This topic has already offended and made people angry… so if you have a closed mind just stop reading.
So I have wondered in the past but just now decided to look it all up. Where did all of those “bad words” come from? What do they really mean? Why are they so bad? Who said they were bad words?
I was raised to not say those words. Anytime I did I took a bite of soap, even had the liquid soap once. Terrible taste. As I grew up I learned that these words are a part of everyday conversation, and as time went on I began to use them as well. I personally do not believe they are bad words and do not understand why everybody thinks so. On that note, I do know that people do not like them and find them offensive, so I know what groups to not say those words in. So, with that said I am questioning this: Other than the fact that moms and dads say it is wrong, and society thinks they are wrong, why are these words so bad?
Fuck-the most basic meaning of sex… So if it is just another word for sex, why can we say sex and not fuck? Some will say because it is vulgar slang for sex… ok that seems fair. Who says it’s vulgar? What is so vulgar about it? There is a large thinking that this word comes from the acronym fornication under Consent of the King. The story says that in the olden days of ancient England, if you wanted to have a kid, you needed permission from the king. If it was granted then you had a sign to hang on your door that said fornication under Consent of the King- or F.U.C.K. Well this is awesome but not true.
What about the acronym For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge? This was said to be used to name prostitutes and a way of pointing them out, another awesome idea, but not true.
I have done a lot of looking into the real origin of the word and although I am just some interested dude who wants to know why I am not allowed to say fuck, this is what I believe to be the truth. It comes from word of mouth, really. In Low German it means copulate, or sex, same in Swedish and Dutch. In those languages the word was not even fuck; it was other words that soon translated into fuck. Word of mouth spread this word and it was taboo to say out loud. So who made it a bad word? Sadly I have no clue, but some king or other leadership figure down the road did not like it so it was said to be wrong. There honestly is no reason for it to be. So fuck it.
Shit- This could have been an awesome one, but just like fuck, the acronym is just not true. Ship High In Transit- supposedly used as a marking when shipping fecal matter on a ship, it was supposed to be on the top so it did not get hot and wet and stink up the other shipments. Cool story though. Really, it is exactly what we think it is. Scite (dung) scitte (diarrhea) and scitan (to defecate) are Old English words. So why can I not walk around saying I just took a shit? How is that different than saying dump, or poop, or number 2? Really, if you look at it, there is no difference. Once again somebody said it is a vulgar, offensive word. I think I am starting to see a trend here.
Bitch- a female dog right? Well yes, actually it is. So why and when did it become a bad word? Well finally I can bring a real answer. The Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis, was often seen with a pack of dogs and often transformed into a dog herself. Because of this, a women would be referred to as bitch: sexually depraved beasts who grovel and beg for men.
Getting into the next 2 words, Ass and Damn will be interesting and probably very offensive unless you open your mind up a bit and maybe look it up yourself, and bitch starts to lead into it.
The modern word bitch comes from the Old English bicce, which probably developed from the Norse bikkje, all meaning ‘female dog’. Its use as an insult was propagated into Old English by the Christian rulers of the Dark Age to suppress the idea of femininity as sacred.
Oooooo….. ouch. Let me interject here, I am a Christian and I know that in the past Christians have caused their fair share of problems, even in modern day they do. Does that mean Christians are bad? Or problematic? No, not at all, there are always a few in the crowd that give everybody a bad name. This is a prime example.
Ass- donkey, or butt. Obviously we all know ass is in the Bible, and at one time or another we all tried to use that excuse for saying it. And your parents would say you didn’t mean it that way, well they are right. Ass, in its original form is a donkey. So when did it turn to butt? Around 1785. The term arse slowly transformed to ass. Some believe it was even as early as 1594 in the play A Mid Summer Nights Dream, as a form of word play referring to a woman in a sexual way.
Damn- When this word was first used, the meaning was loss, or harm. Wait, what? Really?
Damn in its original form was nothing bad at all, so how did it become to be a “bad word”? The verb Damnare soon spread its meaning to “pronounce judgment upon” which seems to make a little more sense in today’s world. I damn you to hell, you are damned, you will go to damnation, etc. In modern day Bibles, the word is defined as exclusion from divine mercy; condemnation to eternal punishment. Damn or any version of the word does not appear in the Old Testament, but multiple times in the New Testament in some versions. This has been argued because these words replaced the original wording of the Bible.
I just want to repeat that so it is not misunderstood. SOME versions of the Bible use the word damn multiple times in the New Testament, NOT all versions. Damn replaced the original words used because of the way society changed the meaning of damn and other forms of the word.
