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Hookd_On_Photons said:
This is an interesting linguistic topic!
Profanity is as old as language itself. By definition, it is "word choice or usage which its audience considers to be offensive."
Profanity serves as cartharsis after an unpleasant event, or to express anger, frustration, or some other strong emotion.
It is also deliberately used for shock value. It's somewhat overused by comedians for this purpose. If somebody were to tell a dirty joke substituting clinical terms for body parts or naughty acts instead of the four-letter words, some of the humor would be degraded.
Profanity is language and culture specific. Most Americans wouldn't blink an eye at the use of terms like "bl00dy" or "w@nker", but that would be frowned upon in polite company in England. And if one is fluent in another language, watching dubbed films demonstrates that profanity doesn't always translate very well.
On a more humorous note, there are several examples of car names having to be changed for certain markets.
The Mitsubishi Pajero was renamed for the Argentina/Chile market. (naughty male body part connotation)
The Honda Fitta was renamed for the Norwegian/Swedish market. (naughty female body part connotation)
A dispassionate, but not surprisingly profanity-laden essay is available at Wikipedia (that is, the article mentions a bunch of naughty words, because it's *about* naughty words):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profanity
If you don't like naughty words, don't follow the link.
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Thanks! Wikipedia is so useful. Maxa, thanks for the middle finger info! I was about to ask for that one too. And everyone else, thank you for not getting this thread shut down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif