What made "bad words", "bad"?

What made "bad words", "bad"?

My dad is 85 years old and if I say the word "fart" or "belly", he tells me I am crude....

So, how did curses word really become curses words and are the really "bad", like "fart" or "belly" are crude to my dad?

Christians do not say them, or at least on here, Christian Chat.... Is that because we restrain on here because we will be banned, or because you believe some words are "bad"?

What made curses words and words like horse not?

As a Christian is it OK to say them or is it sin?

I think it's more a matter of the heart. Ephesians 4:29 says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

our words are meant to be used for encouraging and uplifting. Curse words, etc don't lift people up. Not to mention, we will one day have to give an account for all the words we've spoken. Will they be words of Love or random nonsense that was meaningless?

"But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36

Hmmmm.... I believe, in Biblical times, people knew just how many generations removed thet were from Adam and Eve so belief in God was not a matter of faith. In Biblical times there was only a choice to serve God or.... not. So, in Biblical times, some words were actually curses in the name of false gods... because cursing in the name of Jehovah is taking His name in vain. There has always been strong language and impolite words, there is even some strong language in the Bible... So, these days, I believe simply saying what you mean and meaning what you say as a Christian is more important than "watching your P's and Q's". On one hand I know I can be very hurtful and not say one four letter word, but on the other hand I know it sometimes shows a finer command of language to simply say nothing at all.

My speech changes depending on who I'm speaking with. It is odd really...

Your heart matters in the context.

I do feel like certain words are "vulgar". More the "way" they are said.


Something of a delicate topic. Some people when they hear someone using what "most" think are swear words or curse words think that their heart isn't right. I cannot say...Sometimes it bothers me and sometimes it seems to encapsulate an idea far better.

What the hell are we doing? might be better understood as...Lord?...????

When the abortion bill in NY got passed "what the hell is going on?" was the only thought on my mind...the response? "Precisely".


I pay attention and bring my thought life and speech before the Lord. Sometimes powerful language is a powerful emotion, Most often (in today's context) it's just idle garbage.

I personally prefer descriptive language but at times things do proceed out of my mouth that I have consistently at times asked for a bit/bridle for ha.


Really spending time in the Word is VERY cleansing if you find your words to be "vulgar".

I fart sometimes, especially when my belly is full.. There, I said it..

LOL

I'm an old sailor and son of a marine.... So sometimes I know it shows in my language lol.
When David said, "Gurde your loins men, we're going to march on this city and slaughter
everything that pisses standing up!", do we doubt his conviction?

But was "pisses" a "bad" word back then? Or was David just stating a fact. Like when we say, "I need to urinate." Urinate isn't a bad word, though it could be twisted into one.

What makes bad words bad is the intent on which they were said.

As a linguist, I agree with Tourist - it's typically the intent.

Certain words, over time, will acquire a negative connotation even though they didn't start out that way.

To simplify this process, in English, many of our older "Germanic" words were replaced by Norman French ones. The French words were seen as more "positive" while the Germanic ones were seen as more "negative" - the "these were the words used by the peasants who didn't know any better" kind of thing.

Not to delve too deeply into the "grey area" - certain terms for, shall we say, certain body parts, were at one time the only words English had. As they were replaced by either French terms or Latin terms (via French), these older Germanic terms came to be used as slang words and acquired the status of a "bad word".

Not that any of these are bad words, but to sort of illustrate what I mean: when the animal is alive, the Germanic word is typically used to describe it: chicken, sheep, cow. When it gets to your dinner plate, the Norman French terms are used: poultry, mutton, beef.

You kind of get the general idea. Many of our "four-letter words" are pure Germanic in origin while their Norman French counterparts are considered, for the most part, acceptable.

Many pejorative words also started out quite innocently, often as mispronunciation/misunderstandings of words from other languages. Google a few to see what I mean.

It's just he way language works and changes over time.

That said, as Tourist and others point out, virtually almost any word can be made to sound 'vulgar' if it's given the correct context and intent (and sometimes, just the tone of voice it's said in).

