# Tell me everything you know about vulgar words **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 25, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990 "2004-09-25T02:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/1 "2004-09-25T02:44:28Z")
I’m doing an essay on the nature of vulgarity in language, and am writing about my observations on how some curse words drop out of our languages, becomes less offensive as they’re obsorbed and exploited by rap music and other entertainmnet, it’s effect on people, and how our nation’s vulgarity compares to the vulagarity of other nation’s. So I’m interested in every curse word you know of, it’s history, it’s orgins, how it’s stood the test of time, the risk a person takes in using it, and anything you can think of. If you feel like cursing me out in the process, have fun. That will help me and make you feel better, so go wild 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/2 "2004-09-25T02:56:45Z")
What the blazes is this doing in the Pit? ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/3 "2004-09-25T02:57:50Z")
Hmm Asking for help with homework Soliciting the posting of various and sundry curse words Inviting posters to call you said various and sundry curse words. I wonder if the OP will end up [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267111&page=3) ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/4 "2004-09-25T02:59:37Z")
Okay, just for the fun of it, here’s a list of all the “dirty” words expurgated from the Scrabble dictionary when some old lady got upset at them: [http://www.scrabblejunction.org/Lists/deleted.txt](http://www.scrabblejunction.org/Lists/deleted.txt) I doubt that even the most profane among us could define all of them. Nitchie? Abo? Shkotzim? Boche? ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/5 "2004-09-25T02:59:42Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > What the blazes is this doing in the Pit? The OP is asking for curses and vulgarity, this is the place. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/6 "2004-09-25T03:02:56Z")
“Poopyhead” has lost a lot of punch over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/7 "2004-09-25T03:06:03Z")
> [@Opus1](#): > > I doubt that even the most profane among us could define all of them. Nitchie? Abo? Shkotzim? Boche? “Boche” is an WWI-era anti-German slur. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/8 "2004-09-25T03:11:02Z")
Agreed. And I am asking for help with homework, but it’s a topic that interests me. The assigment was to write an expository essay on anything you wanted to, and this was something I’ve had on my mind for a while. Why are there curses in some cultures that are so offensive as to instigate other to killing you, but not in others? Do other people respect their curses more? This topic would have been created sooner or later regardless of my homework assignments. This is a place for fighting ignorance, so I felt it was a valid topic. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/9 "2004-09-25T03:13:38Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > Hmm > > Soliciting the posting of various and sundry curse words > Inviting posters to call you said various and sundry curse words. > > I wonder if the OP will end up [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267111&page=3) Also, I’m asking for curse words so I can learn about them, I’m not trolling. The bit about wanting people to call me names was a joke. I’m not trying to make anyone angry here, so I don’t _think_ I’m breaking any rules. ---
**Author:** ![PussyCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/10 "2004-09-25T03:35:48Z")
A friend of mone who has/had been living in Germany for a few years told me that in Germany calling someone a “silly goose” is a terrible insult. I don’t know why. But calling a woman a female dog is pretty insulting in English, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/11 "2004-09-25T04:42:44Z")
> [@Opus1](#): > > I doubt that even the most profane among us could define all of them. Nitchie? Abo? Shkotzim? Boche? Just in the interests of fighting ignorance abo is a contraction of Aborigine. Not originally offenisive but it is now. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/12 "2004-09-25T04:53:45Z")
If you have the time, I highly recommend that you read Richard Dooling’s [Blue Streak: Swearing, Free Speech, and Sexual Harassment](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679444718/qid=1096087918/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3639394-3130503?v=glance&s=books). If you don’t have the time, read it anyway: it’s pretty interesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-everything-you-know-about-vulgar-words/265990/13 "2004-09-25T04:56:19Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > I’m doing an essay on the nature of vulgarity in language, and am writing about **my observations** on how some curse words drop out of our languages, becomes less offensive as they’re obsorbed and exploited by rap music and other entertainmnet, it’s effect on people, and how our nation’s vulgarity compares to the vulagarity of other nation’s. \*\*So I’m interested in every curse word you know of, it’s history, it’s orgins, how it’s stood the test of time, the risk a person takes in using it, and anything you can think of. \*\* _(bolding added for emphasis–Veb)_ The Pit is the logical place to put something about technicolor cussing, **JoeSki** , so no problem there. I’ve mulled over this thread for a bit but I think it falls on the wrong side of doing your homework. While it might be useful to get feedback from other people, your essay is about _your_ impressions. The rest of it–history, origins, changes over time, etc.–is standard research you should be doing yourself. No harm and no foul on this one because it is a bit of an interpretation issue. FWIW, it’s a good idea to run this kind of idea past a mod beforehand. Locked. TVeblen Pit mod