The nature, types, motives, and functions of swear words: a sociolinguistic analysis (2024)

FAQs

What are the 4 types of swear words? ›

Types of swear words related to taboo or religion or oath (14 data) and it has four functions; expletive, abusive, humorous, and auxiliary.

The main purpose of swearing is to express emotions, especially anger and frustration. Swear words are well suited to express emotion as their pri- mary meanings are connotative. The emotional impact of swearing depends on one's experience with a culture and its language conventions.

profanity, language that is considered socially offensive due to being vulgar, obscene, or irreverent. The term profanity is often used in a religious sense to refer to language that is blasphemous, sacrilegious, or sometimes merely secular.

The designation "four-letter" arises from the observation that many (though not all) popular or slang terms related to excretory functions, sexual activity, genitalia, blasphemies, and terms linked to Hell or damnation are incidentally four-character monosyllables.

To be perfectly clear, the Bible never uses anything equivalent to the s-word, the f-word, or any other such word. As we can clearly see from the entry, the word skubalon, like most words, has a semantic range and not a fixed definition, and certainly not a fixed inherent vulgarity.

F*ck. This American English swear word is the most used and the most common one. Besides in the USA, it's widely used in every country, English-speaking one or not. Literally, it means 'the act of sexual intercourse,' but globally, it's used to express anger and disgust, sometimes surprise, and even amazement.

The point the Bible makes is that the words you use aren't the problem. Words are neutral. The way you use words dictates if they become good or bad. The point is swearing is not a sin because of the word itself.

Swearing and cursing are often used interchangeably, but there's a subtle difference in their origins. A curse implies damning or punishing someone, while a swear word suggests blasphemy — invoking a deity to empower your words.

We will often use swear words "to vent some emotion", she says. "If you're angry or particularly happy, swearing is a catharsis. Swearing also centres on taboos. Around the world swear words will tend to cluster around certain topics: lavatorial matters, sex, religion."

What type of behavior is swearing? ›

Negative interpersonal functions. Swearing is conventionally associated with the expression/release of negative emotions, such as anger and frustration; and as discussed in Section 2.2, a range of research studies also identify this function as a primary motivation for swearing.

Most of the time, swearing is an emotive reaction. When we're frustrated, surprised or angry, cursing offers an emotional release. Experiments have even shown that swearing increases the body's ability to endure pain.

Cursing and swearing in the Bible aren't just about using offensive language. Cursing involves calling down harm or evil, while swearing often refers to making solemn promises or oaths. Blasphemy is a whole different level, as it shows disrespect or irreverence towards God, making it a very serious offense.

Updated on March 09, 2020. A swear word is a word or phrase that's generally considered blasphemous, obscene, vulgar, or otherwise offensive. These are also called bad words, obscenities, expletives, dirty words, profanities, and four-letter words. The act of using a swear word is known as swearing or cursing.

Stupid, idiot, bottom-feeder barnacle-head, barnacles, kill, fish paste, tartar sauce, shrimp, dumb, moron and punk are frequently used. Darn, heck, ass, nipples, dang, crummy, crud, damn and butt are infrequently used. In later seasons, the word chum becomes a euphemism for the "s" word.

One alternative is to employ cursing-soundalike words. In place of the f-bomb you might use freaking or, if you were a Battlestar Galactica fan, fracking. Other G-rated epithets include kiss my grits, son-of-a-mother, Judas Priest, what the Sam Hill, and shut the front door.

According to maths, the ultimate swearword is 'banger' – or 'ber' for short.