Swears

I won't lie to you.

I don't believe in swear/curse words. In this manner (amongst others) I'm a (George) Carlinite. Words are words. We, as human beings, give them their meanings, both denotation and connotation. This is why we have so many different languages, and even more dialects within those languages. Our brains have associated sounds with meanings.

And somewhere along the line, someone or a group of someones said "don't say those words. Those are bad words." I thought words could never hurt me? I mean, that's what we were always taught to say/think as kids, right? Stick and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. So how can there possibly be a bad word?

There can't. It's an antiquated bunch of crap. Excuse me, shit. There's nothing wrong with the word shit. People only think there is because they've been conditioned to feel so. Look at how other words have gotten desensitized over the years. Mark my words, many more will follow, because words are only words. We are the ones who give them meaning. Without us declaring them good or bad, they are merely a grouping of sounds. Phonemes arranged in a manner in which our brain interprets as communication.

Here's another thing: you know how sometimes using such words is considered "vulgar"? You know the dichotomy of that word? You should check it out. I'll give you the condensed version: Vulgar meant peasant or commoner. After the Norman Invasion when Norman French were the nobility in England, French was the language of nobility. To be vulgar was to speak English. Like a commoner. You can see how it evolved in to speaking swear words in this day and age, but remember why exactly it was thought of as bad: a way to separate the upper crust from the lower.

I don't believe in swear words. I believe in words. Words can never hurt me. Only if I let them. I refuse to let words hurt me. I command the word, the word does not command me. Don't let it command you, either.