Why do we have words that we “aren’t supposed to say”? What decides what makes a swear word a bad word?
It can’t be meaning, because “poop” is fine and
“shit” is not. Or “sex” or “ruin” is fine, but “fuck” is not.
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Some other animals have specific cries or sounds for particular threat situations, for example one sound for “look out, there’s a snake” and a distinct sound for “look out, there’s an owl”. It’s not that they’re never supposed to use them, it’s more that they’re not supposed to be used except in emergencies, because they elicit a stress response and they need to be trusted.
It’s kind of the same for us. If somebody hits his thumb with a hammer and swears, we understand. If he swears every sentence in regular conversation, it makes us uncomfortable.
Which sounds are the local swear words is kind of arbitrary and cultural, same as it is with animals. The point is that there’s a set of sounds that are reserved for rare and extreme situations that justify them, and you can’t go around essentially crying wolf all the time when we’re trying to cultivate a civilization that’s sheltered from most natural threats
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