“Words are just sounds until we give them meaning.”
As a child, we were taught to stray away from “foul” language because it was rude or it didn’t represent good behavior. On one side, its true, but on the other it’s not. When children cuss they don’t know what they’re saying, they’re just throwing around empty words that they learned from a bad environment. Does that make the children bad?
Intention Changes Words:
If you’ve ever uttered the words, “Yeah, right.” then you already know that your sarcastic intention did not match with the definition of your words. Now let’s carry this on to curse words. How does curse words relate to this idea?
In a PSA like video,
released on YouTube by famous YouTubers JustKiddingFilms, they comedically address their opinion on using bad words in everyday life. (Warning: Explicit Language). As shown in the video, Bart and Joe act out a skit portraying what it would look and sound like if we didn’t use the words that we were “meant” to use in certain situations, e.g., using cow manure in the same context as if you were to use “b******t”. JustKiddingFilms have been known to tackle social, contemporary and cultural issues by drawing in audiences with their comedic and entertaining commentary.
For the longest time, I was restricted from responding with words and phrases such as: “What?”, “What the heck?”, or “Stupid.” I thought it was stupid. It bothered me because, despite the fact that these words are extremely low tier “bad words”, I never used it to negatively affect anybody. If my parents were to say something to me and I would respond, “What?” (because I didn’t hear) I would get punished for being rude to them. It was dumb, because I used “what” as a word to acknowledge the fact that I didn’t hear them, not as a word to offend them. The same goes with my other “restricted” words like “What the heck?” and “Stupid.” The only times I’d ever use them is as a reaction to something that happened. For example, Derrick Rose has just been injured for the third time in three seasons… What the heck?! Now imagine using today’s strong verbal language in the same context as I’ve used these “low tier bad words” and you’ll see that they give off the same effect. It’s not until you use the words with bad intentions is when the words become, well…bad.
It’s not the words that are bad, it’s the bad intention associated with the word that makes it bad.
The Typical Parable 