Bad words

[Baker, John]

        While, historically, profanity was more criticized than sexual terms, the practice seems to have been the reverse.  In printed works, at least, profanity was far more common than sexual terms, suggesting that the f-work and the c-word were subject to the most powerful taboos.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: Bethany K. Dumas [mailto:dumasb at UTKUX.UTCC.UTK.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 10:20 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Bad words


Which ones are "bad" vary
over time. For instance, several hundred years ago religious profanity was
probably most highly stigmatized. In more recent years sexual terms
(including body parts) have been highly stigmatized.