Talk:Profanity

Is there any chance that some of these words can be mentioned in the article? I know we need to be family-friendly, but it would be helpful for the article not to have to tiptoe around the words it attempts to discuss. If anything, placing words in historical and educational context tends to take the sting out of them. It is the refusal to mention them that gives the words their power in the first place.

For example, there is one word (four letters long, begins with a C, signifies a part of the female anatomy, generally regarded as highly offensive), which has been in use for centuries, though it was not always a swear-word. It appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with several different spellings but the same meaning, albeit in a manner not intended to shock, and survives as part of the name of a well-known London street. Its etymology is derived from a Latin root word, there are several other inoffensive words in the English language (and other languages) derived from the same root. Nonetheless, it is considered so offensive in modern times that it did not appear in a newspaper until as recently as 1988; compare this with the most famous four-letter word (the one beginning with F), which had appeared in print over a hundred years earlier.

I think that information like this is interesting and of good educational value. Are there any objections? Eoinc 17:01, 4 June 2008 (EDT)