A Blessing or a Curse

Profanities, obscenities, expletives: We use these terms to describe words considered inappropriate in our language. By definition, a profanity is a word, phrase, or gesture that is abusive, vulgar, or irreverent, but many of these condemned words merely articulate intense emotion. These words fill a void in our language with their predominately-negative expressions of scorn, disgust, pain, or surprise. Many words used today as curse words did not originate as such. These once harmless words seemed to make that transition when it became common to use them to express some of our strongest emotions. This would indicate that we are not condemning the specific words, but the emotions they convey. Is our anger only valid if we express it through acceptable language? Do we lessen our pain by describing it calmly? While we should refrain from language whose only purpose is to abuse or offend, why must we censor expressions used solely to color our informal speech? We should be free to make full use of our language; if through conscious decision we find that the best word available is one our society considers unacceptable, then that should be only a factor in our choice, not the final ruling.

I wrote this in response to an English definition assignment. It has always been an irritant to me how variable the rules for accepted speech seem to be. While I personally choose to refrain from using questionable language, under many circumstances I do not find it offensive. As with many subjects, I secede from the usual preferring to judge according to motive than by appearance or socially set standards.