Is 'hell' considered to be a swear word? (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

I would also like to add that I find it incredibly offensive whenever someone "casually" takes the name of the Lord in vain, like with "Oh my God..." or "Jesus Christ!"

Actually a great many theologians don't think that this sort of (rather piddling) thing is what He was thinking of when He wrote the commandment. (I'm sure Noah hit his thumb with a hammer more than once, and whatever he said didn't keep him off the Ark. )
According to them burning people at the stake, wiping out whole villages, strapping explosives to yourself and killing a bus-load of tourists, slamming a packed jetliner into an office building - doing this stuff and saying you're doing it all in His name is probably more what He had in mind.
Just a thought.
Regards,
Joe

 

[Paul_D]

I think we're maybe getting a little too, urm, what's the word?..... religious in this thread. To steer it back in the appropriate direction...
Why is crap considered a swear word?

 

[Ike]

It's not. But the reason it has any negative aura about it, is because it is a substitute for shit.

 

[Bill Catherall]

This week's Watching Ellie had a really funny moment when Dr. Zimmerman's "girlfriend" got offended when Ellie said "crap." She got all upset so Ellie just kept saying it to make her mad. Later, she wanted Ellie to apologize for saying "the 'C word,'" to which Ellie responds "The 'C word?' You mean 'crap?' Oh that's not the 'C word.' The 'C word' is 'cu**.'" (Of course some background cymbals crashed to cover the word though.) The lady's face dropped. She then ran to the bathroom because she had to "go tinkle."
When I was a kid we weren't allowed to say "fart" in our house. We had to say "ploop." Today my kids (5 and 3) use "fart" all the time. I don't really object, but it is rather embarrassing when they not only fart in public, but loudly proclaim "Oops! I farted! Excuse me!"
To me "hell" isn't a really vulgar word, but I don't use it unless in a religious context. I just find that swearing, even mild profanity, is a sign of limited vocabulary and really lowers the perception of the speaker to those who hear it. I find that I have much more respect, perhaps on some subconscious level, for those who can find other words to use instead of typical "R rated fodder."

 

[Ike]

I just find that swearing, even mild profanity, is a sign of limited vocabulary and really lowers the perception of the speaker to those who hear it.

That's a broad generalization. It depends-if every word you throw in fuck or motherfucker, sure, it can make you look bad. But someone that can properly wield their profanity ( ) can use it to their advantage. And if you refuse to use the words, aren't you the one with the limited vocabulary?

 

[Mike Broadman]

'Pregnant' and 'orgasm' used to be considered swear words, too.

There are no such thing as "bad words." They are only sounds we make. There are bad choices, bad actions, but words are only what we make of them. A word is only "dirty" if the individual hearing them chooses to think so. One's life is much easier if he/she just lets things go. Life offers enough to be upset about without gasping in horror when someone says "shit." Not only is it a waste of energy, but it is arrogant.

So, yes, I may say, "Jesus f****** Christ!" when I hit my little toe against the table leg. Why? Because it hurts!

 

[Paul_D]

So, yes, I may say, "Jesus f****** Christ!" when I hit my little toe against the table leg. Why? Because it hurts!

I agree with your sentiments, though I'm not sure you've adequately explained why one would feel compelled to use expletives after hurting him/herself. Here's my stab at it: the use of so-called 'swear' words is associated with anger or at least with extreme views. When someone bangs a toe or catches a finger in a door, there is sudden rush of pain, and their brain tells them that the only way they can reasonably articulate the anger they feel in a slit second, is to shout out a word that associates the sensations they are feeling with anger and or pain.
How's that?

 

[Patrick Sun]

That word is: Owwwww...

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Women cry to keep from swearing; men swear to keep from crying.

Or such was the conventional wisdom back in the day before greater enlightenment led us to swearing unconcernedly in front of women and to sixteen year old waitresses freely using phrases that would have made a sailor blush twenty years aog.
Mark Twain swore a lot, and his wife objected. One day, to show him just how offensive his habit was, his wife rattled off every swear word or term she could think of, one after another. When she finished, Twain smiled and said, "My dear, you have the words, but you don't have the music."
Regards,
Joe

 

[Jenna]

It's just a word like any other.

