Who determines what is deemed a 'swear word'? [ENDS 12/08/2012]

[Munex]

Who determines what is deemed a 'swear word'?

Words and their connotations are decided by the public. Language is technically just structured sounds that we humans make; no words are naturally bad or good and words often change their meanings and connotations over time. 'Wicked', 'sick' and 'gay' are just a few words that are used today that mean something totally different to what they used to mean. The utterance "Damn bro, that's sick!" carries positive connotations in today's youth culture, but in the past, it would have literally meant vomit (not so good).

If the dictionary was to suddenly invent a brand new swear word, it simply would not catch on very fast, if at all, as a truly offensive expletive. People would laugh it off. Words are not put into the dictionary first; language is coined by a speaker (perhaps in the media) and then, if it catches on, it will be stored in the dictionary. The word 'reem', made popular from the TV show The Only Way Is Essex, may well find itself being put into an official dictionary if it continues to be used by the public.

If the vast majority of people are offended by a word, it becomes a swear word. If people begin to relax towards an expletive, it will no longer be a swear word. No single individual controls what is and isn't a 'bad word', it's to do with the majority - celebrities and the media may be a heavy influence, however.

Language is constantly evolving and changing.

Do you think the filter in terms of media in the UK/US be lifted slightly or not?

The media generally censor the things that the majority of people find inappropriate. Film and game age-ratings are based on a majority verdict of what is and isn't deemed appropriate. If every parent were to say that they find torture absolutely fine, we would find films and games rated PG that contain torture. The same is true for swear words; if everyone found 'the F word' acceptable, it could end up in a Super Mario or Hello Kitty game.

Swear words do exist though, and I don't think it's necessary or appropriate to have no censorship of expletives in the media. Why does a news anchor need to use 'the F word' at all? In England, it's pretty relaxed as it is. Morning television is pretty clean, perhaps a bit of innuendo thrown here and there, but nothing too questionable. Late night television, stand-up comedy and such, has a whole array of shocking vocabulary.

Summary:

Swear words are not chosen by a single person, but are built up over time by the public - the native speakers of a language. A dictionary does not control language; a dictionary records the language already being used by the public.

The media censor the words that the public find offensive and so the current censorship is fine in the UK. It is possible that corruption exists in the media, but that's another debate for another time!

[Lewis]

Who determines what is deemed a 'swear word'?

Words and their connotations are decided by the public. Language is technically just structured sounds that we humans make; no words are naturally bad or good and words often change their meanings and connotations over time. 'Wicked', 'sick' and 'gay' are just a few words that are used today that mean something totally different to what they used to mean. The utterance "Damn bro, that's sick!" carries positive connotations in today's youth culture, but in the past, it would have literally meant vomit (not so good).

If the dictionary was to suddenly invent a brand new swear word, it simply would not catch on very fast, if at all, as a truly offensive expletive. People would laugh it off. Words are not put into the dictionary first; language is coined by a speaker (perhaps in the media) and then, if it catches on, it will be stored in the dictionary. The word 'reem', made popular from the TV show The Only Way Is Essex, may well find itself being put into an official dictionary if it continues to be used by the public.

If the vast majority of people are offended by a word, it becomes a swear word. If people begin to relax towards an expletive, it will no longer be a swear word. No single individual controls what is and isn't a 'bad word', it's to do with the majority - celebrities and the media may be a heavy influence, however.

Language is constantly evolving and changing.

Do you think the filter in terms of media in the UK/US be lifted slightly or not?

The media generally censor the things that the majority of people find inappropriate. Film and game age-ratings are based on a majority verdict of what is and isn't deemed appropriate. If every parent were to say that they find torture absolutely fine, we would find films and games rated PG that contain torture. The same is true for swear words; if everyone found 'the F word' acceptable, it could end up in a Super Mario or Hello Kitty game.

Swear words do exist though, and I don't think it's necessary or appropriate to have no censorship of expletives in the media. Why does a news anchor need to use 'the F word' at all? In England, it's pretty relaxed as it is. Morning television is pretty clean, perhaps a bit of innuendo thrown here and there, but nothing too questionable. Late night television, stand-up comedy and such, has a whole array of shocking vocabulary.

Summary:

Swear words are not chosen by a single person, but are built up over time by the public - the native speakers of a language. A dictionary does not control language; a dictionary records the language already being used by the public.

The media censor the words that the public find offensive and so the current censorship is fine in the UK. It is possible that corruption exists in the media, but that's another debate for another time!

what I would say is above if I wasn't lazy

Edited by Sky (Forum Moderator): Please don't pointless post!

[Niall!]

I've already expressed to many people that I don't believe in "swear words". To quote Fred Durst: **** is just a word and it's all ****** up". I don't see why you would take offense at words that are mainly just cruder variations of acceptable words like copulate or sex (just an example obviously).

[GommeInc]

I don't get why the C would is considered the worst

I think it's when it's used. It used to originally be used in really violent situations in the heat of a moment, between two people usually fighting viciously with sweat flying and everything Then you get words like the B word (for female dog) which is also rude, but not quite as rude. It's used in Soap Operas because it's the context usually includes two women having a fight, and two women fighting is much the same as two female dogs fighting

The C word doesn't seem as bad these days though. I remember when the whole word was bleeped in TV shows, now you get half the word then the beep, like "C-BEEP". The 6 letter W for playing with oneself seems to be left unfiltered in TV shows now. It's only ever filtered in magazines, and even then the F word is usually spelled out.

[Meloneeze.]

No one really determines it unless it's media. If you're in your house, sure use it all you want (it's not like there's swear police, is there?) But in the media, for some reason they see the need to censor them even though if you look around you hear some to most of them almost everyday. Mostly. So it briefly takes away from the actual reason for censorship.

I've never seen UK Media, so I don't know about lifting it, but in America they're already lifting the heaviness of the swears. Some reality shows with the really prissy girls and the really jerky guys, you'll get the start of the word, and the last letter of it (Funny, huh) which I don't know is really even censoring it. Heck, I don't even know if the people are still actors or not.

Many swear words used now are really not used for their original purposes. Of course, the actual purpose of some of these is a little hazy but it's not what we intend them for. For example, the word 'damned'. Originally, it meant that someone was going to go to hell for a bad thing. Now though, it means something similar to, "Wow!" and it's rarely ever used in it's original meaning (that I've seen). Same with both the 'F' word and the 'B' word for a female dog.
@peteyt; I've never even heard the 'C' word, neither in public nor reality shows. My guess is because it's not an American-related word, or that they don't know about it .

Sorry for the long post. :I

[Slopure]

At the end of the day, its just another word in the english language. Any word could become a swear word and not be harmfull or offensive to people , for example if the queen said the word "ok" was now reconized as a swear word, overtime it would start to become censered and people would still use it even though it was reconized as a swear word. So im saying its just a word!

[Mentor]

Was gonna explain how public language works and word definitions are a cultural constructs ect, but skimming though it looks like Munex beat me to it