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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“Vulgar” literally meant “Common”, so vulgar language was language used by “commoners” and not the more refined or well educated. Thus, being vulgar was seen as distasteful to the upper class while it was totally normal to the common folk.
This is reflected in the Albert Camus quote, “The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.”
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