...until your 8 year old first utters it when he stubs his toe or misses a fly ball.
THEN it's only a matter of time till he says the F-word in front of you, then there's no going back.
Next thing you know, he's a member of the HTF named Joe or Ike

 

[Ike]

Next thing you know, he's a member of the HTF named Joe or Ike

I don't curse that much, do I?
I'm trying to broaden my cursing vocabulary by adding Birtish slang: bugger, bollocks, bloody, and pants (thanks Christou) are now in alongside their American counterparts.

 

[Johnny wilson]

Is hell considered a swear word? Fuck no!

 

[Bill Eberhardt]

One of my favorite come-backs, might have been from the X Files:

Go to hell! So, do you have a reservation?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

'Pregnant' and 'orgasm' used to be considered swear words, too.

These were considered words that you didn't use in front of the children, and in mixed company, but they were never considered "swear words". (I doubt anyone ever hit his thumb with a hammer and cried out "Oh, Pregnant!" or yelled "Orgasm you!" at a driver who just cut him off in traffic, for instance.)

Most words explicitly referring to sex were kept out of newspapers and movies (including "virgin", for a time), but adults used them every day in appropriate contexts, without anyone considering them swear words. I doubt any doctor got slapped across the face and accused of having a dirty mouth for telling a woman she was pregnant in the 30s, 40s or early 50s, when this kind of thing was prevelant.

(Until fairly recent times you couldn't say "ass", "penis" or "vagina" on television either, and none of these is a swear word, either.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Cees Alons]

And what about "Heavens, no!"? Or "Heaven knows!"?

Cees

 

[Ike]

Heavens is not a curse word in that context, Cees (or any context I've heard of).

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Joe de Martino wrote:

the word "Hell" entered the English language from Scandanvia, via the same Viking raiders/settlers who founded the city now known as York (Norse, Jarvik.) The Norse "Hel" was a place of snow, clouds, and bitter cold - not unlike the Scandanavian pennisula itself (in the winter, anyway).

I come late---and only incidentally---to this discussion, but a bit of linguistic correction is in order. Modern English hell is a native word evolved from O(ld)E(nglish) hell. The Old Norse Hel, which is related to the English, was not a place, but a mythological personage. She was the goddess who ruled the land of the dead, which was itself called Niflheim (the 'realm of mist'), and it was almost surely not conceived of as being located underground. Niflheim was conceived of as divided into parts, some of which were more severe than others, that were separated by seven rivers. (One place in particular was set aside for the eternal torment of persons who had committed "unspeakable" crimes in life, such as certain sex crimes and breaking oaths sworn to deities; somewhat like the Tartaros
section of the Greek mythological underworld.)
The historical root of hell and its Germanic cousins meant, first of all, 'to hide' or 'conceal' (and is related to Latin celare, from which we have borrowed the derivative conceal).
It's the Christian notions that came much later to the English word that made it taboo up until quite recently, even in America (presumably as much because it had formerly referred to a pagan mythological place as for its Christian mythological references).

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Cees Alons wrote:

Heavens is not a curse word in that context, Cees (or any context I've heard of).

Mr. Alons is on to something. "Heavens, no!" is directly parallel to "hell, no!", and both are "swearing" in the old, strictly religious sense of the word, when people took their religion seriously and made oaths by deities (or demons) directly or by the places those deities (or demons) were thought to reside.

By "hell, no!" one would then be swearing by the powers that were thought to dwell there. Likewise, with "heavens, no!"

"Swearing" and "cursing" are not necessarily the same thing, although to modern people for whom religion is at best secondary the confounding of the two may lead to a breakdown in the distinction.

How many contemporary English-speakers sense the nonsecular origin of the (all too) common vulgarism "Fuck you!" ??? Not many.