# Why do Americans have such a major issue with swear-words? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707 "2010-04-20T02:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/21 "2010-04-20T06:50:40Z")
When the United States was first settled by the English, it was settled by Puritans. When Australia was first settled by the English, it was largely peopled by criminals of various sorts. Why? Because America lost the coin toss. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/22 "2010-04-20T06:57:15Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > You forgot the big one: Why are non-Americans obsessed with how they’re different from Americans? Because Americans like things about them? If I’d posted an OP entitled “Why do Australians swear a lot?” There’d be a dozen responses from the Antipodean Contingent, of which four would be serious and the remainders would be joke answers or wisecracks about pollies and the thread would sink in fairly short order. Secondly, probably because most of the posters on the board are American and do rather seem to treat foreign nationalities like an exotic species or aliens from outer space. I mean, someone in one of the “Ask The Australian” threads at the moment is genuinely asking if Australia celebrates Easter at a different time of year to America. And thirdly, I’m trying generate some non-political debates in GD, which I realise is probably a pointless exercise, but at least I can say I’ve tried. > [@FinnAgain](#): > > When the United States was first settled by the English, it was settled by Puritans. > When Australia was first settled by the English, it was largely peopled by criminals of various sorts. > > Why? > Because America lost the coin toss. :dubious: I know you’re just trying to crack a joke, but Australia was largely peopled by Aborigines. And Australia was settled by convicts because they couldn’t be sent to the US anymore as a result of that War Of Independence thing. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/23 "2010-04-20T07:00:55Z")
[Transative verb: first meaning, not second.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/people) ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/24 "2010-04-20T08:00:44Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > My point is- taking the nit-picking out of the equation- it certainly appears to me that people react more negatively to swear words in the US than they do elsewhere like the UK or Aust/NZ. > > Take how many posters here on the boards (for example), when typing a swear-word, will asterisk or blank part of it out, despite the fact swear-words (with one notable exception) are permitted on the boards. It might just be how you perceive it or the social circles you encounter on the net based on your interests or chance. I personally don’t ever hyphonate c-word or f-word or n-word, or @#$! or F@#k; if there is a legitimate reason to use the term or the conversation is casual enough online I’ll spell it out. In my personal life, if the formality or professionalism of the situation restricts or forbids the use of bad language, I’ll restrict or not use it. In less formal situations I can go all the way from occasional usage to swearing like a drunken sailor. The first Kiwi I worked with here in the States had to explain all the self depreciating sheep shagging humor to me, I wasn’t aware that NZ also had a ‘where the men are men and the sheep are scared’ motif. It was a professional work environment, but we were both laid back and of about the same age and swore about the same amount when things were casual. I don’t recall him ever using the word cunt, but he had been in the states for a few years and been with a few girlfriends as well, so I’m sure he had caught on to its very different meaning in American culture. I’ve had female friends expatriate from the US to the UK. I’d never have used the word cunt in front of them while they were in the US – or well used the word period unless it was intended to convey extreme hatred. Since they’ve been in the UK it’s just a slang swear word to them devoid of sexist connotations, whereas I’d never have called them a cunt in the States much less used the word in their presence unless talking about a female we both utterly despised – and even then I really wouldn’t have, it has an extremely misogynistic tone to it in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/25 "2010-04-20T08:04:52Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > ..in the UK and Australia (and NZ, to a slightly lesser extent) it’s not the Hydrogen Bomb of Swear Words. Again, it’s not a word you’d be advised to use incautiously around your grandparents, but calling your friends a “cunt” is (depending on context) usually meant in a jocular, friendly manner. In most cases, it’s harmless or only conveys a sense of mild annoyance even when applied to strangers (“Some cunt on a bike is holding up traffic all along the road”, for example). Not sure where you live, or the circles in which you move, but the above has very much _not_ been my experience of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/26 "2010-04-20T08:07:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Not sure where you live, or the circles in which you move, but the above has very much _not_ been my experience of the UK. I’m in Australia, and it’s definitely been my experience of many “Working class” Australians and also British expats. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/27 "2010-04-20T08:23:44Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I’m in Australia, and it’s definitely been my experience of many “Working class” Australians and also British expats. I’m in the midlands and it’s pretty much the same here too. The funny thing is that cunt in my experience is always an insult directed at a man, seemingly unlike the US. I always wondered why a term for female genitals was an insult anyway, since most heterosexual males spend much of their time trying to get back into one. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/28 "2010-04-20T09:02:15Z")
