a PG-13.
One unique case of profanity is The Transformers: The Movie, when Spike says, “Oh sh*t! What are we going to do now?” (but the particular word is permissible at PG). A few PG rated films up until the '80s included usage of “f**k,” most notably Spaceballs, All the President’s Men, and Sixteen Candles, which came out in 1984.
Well I’ll be
I had a teacher in middle school (Texas) tell me off for using hell, saying it was a swear word.
The one singular American Mormon I have ever encountered in my entire life considered them swearing. I am a line cook in a kitchen, I think she would have literally, not figuratively, literally fainted in shock if she were to listen in to a long weekend dinner rush in the kitchen.
i live in the northeast and i don’t know of anyone that would consider those to be real curse words but i know if you go to like arkansas or (especially) utah that opinion could change drastically
Also true of religious people in the U.K.
Edit; I went to catholic school. People got pulled up on it in that environment.
