swear words--linguistics

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corr i love linguistics

My opinion:

There are two (main) different types of swears - the ones relating to bodily/sexual functions (or just "dirty" names for sexual organs, i.e. "penis" = "d**k"), and the ones that curse in the name of a deity/-ies.

The reason why I think people swear by those particular kinds of things?! Well...it's difficult to guess, but I think nearly all of them at least started out as ways of provoking deeply religious people. The "f word", for instance, seems to have its very BASIS in how sex is a "dirty" activity (its origins date back to a German word meaning "to penetrate", hence the reason why "screw" is frequently used as a euphemism for the word). "Making love" does sound more wholesome than "screw" (or "penetrate", for that matter), doesn't it?!

And of course, if someone says "G*d d*mn it to h*ll!", it's definitely going to stir up some religious wrath from somebody!! The reason people curse in the name of religion?! Probably because a lot of them thought the whole idea (of religion) sounded so fantastical that they wanted to convince the more religious folks that "nothing bad would happen" if they swore in the name of a deity/-ies.

Being an agnostic with a slight basis in Buddhism, I pretty much see no reason to swear (unless you're so angry you feel like the Incredible Hulk, lol). Perhaps nothing SUPERNATURALLY bad would happen to me if I swore, but I think socially it has its harmful side effects (of course, we MADE these "side effects" happen OURSELVES, but such has become the way of the world so I might as well deal with it). If the only thing a swear word is good for is making the more saintly folks among us angry, then what's the point?! My relatives (and the ones I get along with BETTER at that) are mostly Mormon, and despite the fact that I don't agree with them on everything regarding their religion, I'm not just gonna try to make them angry for my lack of understanding/appreciation for it! I think the best thing to do is just let them be!! All this anger is just holding us back from (emotionally) evolving! At least that's what I think...