For what it’s worth when I visited Australia recently I distinctly noticed the swearing, I think as I’ve been living in the Philippines where it’s the swearing is fairly tame (or all done language I don’t understand). But there was plenty I noticed in Australia, swearing, nudity in billboards, and a fair bit of casual racism, etc that wouldn’t fly in the UK and certainly not in the US. Can’t offer any reason why aside from the fact the cultures evolved differently. Of course it depends where you are and who you’re talking to – I certainly wasn’t milling around at the higher end of society when I was there. SD ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/29 "2010-04-20T14:23:53Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I’m not really sure the premise is entirely correct. Every society has some words that are considered very profane. It’s just that they are different in every society. I don’t know how bad the word “bloody” is considered in the UK nowadays, but in the U.S. it’s completely innocuous. I disagree with you and think the OP’s observation regarding the USA is quite accurate. It’s been my experience, having grown up in the US and lived in Ireland for over 4 years now, that relatively speaking, American society does have more hang-ups about casual swearing than other Anglophone societies. I’ve noticed this phenomenon while at work. My first few weeks here on the job, I was somewhat taken aback by the casual swearing I encountered, especially the f-bomb. _“Can you take a look at this laptop and tell me if it’s fucked?”_ Mind you, this was not just from the mouths of the young or the relatively poor, from whom it might be more expected; until a few months ago, I was working in Kinsale, a wealthy seaside resort town, and many/most of our clients were well-off and middle-aged or older. I’ve also noticed this phenomenon at home, watching TV. I get Sky satellite TV, which means I watch UK broadcasts. Before I moved here, I watched quite a bit of Comedy Central in the US; I continue to watch it over here, though the UK variant of Comedy Central has _very_ different programming guidelines and restrictions. For example, here’s three shows currently on air: [Badly Dubbed Porn](http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/shows/badly-dubbed-porn): _“Prepare to be aroused, amused and appalled as Badly Dubbed Porn takes excerpts from some of the adult industry’s more ropey films and redubs the dialogue to liven things up a bit!”_ [Comedy Blue](http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/shows/comedy-blue): _“One of the best things about stand up in a club is that comics can pretty much say anything they like. And one of the worst things about stand up on telly is how much comics are edited. Well not anymore!.. Host Jason Byrne calls it “the filthiest show on television” so expect bad language, controversial issues and tons of laughter as some of the world’s best comedians let loose on everything from orgies to childhood obesity.”_ [Eurotrash](http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/shows/eurotrash): _“The show pays tribute to all those who live on the fringes of polite society, with typical guests including a female vibrator tester, the Japanese yodeller and the pubic hairdresser.”_ (In addition to swearing, full frontal male & female nudity is also present in two of these shows.) Mind you - this is the rough equivalent of extended cable in the US, so comparisons to HBO or Showtime are not valid. If I had to hazard a guess as to _why_ the US is more uptight in this regard, I’d have to point to the disproprtionately powerful role that conservative Christian groups play in the US in regards to setting cultural norms. There are _some_ exceptions to this general pattern, however, such as: > [@xtisme](#): > > Hell, I can remember being a hair (a red cunt hair, obviously) away from being mobbed once when I called a guy from up north a ‘Brit’, which he took to be an incredibly insulting ‘swear-word’. 😉 You wouldn’t want to be casually throwing around the “B-word” (or even worse, the “E-word”, for the hated English) in County Cork in mixed company, either, boyo! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/30 "2010-04-20T15:33:37Z")
You haven’t contradicted me. You’ve just noticed what I’ve said: Words that Americans find profane are not so bad in Ireland. I’ll bet there are words that you don’t hear in Ireland that Americans are not bothered by. You just haven’t noticed their absence from normal conversation in Ireland. I’m more familiar with the situation in Quebec, where “merde” ('shit") is almost completely ordinary but certain religious words like “tabernacle” (same in English) are very profane. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/31 "2010-04-20T15:55:28Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Does British or Aussie television have a lot of swearing? I certainly haven’t noticed the CBC being chalk full of expletives. Funny you should say that. I was traveling in Canada last summer, and heard a CBC radio program, “Afghanada,” which had some surprisingly coarse dialogue. I didn’t realize you could say “nutsack” on Canadian radio, or, frankly that Canadians used that term. