Is profanity a Northern European phenomenon? I would find that hard to believe. When a Chinese hammer-wielder smashes hi/r thumb, does s/he make a reference to (a) excratory function, (b) sex, or © religious blasphemy?
Whether Asians used profanity in antiquity or not I can’t say.
However, I know several terms in chinese which are at least impolite (taught to me by a fellow grad student), and I got big laughs when I was in Taiwan and explained to my hosts that I knew three phrases in chinese: “shi shi” (thank you), “wom ba don” (I was told this meant “turtle egg”, and somehow implied illegitimacy), and “go pee” (“dog gas”… roughly, BS).
Excuse the spelling, I’ve written them the way they sound to me like they should be spelled.
It’s possible that this is a western influence, but I think if that were true they’d translate more literally.
Slang terms for disabilities are also taboo. You don’t say certain words like cripple, mutant, lunatic, midget and moron when speaking politely and seriously.
I used to work with children with sepecial needs. We had a long running debate over which term was proper: mentally hadicapped, mentally challenged, developmentally disabled, or plain old mentally retarded. Our policy handbook contained all of these terms. We never did decide.