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I think the fact that you feel that way shows how much our culture has lost its taboos around its traditional curse words. I think maybe an easier example to c
by eigenspace 2y ago
I think the fact that you feel that way shows how much our culture has lost its taboos around its traditional curse words.
I think maybe an easier example to consider would to be to put 'fuck' and 'shit' aside (since its even harder to understand how these were ever really taboo), and instead consider the older more religiously inspired curses like 'damn it', 'blood the mary', etc.
These curses (in certain circles) were hugely taboo because in the worldview of the times, they were deeply harmful to use on a metaphysical / spiritual level. You were doing real harm in the world by exclaiming "damn it to hell!" or telling someone "go to hell!".
This is perhaps hard for us in our current culture where even even amongst people who claim to be religious, almost everyone would just view those as empty words, but I do think there's a real case to be made that our ancestors would have understood such curses in a very similar way to the way we understand and treat slurs today.
- SoftTalker 2y agoI do agree actually. And I guess that I'd say there are "swear" words (crude verbal punctuation) and "curse" words in the sense that you describe. I do know people who think "g-- damn it" is a far worse thing to say than 'fucking piece of shit' for example.
- jermaustin1 2y ago> I do know people who think "g-- damn it" is a far worse thing to say than 'fucking piece of shit' for example. That would be my mother. Hasn't been to church in decades, curses like a sailor, but will never take the lord's name in vain. Although, maybe with enough time, she will, it took her until she was 60 before she started saying 'fuck.'
- gjsman-1000 2y ago[flagged]
- zamadatix 2y agoI mean stuff like "Bud fucking dha" wouldn't exactly roll of the tongue but I get what you generally mean about e.g. Muslims still taking a much more strict view of blasphemy in current times. My understanding of Buddhism (which could be wrong) is it's more that blasphemy isn't an "extreme" type of thing to exclaim in the first place.
- kevin_thibedeau 2y agoI've witnessed an observant Muslim American using "Jesus!" as an emphatic. It permeates our culture.
- tmtvl 2y agoIt'd be 'Siddhartha fucking Buddha' if we're talking about the Buddha. There are other Buddhas whose moniker you could use (e.g. Amithaba), and Siddhartha Gautama had other monikers (Shakyamuni Buddha), so variations would be possible. As for the stance on blasphemy, I'm not certain but I expect it may differ between sects.
- heroprotagonist 2y ago[flagged]
- gjsman-1000 2y ago[flagged]
- heroprotagonist 2y ago[flagged]
- gjsman-1000 2y ago[flagged]
- aliasxneo 2y agoThe development of phrases like "g-- damn it" is interesting to me. I think its recent increase in use (especially in the media) and seemingly social acceptance is normal as cultures become increasingly secular. However, slurs against religious groups, especially certain monotheistic ones, seem even more taboo now than in the past. Perhaps a result of giving more power to identity in the current culture. To your point, I know groups who would find the slur less offensive than "g-- damn it."
- mjevans 2y agoA curiosity about GDI - what if the thing already sucks because 'god' has in fact damned it? That is, if someone believes it to be a statement of fact (spin on the phrase) rather than somehow compelling a mystical spirit to curse something.
- _bin_ 2y agoIt wasn’t considered to be transgressive in the same way. If you said something was damned by God, that was a serious statement but not particularly blasphemous. If you used something sacred casually to express displeasure or frustration, it is.
- kgwgk 2y agoIt’s interesting that the origin of “swearing” is also the blasphemy / vain oath sense.
- Zambyte 2y agoIs 'blood the mary' a typo? Did you mean to say 'bloody mary'?
- eigenspace 2y agoI meant to write "blood of the Mary"
- Zambyte 2y agoInteresting, I tried searching for it at the time but I couldn't find anything about it.
- amluto 2y ago[dead]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]