PROFANITY ESSAY

The F-word is considered obscene in social context. However; it is more common in formal and familiar situations. It is unclear if the F-word has always been considered vulgar, or when it first came to be used in unpleasant circumstances. It is usually accompanied by other words life “Mother Effer”. Andrea Millwood Hargrave’s 2000 study of the attitudes of the British public found that the F-word was considered the third most severe profanity and its derivative Mother Effer was second. The word Cunt was considered the most severe.1 As time goes on, The F-word has become less vulgar and almost more commonplace. However, Lawyer and linguist professor Pamela Hobbs, has stated “notwithstanding its increasing public use, enduring cultural models that inform our beliefs about the nature of sexuality and sexual acts preserve its status as a vile utterance that continues to inspire moral outrage”.2
It is said that the F-word depicts sexual intercourse about as much as a child saying “My moms’ going to kill me” depicts that the mom is actually going to murder them. Because of the increased use in public forums, journalists have been advised to not censor the word as much as they used to. In some shows like Hell’s Kitchen, where there is a lot of profanity, there is still a lot of censorship.
Another word that is not so commonplace is the word Kike. This word is usually associated with Jewish people. The term kike started being used when the Jewish people started immigrating to Ellis Island. When the Jewish were asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary “X”, the Jewish community refused because they associated the letter “X” with the cross of Christianity. Instead, they drew a circle or an “O” on the entry-forms. The Yiddish word for circle is Kikel, and for a little circle is kikeleh. After a short time, the immigration inspectors started calling all Jewish people, Kikes.3 There have also been theories that the circle or “O” referred to the bagels that some Jewish