Why do we swear?<\/p>\n
It is often an expression of frustration, anger, rage, and helplessness. Very rarely, it is also a by-product of various neurological disorders caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls aggression (like Tourette\u2019s syndrome<\/a>), in which some sufferers either shout obscenities or communicate them via sign language.<\/p>\n Most of us, however, use swear words quite voluntarily, although women are generally discouraged from doing so \u00a0because of cultural taboos regulating \u00a0speech and expressions of anger.<\/p>\n We all have our favourite swear words, which we use either in our minds (if we are being well-behaved), or mutter under our breath when we simply can\u2019t keep it in, or shout out loud \u2013 for ***\u2019s sake get your s**t together!<\/p>\n A basic analysis of the most powerful swear words reveals that the vast majority are somehow related to sex (as in the act) or sexuality.<\/p>\n Melissa Mohr<\/a> who has specialised in Medieval and Renaissance Literature and is the author of Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing<\/a><\/em>, writes that the word \u2018fuck\u2019 first appeared in the 16th century, according to a manuscript of the Latin orator Cicero. An anonymous monk was apparently reading through the monastery copy of De Officiis<\/em> (a guide to moral conduct) when he felt compelled to express his anger at his abbot. \u201cO d fuckin Abbot<\/a>,\u201d he scrawled in the margin of the text.<\/p>\n At the time this was simply considered to be a more direct way of describing sexual intercourse, and it became a profanity only 300 years later. Perhaps it was around this same time, the time of Victorian morality, that people began to think of the sexual act itself as profane?<\/p>\n Be that as it may, language and swear words too, change with the times. What may have been a cuss word then, is no longer a cuss word now. In this hilarious video below, Osho Rajneesh, who created a worldwide stir with his direct approach towards sexuality and sexual activities, elaborates on the versatility of the word \u2018fuck\u2019and how commonly and in how many ways it is used.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/x2uu4p5<\/a><\/p>\n But many of the other swear words that are considered to be really offensive are somehow directed at shaming women and, by association, their sexuality and even their bodily functions and body parts as we will see.<\/p>\n Even when a man is called a \u2018son of a bitch\u2019 \u2013 he is actually just a son, but it is his mother who is a \u2018bitch\u2019. A \u2018bastard\u2019 is someone born to unmarried parents, someone who is consequently considered \u2018illegitimate\u2019. Obviously the \u2018bastard\u2019 has a mother. But she had sex with someone who is not willing to acknowledge his child, which is why the child is called a bastard. Conversely, children without mothers are called orphans, not bastards. Therefore, the use of the word \u2018bastard\u2019 and not \u2018orphan\u2019 as an insult takes on a distinctly sexist undertone. \u2018Motherfucker\u2019 is meant to be a slur directed at a man because he is accused of having sex with his mother. Though there is no prevalence of the term in English, \u2018sister fucker\u2019 is a commonly used slur in various Indian regional languages, and is also targeted at men.<\/p>\n The same slurs hardly apply to women. A woman\u2019s sexuality is maligned through insults that all come under the convenient umbrella of \u2018slut\u2019 or \u2018whore\u2019. Someone who enjoys or has plenty of sex is labelled a slut. But a man who has a lot of sex is usually seen (by other men) as someone to admire. The selling of sex being seen as inherently evil, \u2018whore\u2019, \u2018slut\u2019 and \u2018prostitute\u2019 become \u2018bad\u2019 words. In the typical way of double-standards, there is no equivalent word for men who seek to buy sex. A man who controls the sex worker\u2019s business and sets up clients for them is a \u2018pimp\u2019. Pimp has somehow become a neutral word, and to \u2018pimp up\u2019 also means \u2018to improve\u2019 or \u2018spice something up\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n Everyone has heard the term nymphomania<\/a>. It is defined as \u2018uncontollable or excessive sexual desire in a woman\u2019. Isn\u2019t it a clear sign of sexism and the shaming of women for their sexual appetite, that hardly anyone knows the equivalent word for men \u2013 satyriasis<\/a>? These words were once used to describe the condition of \u2018hypersexuality\u2019 in women and men respectively, but are no longer used by the medical community because who is to say what is \u2018excessive\u2019 or \u2018uncontrollable\u2019 sexual desire in any person? Why, then, are women who exhibit sexual desire still being referred to as \u2018nymphos\u2019?<\/p>\n Another common swear word is \u2018bitch\u2019, the word association being that of a female dog in heat who has sex with any dog available at that time. This word is not usually used in a sexually derogatory way, but it is very often used to shame women who share their opinions openly.<\/p>\n