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/32 "2010-04-20T16:13:52Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > It might just be how you perceive it or the social circles you encounter on the net based on your interests or chance. No matter what country you’re in, people tend to swear, or to consider swearing to be no big deal, when they’re around other people who swear or who consider swearing to be no big deal. But it’s difficult for you (or any individual) to compare attitudes in one country to those in another, since your impressions are made up of different kinds of data. Your experiences of your home country include friends hanging around together, small and large groups of people meeting in real life—that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/33 "2010-04-20T16:20:07Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Because Americans like things about them? > > … Secondly, probably because most of the posters on the board are American and do rather seem to treat foreign nationalities like an exotic species or aliens from outer space. I mean, someone in one of the “Ask The Australian” threads at the moment is genuinely asking if Australia celebrates Easter at a different time of year to America. > . Quite right. And I do agree that Americans seem to be rather more sensitive about swear words than UK, Ireland, Aussies ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/34 "2010-04-20T19:53:03Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I’m more familiar with the situation in Quebec, where “merde” ('shit") is almost completely ordinary but certain religious words like “tabernacle” (same in English) are very profane. Could you expand on this? I’m almost pathetically entertained at the thought of someone stepping into a room in Quebec, shouting ‘Tabernacle!,’ and setting off a wave of involuntary gasps. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/35 "2010-04-20T20:05:56Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > Could you expand on this? I’m almost pathetically entertained at the thought of someone stepping into a room in Quebec, shouting ‘Tabernacle!,’ and setting off a wave of involuntary gasps. This Wikipedia article is not written very well but gets the gist of it: > **[Quebec French profanity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity)** > > Quebec French profanities, known as sacres (singular: sacre; from the verb sacrer, "to consecrate"), are words and expressions related to Catholicism and its liturgy that are used as strong profanities in Quebec French (the main variety of Canadian French), Acadian French (spoken in Maritime Provinces, east of Quebec, and parts of Aroostook County, Maine, in the United States), and traditionally French-speaking areas across Canada. Sacres are considered stronger in Québec than the sexual and s ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/36 "2010-04-20T20:22:07Z")
> [@Ispolkom](#): > > Funny you should say that. I was traveling in Canada last summer, and heard a CBC radio program, “Afghanada,” which had some surprisingly coarse dialogue. I didn’t realize you could say “nutsack” on Canadian radio, or, frankly that Canadians used that term. Most Canadians call it a ‘chesterfield.’ ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/37 "2010-04-20T21:24:58Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > Could you expand on this? I’m almost pathetically entertained at the thought of someone stepping into a room in Quebec, shouting ‘Tabernacle!,’ and setting off a wave of involuntary gasps. Well, you don’t use those words in polite company, but with the guys at the bar they’re acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/38 "2010-04-20T21:36:40Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > You haven’t contradicted me. You’ve just noticed what I’ve said: Words that Americans find profane are not so bad in Ireland. I’ll bet there are words that you don’t hear in Ireland that Americans are not bothered by. You just haven’t noticed their absence from normal conversation in Ireland. Mmm… not really. The _same things_ tend to be offensive in both countries (and the UK, and others) - it’s just that there really is a different level of social sensitivity between the two countries. For example, the word “fuck” (and its derivatives) is considered vulgar and offensive in both the US and Ireland, as is the word “shit”, though to a lesser degree in both places. It’s not as if the captain on your Aer Lingus flight from Chicago comes on the PA system and goes: _“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be landing in Dublin in 20 minutes. Local conditions are shit today, 3 degrees Celsius with heavy rain and winds gusting to 30 km/h from the south-southwest. For those of you transferring on to other flights today, we hope your plans aren’t fucked by our delayed arrival. Thank you for flying Aer Lingus!”_ Another indicator that swearing (and in related fashion, public nudity) aren’t as big a deal over here and in the UK is that, prior to 9PM, television is in fact heavily censored for content, although after 9PM, the _same channels_ will show uncensored content, such as the programs I linked to in my last post. It’s not that certain words and images aren’t considered vulgar or obscene - it’s that, at least when it comes to TV broadcasts, there is not nearly the same level of patronizing censorship as in US broadcasts of similar channels at similar times of day. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/39 "2010-04-20T23:18:56Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > This Wikipedia article is not written very well but gets the gist of it: > > [Quebec French profanity - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity) Thanks much, that’s fascinating! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707/40 "2010-04-20T23:35:28Z")
For a counter example “fanny.” This is so not an obscene word in the U.S. – it’s the word for “butt” a person would use if they thought “rear end” was a little strong. It is appropriate to be used by the smallest of children in polite company, should the topic of buttocks somehow arise! So, while American/British/Australian/Kiwi share some swear terms in common we do not share ALL the same terms and they aren’t a universal level of offensive with the US always thinking things are more obscene. Also, I remember when “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” came out, it highlighted that Americans don’t consider “shagged” to be in any way an offensive word. It just sounds British in a silly way, although it obviously means sex. Apparently they couldn’t even read out the full name of the movie on TV in the UK before 9am. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-have-such-a-major-issue-with-swear-words/536707.md?page=3)