Used almost all the time, wherever you go; at this point, I feel it’s almost like a universal language now—curse words. When we hear curse words, the first thing that comes to our mind is “fuck”. Yep, most of us would say so and even if you don’t, you would probably think so. Curse words whether you like it or not has inevitably become somewhat of a staple in languages and popularly used in English.
There has been some conversing as to the difference between a swear word and a curse word. Some sources may say they are different while others note that they may be used interchangeably. However, for this blog we will take them as the same. But we can categorize both swear and curse words under profanity. I won’t bore you with the etymology of it, what you should know is when regarding profanity, we talk about something offensive-unpleasant. Yeah, something like that. Popular curse words such as “shit”, “piss off”, “motherfucker”, “bastard”, “wanker” and “damn”. These words are seen to be offensive, and they are not savoury to whoever is on the receiving end of it. These words have even been on some countries' ban list, as they are known to instigate violence. However, this should not be mistaken for slurs as, although they may be very similar, slurs are not offensive in the same way as profanities. For example, when an individual, says racist comments. It is commonly regarded as racial slurs not profanities. Again, this is also up to debate and people may have different opinions to it, so please take it with a grain of salt.
According to Parmenides Ephesus on Stack Exchange, he said curse words are referred to as the way they are because when they are thrown at people as an offence. They inflict emotional damage on that individual as how an actual “curse” would. Thus, we can see that cursing what there for a long time. “In English, swear words and curse words like shit have a Germanic root, as likely does fuck, though damn and piss come from Old French and ultimately Latin.” (Wikipedia) Therefore, curse words are not majorly an “English thing” but were derived per se from a variety of different languages and interpreted as such.
Are curse words bad? Well… if you say so. Like any other thing, it’s always up to personal conviction. If you believe they are just portrayed badly or believe it would be a severe violation of your religious code to say them, I respect that. I believe these words shouldn’t be said so often or at all. As they can damage a person's emotion if used badly. What do you think? Please comment below and discuss, are curse words really “cursed”?
Welll, I don't believe that curse words are 'cursed' in themselves. I see them as verbal expression of emotions. Usually negative emotions.