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Bad words, swears, curses, expletives, profanity, highly informal slang. Do you cuss?

Why are people obsessed with these words? Most either fear them or love them. Most of the time, it's both.

The uniqueness of these words are their connotations: they're very strong and negative. They're usually used to express a strong feeling. They also derive from things that society would call private. Thus, the words have become something not to be uttered in public. And this taboo nature have given them this love/hate relationship.

Since these words have a negative connotation, they're often used to insult, attack, or intimidate another person. This makes the speaker seems tough or bad. According to social darwinism, the tough will survive. Thus, swearing is a way to proclaim superiority.

These words, with the strong feelings attached, make certain demands or emotions more forceful or even more genuine. "Would you please stop?" and "I am quite enthused!" maybe get the point across, but not necessarily with the deisred degree.

So now we know why people use it and for what purpose. Why not?

In certain situations, especially formal ones, it makes one seem less intelligent. Instead of reaching in the dictionary of the mind, one has to fall back on low-class profanity. Especially when dealing with people (restaurants, stores), one's diction can give a good or bad impression on quality, regardless of the actual rank.

Thus, one must judge one's audience. A business would balk at a message with inserted expletives. Likewise, a friend might find insincerity in a detailed essay. The desired result in either is not achieved.

Now a quick run on censorship. Removing the vowel does not really cover anything. First letter or all asterisks. One site, for example, allows swearing by truncation, leaving the first letter, (f'ed) or obfuscating ring all letters while keeping the length (****ed). Otherwise, it's not really censored.

On euphemisms: How is saying "screw this" or "Fudge!" any different (aside from construcion and tasty desserts) from the other word that would fit in? They're just weaker. Is that a good enough reason for them to be more acceptable? The emotion behind them might be the same; it might even be repressed, being relegated to a weaker expression. The euphemism treadmill might make such circumventions unspeakable in public.

If a TV channel let a bomb slip, the infamous "F", then they would be inundated with angry parents. They are protecting their children, sure, but I thought stick and stones only break one's bones, not words. On the news, perhaps the family saw a rapist be violently murdered by sharpened sticks and heavy stones. That would likely go by without a second thought. That sounds a bit worse than a couple of words. This is an example lazy parenting and dodgy priorities. Violence? Common. Sex? Natural. Words? Blasphemous!

Personally, it's habit that I don't cuss. I hardly even have to stop myself from doing so in public. It's more that I have to force myself. When I'm with company that drops whatever word they wish, the words pass my mind, but it's still somewhat unlikely that they fall out. In formal situations, they don't even come to mind at all. Two-faced? Perhaps. It's simply a judge of my audience.

When I hear others? I don't really mind. If I don't have a bad opinion of someone, then their choice of words has almost no effect on my impression of them. When I do have a below par view, my assessment of their character slowly drops.

And a quick thought: At school Friday, one was trying to be reserved and speak around a word, but it was obvious what fits. Another responded that it was ok to say it, we're in high school. Then I thought... does that mean it's ok because we're not in middle school or not adults? Is it fine because we're older, or still young? Or is it that we're in the rebellious teenager phase? Why is high school a valid excuse?

There was a lot to this rant. I digressed a bit, perhaps, but it's a bit of a wide topic, and I wanted to cover a lot of it.

Wow, a whole essay without even using a swear word. I had to talk around it and insert euphemisms here and there. It didn't seem flow at times. Damn, that was hard.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor... early in the morning...