Profanities vary from different time and cultures, and are used in different ways, but their meanings all come from what society is scared of and gross out by.
Swear words have been around almost since the beginning of language. Which makes sense, because people like to vent their emotions and/or insult the people they don’t get along with. It can be a replacement for physical violence and a way to express to others how angry you are about something. Swear words can even be used positively. Some studies suggest that it can help people bond. Swearing is, most of the time, offensive, so doing it is a sign of trust, since it shows that you’re comfortable to do not-always-acceptable-things around the person your swearing with.
There are different kinds of swear words, depending on how they’re used. Abusive swearing was invented to insult someone when they make you angry, like calling someone a dumba##. There’s also abusive emphatic swearing, they’re the kind of swear words you use to vent when you stub your toe or say to show how emotional you are. These include holy sh## and f###. Lastly, there are supernatural swears, profanities that’re related to religion and god. For example,
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For example, damn used to be the mother of swear words, but lost most of its power when people got less scared of ending up in hell. When hygiene was poor, words like leprous, proxy, and canker were taboo but became safe words to say when hygiene improved and sickness was less common. Swear words can lose power but gain too. For instance in the 16th and 17th century, the f-word was just a rude way of saying “sexual penetration.” But now it’s a word they censor on the news. Younger generations could even just get bored of old swears; teenagers in Quebec are starting to use english profanities like f### and b#### instead of the traditional swears. Who knows what new swear words would emerge in the