Substitute words

[Quid est Veritas?]

Since I've been active in this thread, I'll leave it to the discretion of other staff to what degree we should allow the bypassing. It is a valid topic of discussion, and bypassing might be hard to avoid.

I've said "scared spitless" myself. Then again, some people even consider "spit" a crude word. In some societies, any reference at all to a biological function is considered bad manners. Remember Corabeth's line on the "The Waltons?" One of the kids had made reference to being sweaty from working hard, and she bristled. "Horses sweat, dear. People perspire." Some of the blunt words for biological functions came through the Germanic or Anglo-Saxon, while the more "polite" words for the same thing came through Latin. I've often wondered why one language origin was "proper" while the other was "crude."

And then gender plays a role too. I once used "whiz" in reference to what my dog was about to do on the living room floor, but I got her outside in time. A young neighbor who was visiting told me, "Don't say whiz. That's a boy's word. Say tinkle." Um..... OK.

The euphemism treadmill is a good point. I didn't know it was also called pejoration. I cited the example with mental disability recently in another thread.

It is because the upper classes initially spoke Norman French after the Conquest. Later they taught their children Latin directly once Old English and Norman French had largely merged.
This renders Latin derived words more posh. Saxon on the hoof, Norman on the table after all. Lower class words are Germanic, Upper class ones are Latinate.

 

[Meowzltov]

Some people say curse words themselves are the problem, some people think substitute words carry the same weight and feeling in your heart so those are sinful too. I have struggled with cursing ever since I got into it in middle school. Is saying words like 'fudge' 'duck' or 'monkeys' (some people at school do this, one girl says donkeys :? ) okay instead of full-on censor-worthy words or not?

I see no problem with substitute words, although I try to keep them to a minimum. What is the problem with saying "What is wrong with you?" instead of "What the heck is wrong with you?" I wouldn't even mind using the actual h word if the situation were of sufficient importance to warrant it, such as getting smash and then getting behind the wheel of a car and hitting someone -- "What the h* is wrong with you?" seems appropriate in that circumstance.

It's also true that some cuss words are worse than others. The F word is certainly worse than the H word or the D word, and the C word is so bad that it's like slapping someone in the face-- it should never EVER be used.

 

[Paidiske]

MOD HAT ON
I realise that people have been trying to have a constructive conversation while staying within our rules for profanity and vulgarity, but it is easy not to realise that you have broken those rules, and several posts have done so.
I am going to leave this thread closed.
MOD HAT OFF​