A Clever Title to This Post Would Involve Me Holding Shift While Typing a Bunch of Numbers

So I had this conversation with my friend Jon the other night (by the time I’m actually able to post this then the delay so that things I wrote while without internet don’t go up all at once it’ll be like 2 weeks) about profanities, it’s also something I’ve thought about before, and I kind of feel like writing a post on the topic.

Swearing just isn’t something I do. I find it’s a good way to tell the world that you have a limited vocabulary, and aren’t able to control yourself. I find there’s also a link between the intelligence of what the person is saying (not necessarily the person themselves, just the point they’re trying to get across) and the amount of swearing in said point (this is definitely a one way link too, as you don’t need to look very far to see someone sounding stupid without swearing at all). This is all personal views though, but I bet it would be a really interesting study to see if there was a way to put it together.

That said, this isn’t really what I want to talk about though, I don’t actually care if you swear or not, I’m just going to reserve the right to not respect your views if you need to resort to using some words ironically. What I want to discuss is the people who actually get offended at the use of these words or somehow think that certain sounds or combinations of letters can be bad.

My wife recently watched all of the new Battlestar Galactica series (and has actually watched some of the old one on our netflix free trial) and since then I’ve noticed her using the word they made up for that show in order to have the characters “swear” without getting in trouble with the censor. I find it silly to do this though, as why are you even saying that word? Why do some people say “sugar” or “fudge” or any number of other euphemisms when they’re upset?

The thing is, everyone knows what it is you’re meaning to say. What are words if not just a way of conveying ideas and emotions and information from one person to another. In that case aren’t all these euphemisms the same as the words you’re trying not to say in the first place? The intent and the idea is the same, and yet somehow people think they’re different words when they’re really not.

I suppose the exception here is if you think words can actually take on some level of power more than just conveying an idea, like a really superstitious person, or someone who believes in magic, or a writer for Doctor Who. If you think that “curse” words can actually lay a curse, then I guess that explains why you might want to avoid using some words but if that’s the case then your points sound less intelligent than the people I was talking about above, the ones who have more swear words in their sentences than other words.

So here’s the question I pose to you readers of this site, and in fact to everyone else, feel free to pass it on to them for me. What is it about certain words, certain combinations of either syllables or letters that make them any worse than other words? I want to hear your answers. The said, if your answer is “they’re bad because they were bad before and therefore they still are now” then please answer part two of the question, which is simply “Why?” If your answer involves saying “body parts and functions are bad” then I have a couple things to say to you. First: “why?” and second: “arm!”