Ok, so in a fast review….
Fuck- Lots of theories about where the word came from, no one is positive. It was of German decent and means sex. Whoever decided it was a vulgar word passed that along and it has carried through time, probably because talking about sex was so taboo back in the day. We as society just choose to go along with it.
Shit- an Old English word meaning dung. Well at least society got that one right. Again how this is a bad word I am not sure. Yes we use it as things other than dung but does that make it bad?
Bitch- came from the idea of a Greek Goddess who turned into a dog. Somewhere down the road Christians decided to use it as a “cut-down” to take away the sacredness of femininity. This is the only one that has a small chance of being a bad word.
Ass- another word that society decided to change the meaning of and make it taboo. Donkey, everybody knows that, and when used to refer to a part of the anatomy it is bad… how?
Damn- man we are good at making words bad because we want to. The meaning of this word has changed 100% from the original intent. But even in its new meaning, is it really that taboo?
As time goes forward these words will become less taboo and less people will find it offensive. This is proven by the statement history repeats itself. Damn is a very common word now that is one of the “lesser” curse words, but ages ago it was one of the worst things you could say. It has slowly become acceptable. This will continue to happen with all words.
I have drawn the conclusion that society is the only reason why words are bad. Most of these words did not exist when Jesus walked the earth, and when the Word was written, so the excuse that God says they are wrong makes no sense. If you feel like you can prove that wrong I am open. Someone recited many Bible verses to me about this, but none of them referred anything to words that society says are wrong. Every Bible verse in a nutshell said do not say mean blasphemous things against God, and do not say mean things to other people. But if society decides what words are mean, then how do we know what words God thinks are mean? He is better than society. And yes, I do understand that those Bible verses can mean don’t call your neighbor and asshole mother fucker. That is mean.
What if I decided that the word slyper now meant sex instead of fuck? Does that mean that because it is not the word “sex” that it is a bad word? Well tough, you can go slype yourself.
I hope I got my point across that these words are only bad because we say they are. But who are we to say?
-The Meat Hammer
I have 2 points (I hope, sometimes I think of more as type)
ReplyDelete1. God probably doesn't concern himself so much with "words he thinks are mean". If we want to follow his teachings and his example he probably cares more about how the words we say affect other people rather than the actual words themselves. So if society thinks that a word is bad and you will be offending society by saying that word I think it's safe to say that God would rather we didn't. It's like drinking (kinda), in that we aren't told not to specifically but we are warned against it. And if we are around certain people who choose not to sometimes it's better if we abstain for their sake. It's not a right, it's a privilege that comes with responsibility to use it wisely. The Bible doesn't tell us not to say bad words, but it has plenty to say about putting others before ourselves and treating our neighbors with respect, etc. And I think it goes without saying that if the words I choose to say are making me look bad as a Christian, I am dishonoring God and that's not good. My opinion is, know your audience and err on the side of caution.
On a side note: if someone's language offends you then you have the responsibility to tell them. Words are just words and they only have the meaning we give them. Just because a word offends you doesn't mean it offends someone else. They cannot be held responsible for offending you if you don't let them know you're offended. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't be overly offended at every little thing. Freedom of speech also means freedom to listen. So if you don't like the lyrics to a song because of "bad" words or you don't appreciate the amount and occurrence of bad words in your buddy's vocabulary then don't listen to it. No one is making you hang out with your friend or listen to crappy music. So stop complaining.
2. One of my pet peeves is when people (mostly parents) try to make non-bad words into bad words. Like darn, shoot, dang, crap, heck, etc. I can't tell you how many times my parents said to me "don't say that, it's a euphemism for a bad word!" Well if you look at the etymology of these so called "bad words" some of them were simply euphemisms for other "bad" words. And the cycle repeats itself! All parents are doing are creating MORE bad words.
There is a time and a place for using such words. Yes, by themselves they may be harmless. But because society has given them such strong meanings maybe we should treat them as such? I hate it when people throw fuck around as every other word in a sentence. If you use a "curse" word too often it loses it's strength and meaning. Not to mention you look like a idiot who isn't smart enough to expand his vocabulary. Sometimes a "bad" word is exactly the word you need in order to accurately describe your feelings. That's what words are for and I'm all for being as accurate as possible. Personally, I have no problem using bad words as "sentence enhancers". However, as I said before, the more often they are used the less impact they have. Think of "bad" words like salt. A little brings out the flavor of the whole dish! But too much and it poisons the whole thing. Bad words should be used the same way. A few may enhance the particular point you're trying to get across. But too many and no one is going to care about or want to hear what you have to say.