Fuck if I know.
English is my second language, and culturally where I’m from swearing is pretty normal and nobody gives a fuck anyway.
It’s only swearing because at some point someone decided it was bad language, and if you pay close attention, a lot of them go with “taboo” topics like sex and religious items. And then everyone proceeds to substitute them like fuck/fudge, shit/shoot, bitch/bench which IMO, you might as well have said it, everyone knows that what you were thinking.
Language is language and sometimes a good choice of colorful expletives is what drives the meaning. Getting offended by swears is a sign of fragility of the mind.
Swearing is actually normal for all people. Any word can be classified as a “swear” or “bad” word. That’s how language works. There is nothing wrong with using a word that is deemed a cuss word. The actual “bad” part is always the context the word is used in. If you smacked your foot into a chair accidentally and you called the chair a Bastard, you used the expletive correctly. But if you walked into work one morning and walked by your boss and said to him, “Good morning you Bastard.”, that’s going to get you in trouble. The context matters.
You can make any word a cuss word in the context you use it. You can ask a person if they like Bananas, “Are you a banana eater?”. Or you can accuse a person, “What kind of a sick banana eater are you? What is wrong with you?”, ‘banana eater’ is now a bad phrase/thing.
Context in language always matters, regardless of the taboo of a word/phrase.
Words only have power over you if you let them. Language is to be used, enjoyed and laughed at.
You can’t entirely remove a word from it’s main meaning and there’s a reason all popular swear words are negative or taboo things, fuck, damn, hell etc
Well gosh darnit the study of etymology is gonna want a word (hehe) with you. a faggot used to be an old unpleasant woman who was like baggage, as difficult to carry around as a bundle of sticks which was also called a faggot. Brits smoke fags.
Literally is another example. Through use, it now has a secondary definition which is exactly the opposite of its primary one. (figurative, emphasis)There are less popular examples but your premise as i understand it is just wrong friend
I didn’t say the main meaning can’t change, just that you can’t remove it from said meaning by using it in a different context
Because I don’t let prudes tell me what I can and can’t say unless they’re paying me.
Because words have different weight for different people. I feel like Americans are so sensitive about words like “fuck” (and many other words). Here in the Netherlands I grew up with much more liberal use of swear words. So to me it’s way less harsh to say “fuck this rain” or something, it’s just a way to communicate my feelings about the rain, just like I’d say “kutweer” in Dutch. Saying it in a more eloquent way, i.e. “this rain is pretty suboptimal” would not accurately convey my feelings.
