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Swearing is becoming more widely acceptable, linguistics experts claim (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 10 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/interestingshare@lemmy.zip

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Swearwords increasingly used for emphasis and to build social bonds, rather than to insult, say academics

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Isn't it more that the words that are acceptable are changing?

In the ancient past, it was "taking the lord's name in vain" that was so extreme. Now, most people don't care about that. You can still see that difference in the "curse words" used in Quebec vs. France. In Quebec the naughty words are all Catholicism-related: esti, calise, tabarnak, etc. In France they're more similar to the common English ones: merde (shit), putain (whore), etc.

The religious swear words had lost their bite in most English cultures ages ago, people still say things like "christ" or "oh my god", but those mild expressions would have been jaw-droppingly awful a century earlier. For a while damn was one of the most awful words, which is why you had things like "gosh darn".

Now, it's words that were truly offensive maybe 40 years ago that are becoming common: fuck, shit, cunt, etc.

But, at the same time, words that were common in the past are becoming truly offensive now, for example "the n word", faggot, retard, tranny, etc.

[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The n word is much, much worse than the other truly offensive words on your list. You can tell by how it's the only one you can't actually write out, even in a discussion on swear words.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Yep, right now it has taken the #1 spot, whereas a few decades ago it was just a normal word that people used in conversation.

[–] psmgx@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

What's wrong with removed?

[–] 567PrimeMover@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

People will use “removed” as a placeholder for whatever slur would have their post removed on a given platform.

[–] whatwhatwutyut@midwest.social 3 points 10 months ago

I think it's that "removed" is what some Lemmy clients will show unless you change your settings to not filter swear words. I don't think anyone is actually typing removed in their comments

[–] lud@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

What do you mean by "Removed"?

What was removed?