As I understand it, it's the class / race the word is coming from that creates cursing in the first place. The terms we use now that are considered gauche or brutish are Anglo-Saxon, and the more socially acceptable parallel terms are Norman. Only I don't know the source for the information I was given.
"For a long enough period (and/or a large enough percentage of periods for which we have sufficient records to judge) of historical time that it is reasonable to extrapolate as far backwards as early agricultural societies."
I would probably say yes. And, in my personal opinion, rightly so. Swearing made common cheapens the language, and reduces its effectiveness. Personally, I swear very rarely, so that when I do, people notice. For example: a young female co-worker back at Dominos, who had quite a foul mouth, whirled around in shock and nearly dropped what she was carrying the first time she heard me swear, after three years of working together.
Compare that to people who pepper their speech with curses, to the point that they fade out as mental static.
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timeasmymeasure
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"For a long enough period (and/or a large enough percentage of periods for which we have sufficient records to judge) of historical time that it is reasonable to extrapolate as far backwards as early agricultural societies."
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Compare that to people who pepper their speech with curses, to the point that they fade out as mental static.
Hallan
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