Although I won’t be around to see it, I sometimes wonder what will be considered profanity 50 years from now. When “entertainers” can get away with saying fuck and cunt in live broadcasts and gatherings that get widely reported, what’s left? And who’s protected from the words when they’re reported as f*ck or c*nt? I grew up as an Army brat around soldiers, but never heard the word fuck until I was well into my teens, and even in high school it was daring to use the euphemism “7734” to refer to hell. I don’t remember when I first saw “damn” in a newspaper cartoon, but it was well after I was an adult. Things have changed markedly, and I doubt it’s going to slow, much less be reversed.

There are, of course, words that are highly unacceptable if spoken by certain people (but are okay if others say them), but they’re not profanity per se, so I don’t see them taking over the role of profanity today.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigfreund,

Chucky better damn well watch his six. I think they're Scottish.

It's bad enough when they learn words like that by accident, and don't really use language yet.

I was starting a long car trip with my then three-or-so-year-old son strapped into his carseat behind me. I got cut off, forgot that I wasn't alone, and called the other driver a "fucking moron". I immediately heard the phrase repeated behind me. The inflection and pronunciation were flawless.

Little Comedian back there had no idea what the words were, but they got a humorous (to him) reaction out of Dad. It took many hours to get him to stop saying that phrase. I had spent hours trying (and failing) to teach him useful stuff, but bad words... no problem, got them down on the first try.

Mom only found out about the incident a few years later, when it was just a funny memory.

I saw a meme yesterday something to this effect:

me: I can say "please" and "thank you" 100 times in front of my child without it sinking in, but say "Fat-assed fucking whore" just once....