Curse Words on TV (regular, suspect, high school, world)

[James420]

Since the Soprano's was on HBO the word pu$$y has been used on radio and regular tv, same for a$$hole and d!ck. I don't use curse words in front of my kids except for $h!t. Isn't $h!t less offensive than those other words?

[melinuxfool]

Originally Posted by James420

Since the Soprano's was on HBO the word pu$$y has been used on radio and regular tv, same for a$$hole and d!ck. I don't use curse words in front of my kids except for $h!t. Isn't $h!t less offensive than those other words?

Any of those words are only offensive to those who choose to be offended by them. You can also choose not to be offended by them, and then to you, they are not offensive.

Really, curse words in English are rather arbitrary.

What I want to know is who it was that decided these words were any worse than their alternatives. Is it really worse to say "*****" than it is to say "feces," "dung," or "poop"? They all have the same meaning, but only one is used as an exclamation and considered profane.

[getmeoutofhere]

Then don't watch those shows.

[James420]

Originally Posted by getmeoutofhere

Then don't watch those shows.

I'm impossible to offend, remember sticks and stones but I recently found out plural's can be deleted even in their purest form.

[Orincarnia]

Originally Posted by melinuxfool

Any of those words are only offensive to those who choose to be offended by them. You can also choose not to be offended by them, and then to you, they are not offensive.

Really, curse words in English are rather arbitrary.

What I want to know is who it was that decided these words were any worse than their alternatives. Is it really worse to say "*****" than it is to say "feces," "dung," or "poop"? They all have the same meaning, but only one is used as an exclamation and considered profane.

the origin of the profane word is "Ship High In Transit" so i don't find it profane, sailors used it on ships, so someones mom probably said "thats sailor talk so it HAS to be bad!

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by Orincarnia

the origin of the profane word is "Ship High In Transit" so i don't find it profane, sailors used it on ships, so someones mom probably said "thats sailor talk so it HAS to be bad!

That would be a negative.

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/****.asp (broken link)

It entered the language as a term for poop, and still is today.


Edit - thanks C-D for deciding to edit that link for me! You have to replace the stars with the word.

[MasterOfPuppets]

Words themselves are not offensive, but rather the stigma associated with them.

4-letter words don't corrupt kids, bad parenting does.

The FCC needs to quit regulating morality.

[Zimbochick]

Depends on where you live too as to whether or not words are offensive. My 9 year-old got a partial suspension at school for saying "We lost our football game, our team sucked".

[roysoldboy]

Originally Posted by getmeoutofhere

Then don't watch those shows.

I don't and the discussion here is the very reason I don't.

[Fred314X]

If you thought "The Sopranos" was bad, you probably never tuned in to "Deadwood." The writers insisted that their scripts were accurate portrayals of the way people actually spoke in Deadwood during the 1870s. But you can't convince me that anyone, anywhere in the world at any time, used even half as many four-letter words as the characters on that show. (I suspect the script writers were some guys who never quite got past high school, mentally. They just wanted to see how many expletives they could pack into a one-hour time frame. A very poor demonstration of "freedom of expression," by the way).