Language

The English Language is filled with interesting words.
It has plenty of words that mean the same thing. Same, similar, identical, equal, equivalent, matching, alike. These words can cause tears and triumph. They can teach, and they can terrorize.
However, there are some words that people tend to find...offensive, vulgar, profane, blasphemous, dirty, filthy, foul, nasty, sinful, smutty, wicked. These words, are what I like to call, swear words.

There are loads of swear words; bitch, hell, bastard, ass, just to name a few, and words like these are very offensive to certain people. Other people, however, do not find these words, or any "swear words" offensive in any way.

George Carlin touched on the issue of foul language with his skit "7 Words You Can't Say On Television."
"I was thinking one night about the words you couldn't say on the public airwaves, the ones you definitely wouldn't say, ever, ... so I have to figure out which ones you couldn't and ever and it came down to seven but the list is open to amendment, and in fact, has been changed, by now, a lot of people pointed things out to me, and I noticed some myself. The original seven words were, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Those are the ones that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands and maybe, even bring us, God help us, peace without honor."

Try repeating this bit in a highschool and see how fast you get a detention, or worse.

The issue of swear words has even reached the supreme court...
The Supreme Court first confronted the issue of indecent (as opposed to obscene speech, which appeals to prurient interests) in the 1971 case of Cohen v California. Paul Cohen was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail for wearing in a courthouse corridor a jacket which, on its back, said "FUCK THE DRAFT" The Court reversed Cohen's conviction, finding his speech protected by the First Amendment. Writing for the Court, Justice Harlan noted that "one man's vulgarity is another man's lyric" and suggested that the First Amendment protects not just the intellectual content of speech, but the emotive content as well.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/indecentspeech.htm

Why are these words such a problem? How can words have such power to put a man in jail if they are used? How can people feel so strongly opposed to their use? One cannot simply be born with this opposition to swears. It is something drilled into the heads of individuals, most likely when the person is very young. Swear words have been taught to children to be the ultimate taboo. Plenty of children have had their mouths washed out with soap because of the slip of a swear. But why? How are they bad? What makes the word "fuck" worse than the word create? Doesn't it technically mean the same thing? "To fuck" is just another way to say "to make love." Creatures make love in order to create life. Ultimately it means the same thing. does it not? But in this world, it's the connotation that matters, not the denotation. I mean, gay means happy and fagot is a bundle of sticks, but no one cares about what things really mean. The connotation is key.

But I don't believe there is anything wrong with these words. Anyone who knows me knows that I use these "foul words" rather frequently. Why? Do I think it makes me cool? Do I think it'll make me more popular? No. I use these words because I believe that people shouldn't limit their vocabulary because of some up-tight people and their narrow-minded beliefs. I use all aspects of the English language, regardless of its connotation. We must open our minds and realize that we can not cross out the words that we find "bad." Or better yet, we cannot cross out words that other people say are bad.
This isn't North Korea.
We don't all just accept the social norm just because it's the "social norm."
We will not conform.
We will not be...sorry...getting off track.
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One can use these "swear words" without causing offense. The key is to realize that these words are not offensive to begin with. They are just words. They are only offensive if you, the listener, let yourself get offended by them. But why should you? Why should you get offended by what sound wave is produced by the vibration of some asshole's vocal chords? You shouldn't, regardless of if the words are "swears" or not, but I'll talk about that in a future post. There is no sense in taking offense to what people say. That's feeding the troll, and I resent it. Fucking trolls...

Language is a funny little devil. It's our primary form of communication, in yet in this day and age, we communicate more by staring at pixels and typing on keyboards. The world we live in...damn...