• CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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    2 days ago

    I sometimes find it interesting to contemplate how best to treat swear words. One the one hand, the thing that seems most obvious to me is to just say “theyre just words to express frustration or anger at something. Those are real and valid emotions, and its silly to treat expletives like theyre morally wrong to say somehow, or like its a bad thing if children learn them, etc.” On the other hand, part of the appeal to using them is that they feel at least a bit taboo, allowing a sentiment like “I feel so upset with this situation that I’m going to break this social rule to show it”. If theres no taboo at all, which you get when they’re used all the time and entirely casually, they no longer serve that purpose very well and people start looking for new things that feel a little bit transgressive to say. Which paradoxically implies that there isnt a point in saying them unless youre not “allowed” to say them, except they cant be too offensive to say either or they’ll feel disproportionate and rude.