Society.

 

 

 

Preeety much this. ^

 

 

 

Society defines what's right and wrong, whether it's logical or not, and honestly I would swear quite a lot more than I do at the moment - simply because I find it a powerful way to express one's self - if society allowed it... they don't. (Ironically this is the entire reason that swearing is a powerful way to express yourself, as long as you don't do it ALL THE TIME like some stupid delinquent.) Of course people still do swear, and it's only really a swear because people expect a bad reaction. If people just shrugged and didn't really mind when you said swear words, there'd be no point to them.

To get back on topic, though some words DO derive from anti-religious words, blaming all swearing on the chruch is just flatout stupid.

 

 

 

I think that the statement earlier of "society", though a simple statement, really is correct. If the guy that I quoted had ended his post 1 sentence earlier I would have agreed entirely.

Dizzle check the link I posted. Lots of swear words can be traced back to old old words

 

Here in Quebec/Ottawa, they use words like these:

 

 

 

* baptême - "baptism"

 

* câlice (calice) - "chalice"

 

* calvaire - "Calvary"

 

* ciarge (cierge) - "votive or Paschal candle"

 

* ciboire - "ciborium" or "pyx", the receptacle in which the host is stored

 

* crisse (Christ) - "Christ"

 

* maudit - "damn"

 

* mozusse (Moïse)- "Moses"

 

* ostie (hostie) - "host"

 

* sacrament (sacrement) - "Sacrament"

 

* tabarnak (tabernacle) - "tabernacle"

 

* viarge (vierge) - "the Virgin Mary"

 

 

 

with a really funny accent to swear, it' usually considered stronger than excrement or sex-related swearwords. Like "god damn it!", but much stronger.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity

 

 

 

[Edit] I just read the whole article, it's pretty funny when you're from the area.