I don’t get it. These words restrict what can be on TV and radio. They change the ratings of games and movies. We go through all this effort to keep these words hidden away from our children, even though the second they hit school they are going to pick them up from another kid most likely.
Why is it that we treat these words like black sheep?
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Think about your question for a minute. Why do we have language at all? If certain words are not elevated to seldom, extreme usage, then that need for them is left unfilled and will get filled by something else. There is a polite word that you can use for any curse word – but curse words still exist as such. The commenters in here can dunk on religion and the US all they want, but language is meant for communicating and if we don’t follow the loosely agreed upon rules then our communication gets more difficult.
Every language that I’m aware of has curse words. When we use them out of context we’re looked at oddly because we’re violating our social contract as social beings. By limiting usage and exposure just for shock value, we are keeping their communicative value intact and expressing to others that, in this one small way, we can be participating members of a shared culture.
We’re not protecting our kids from bad words, we’re teaching our kids how to interact with others so that they can live and prosper in a society.
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