\nA swear<\/strong> (n<\/em>): An abusive or violent word.<\/p>\n
Synonyms for the verb “to swear”: to curse, to cuss
\nSynonyms for the noun “swear”: lewd speech, bad language, bad words, curse words, a cuss, profanity, foul speech, dirty words, four-letter words, filthy words, off color language, expletives…<\/p>\n
Swear words in general are not a new phenomena. \u00a0They have been part of language for as long as there has been language. \u00a0There is a written history of swear words going back through the ages, and I’m sure they existed before they were even written down. \u00a0The history of swearing in English (and in general) is eloquently discussed in a New York Times article by Natalie Angier entitled “Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore<\/em>” from the year 2005. \u00a0Here is the link to the article, which I will warn you is not an easy read. \u00a0This article is not written for ESL reader and is filled with words that are both technical as well as uncommon. \u00a0This article is written at a college level native English-speaker level. \u00a0But I encourage you to give reading this article a try. \u00a0I have summarized it below for you too. \u00a0Also, in this article you will find a fun link to a Multimedia graphic entitled “Cursing Through the Ages” which shows how swearing in English has changed over time and information about famous people and their use of swear words. I have one last note about swearing in American culture before ending this post. \u00a0Americans highly value “freedom of speech.” \u00a0It is the first amendment to our United States Constitution, which is called The Bill of Rights. \u00a0The first Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Americans believe saying what one wants to say, including swear words, is a right. \u00a0The free use of swear words on television and radio in fact was addressed by the US Supreme Court in 1978 (and in more recent years as well) because some people felt television and radio stations were censoring their freedom of speech! \u00a0There is a famous comedian in the United States named George Carlin has a comedic performance called “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television<\/a>” that lists the swear words that television and radio considered to be too lewd to present to the public. \u00a0These are the words that television and radio stations cover or censor with a “bleep” sound when they are said out loud. \u00a0If you are interested in hearing these words you can search for this famous comedy routine on YouTube. \u00a0Or you can just read my post tomorrow when we look further at swear words in English.<\/p>\n P.S. Even though today is April first, April Fools Day in the United States, I’m not kidding we really will be talking about more swear words in English tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swearing, we all know how to do it in our native languages and we all want to know how to do it in the new languages we learn. \u00a0I can vividly remember when I first traveled abroad as an exchange student in my teens how excited I was to exchanged English swear words for…<\/p>\n
\nLink to article: http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2005\/09\/20\/science\/20curs.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all<\/a>
\nIn summary this article states that swearing is a human universal. \u00a0People in every culture and in all languages swear. \u00a0Swearing is often used as a response when a person feels attacked or as outburst of anger. \u00a0Research has shown people have a physical reaction to both saying and hearing swear words, these words have an impact on us, we pay attention to them. \u00a0Also research has found women swear less than men. \u00a0Lastly, researchers looking at swear words have discovered that swear words generally become taboo (or bad) because the words are connected to fears, fixations, or topics that are not usually spoken about.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2012\/03\/expletives.jpg\")