So much proven truth again the WORD OF G-D IS CORREDT... EMAGION THAT... lol...

When my son was two he took his play guitar and SLAMED it over my shins.... the screwed in screws holding in the batteries blew off.... true story.... in that moment I wanted to yell a lot of bad words, but G-d gave.... "You are my sweet gentle, lovable, obedient, mighty man of G-d..... From that day on(my son now 27), every time I wanted to cuss him out, that is what I have said.... It's funny, my son gets mad at me for saying that, because he knows I'm MAD....

You know what is GREAT!?! My son is just that, and I have a sister who always called the children *itches.... and they are!!!

I agree with the others, that it's intent, rather than the words which are wrong. People sometimes try to classify particular words as good or bad.

One Christian site I used to frequent had banned the word "pussy", because about 5% of the time, people might use it as a euphemism for the female vulva, and did not consider that 95% of the time it was used to refer to a cat. The hypocrisy was that the word "cock" was not banned, although it was probably used 95% of the time to refer to the male organ, and only 5% of the time to refer to a chicken.

So there can also be plenty of gender and politics in who considers particular words bad, and why. But the important thing is the intention of one's heart.

whatever that's not of faith Is sin,meaning your heart should match what you do.If a person uses a word that doesn't prick their heart then It's not a sin to them but to someone else that word might be offensive.

If It offends your brother then don't say It and If your brother Is offending you by using words that offend you then tell them you are offended and If they continue doing this then I would not want to be around them for long stretches of time but still don't let your heart grow to hate them.

The funny thing.....I can hear people "cuss" and it does not offend me.......what offends me and or peeves me off is when God gets a last name (D---) or JESUS Christ is used as an exclamation point.........now...that I do not like and will step up and say something.....to the rest....it does not offend me

Swear words are either designed to take the lord’s name in vain,
or are crudely swearing on His name. For example cor blimey, is a
variant of God blind me.

Others are thought up to be deliberately crude and offensive.

I’m not sure why a Christian would want to be crude, rude, offensive or take the Lords
name in vain. Part of my elderly aunts testimony is that she use to swear like a
trooper. When she became a Christian the instant effect was that she stopped swearing.
It wasn’t that she clamped up and deliberately chose not to swears, it’s more that it was
taken completely away from her. She was literally set free from swearing. Who wouldn’t
want that for themselves.

I don’t swear its like speaking a foreign language to me and it stands out a mile when I
hear other people swearing around me.

I think the point is also that a swear-word to one is not necessarily a swear-word to another. I've heard that in some places, the word "nursing" is even used in preference to "breast-feeding", because the word "breast" might cause offense.

piss is not a bad word.

You can actually use the word 'curse' or 'cursed' in the place of bad words.

Examples:

A man is stuck in a long traffic jam on a hot day and he says, "I hate this (bad word here) traffic!" = "I hate this cursed traffic!"

A woman is running for a bus and her heel breaks and she says, "(Bad word) these (bad word) shoes!" = "Curse these cursed shoes!"


The words 'fart' and 'piss' are based on the sounds that they make and are not technically 'bad words/curse words'. Just disgusting words.

This is quite an interesting question. I suppose the short answer is that social consensus makes some words "bad". For example, there are words in British English that are used quite frequently that you wouldn't generally hear in American English because Americans consider them more vulgar, and vice versa. I think a lot of it depends on perspective. I know a lot of people who consider any form of swearing to be "bad", but consider outright verbal abuse or tearing someone else down to be okay, so long as there are no "swear" words involved.

Really, I tend to go the other way. Swear words in and of themselves, are expressions of emotion, usually (not always). So to say "flip", or "bloody", or "for goodness' sake", really contain the same emotional gravitas as more "vulgar" words. I would say it's a mixture of social consensus, expectation, intent, and personal perspective.

I personally don't mind if someone swears, per se. What I don't like is the use of language for the purpose of intimidation, threat, callousness, meanness etc.

Lol

Lol!