Swearing

Swearing.
396ENL. Language and Society in Modern Britain.

To swear. Those words we are afraid to say when we are little but he hear every single second because of our parents, the television or the music. It is part of our culture so far.
But… what is swearing? When we google swearing one of the 3 top entries is the Wikipedia’s, but when we click on it, the website redirections us toprofanity.
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms. (Wikipedia. 2011)
In other words, swearing is when you show disrespect for someone or something. You canbe angry and swear; you can make fun about someone or something and swear (being rude or insulting them).
So we know what is swearing, but why do we swear? What are the things that activate our brain or make us swear?
Taboo words can be used for a variety of reasons, including to achieve a specific reaction from others. Swearing injects a direct, succinct emotional component into the discussion,usually in order to express frustration, anger or surprise (up to two-thirds of our swearing is for just such expressions). (Psych Central. 2011)
What we feel when we swear is a kind of catharsis, we feel free and we feel like the weight at our back has finally gone. It makes us feel better, but there is only one more thing, the kind of swear we use. Of course you are not going to use the samelanguage in front of your boss than in front of your friends. Also, is taboo, those are forbidden words and you feel like a ‘bad guy’ saying those words.
You will always feel more pressure talking of a funny situation with your boss or surrounded by workmates, so instead of saying f*ck you will say d*mn it.
But if you are surrounded by friends the story slightly changes, you can swear whateveryou want and you will feel as comfortable as them, because you know each other and you know which type of vocabulary you all use.
Also, with your family you will behave in a different way, because like with your boss, you have some respect for them, and they have taught you not to swear or say something not polite to someone.
But, what the people who listen to us swear feels?
Well, it certainlydepends, again, of the people we are surrounded by. If it’s our mother, she probably would say something as ‘watch your mouth, young lady’, but if it’s our friends, they probably are going to laugh about it.
The action of swearing has never been the same. Through the years, it has been a social and linguistic evolution because it has changed as the society changed.
But… which it’s theconnection between a social or linguistic change and swearing?
It certainly has its connection. In linguistic terms you will swear to emphasise what you are saying. I. e. The concert was f*cking amazing. Of course you can say the concert was amazing but if you add f*cking to the equation, the sentence, immediately, has more impact on the person who is listening.
So, your friend will think yeah, she hada great, great time because you swore. As we see in the example, you don’t always swear in a negative way, of course you can.
Also, in case you didn’t notice, f*ck is a word you can put much into everything. It has replaced d*mn it (f*ck it). I didn’t f*cking do it. I won’t f*cking say a word. And if we use that word a lot in the future is going to be a problem because it will lose its meaning.In societal terms swearing works as ‘identity markers’. Why is that?
When you have ten years old, you don’t swear because it is a taboo for you, you don’t want to parents to hear you because you know that swearing will have automatically a punishment, so instead of swearing you will use euphemisms.
It can also be an identity marker of your gender.
According to ‘difference’ theory, playing...