If someone were to ask, “what are the kind of words are you NOT allowed to say called?”, how would you respond? Cursing? Swearing? Cussing? Having a foul mouth? There are many different variations of this peculiar part of the English language, but one thing is clear about them: you may get in trouble for saying them. Along with having many different names, this part of the language that will be called profanity originates from many different subjects of what is considered taboo. But just who decides what would be on the list of profane words and phrases that people are not allowed to say? The answer: everyone does. Profanity is a manifestation made by people to associate these words with what not bode well to people as a whole in a society.
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Biologically, people have a way of processing words they hear but do not understand. People have a natural sense of curiosity when faced with the unknown, so upon hearing a profane word that they are not familiar with, they have a natural tendency to learn the meaning of the word. The process of learning new words in our brains is largely involuntary, which is the result of the way the amygdala of the brain relates memories and emotions. Memories and emotions being related to each other is why people end up remembering the connotative, or implied, meaning of a word rather than its literal meaning. Steven Pinker,Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, describes it as the brain’s “...automatic nature of speech perception” which causes profane words we hear to “...kidnap our attention and forces us to consider its unpleasant connotations.” More often than not, the profane words in society are not innately profane, but rather they functioned similar to how any other word would: to describe, to name, or give meaning to events and ideas. However, a typical person’s understanding of a profane word is by its implied definition, which points out how society perceives the definition of a word holds more favor over the literal definition of the …show more content…
For many years in America, publicly using profane language over public television or radio could lead to charges or even arrests, despite the country’s claiming itself as a nation of free speech. This implies that the enforcement of profane language is not based on the thoughts or feelings of a select few, but rather society as a whole being the base of these actions. Tony McEnery, a professor of English language and linguistics at Lancaster University in Britain claims that just like many movement groups of 17th century Britain had argued “moral probity... for example, by an avoidance of bad language, was a prerequisite for the exercise of power” in response to many of the rulers at the time, standards in what people of power are allowed to say in today’s world are also expected to be free of profanity. One would not expect a President of Prime Minister to publicly use profanity in this day and age, for example, because it would cause the public to question their authority and whether they deserve the position they were put
Biologically, people have a way of processing words they hear but do not understand. People have a natural sense of curiosity when faced with the unknown, so upon hearing a profane word that they are not familiar with, they have a natural tendency to learn the meaning of the word. The process of learning new words in our brains is largely involuntary, which is the result of the way the amygdala of the brain relates memories and emotions. Memories and emotions being related to each other is why people end up remembering the connotative, or implied, meaning of a word rather than its literal meaning. Steven Pinker,Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, describes it as the brain’s “...automatic nature of speech perception” which causes profane words we hear to “...kidnap our attention and forces us to consider its unpleasant connotations.” More often than not, the profane words in society are not innately profane, but rather they functioned similar to how any other word would: to describe, to name, or give meaning to events and ideas. However, a typical person’s understanding of a profane word is by its implied definition, which points out how society perceives the definition of a word holds more favor over the literal definition of the …show more content…
For many years in America, publicly using profane language over public television or radio could lead to charges or even arrests, despite the country’s claiming itself as a nation of free speech. This implies that the enforcement of profane language is not based on the thoughts or feelings of a select few, but rather society as a whole being the base of these actions. Tony McEnery, a professor of English language and linguistics at Lancaster University in Britain claims that just like many movement groups of 17th century Britain had argued “moral probity... for example, by an avoidance of bad language, was a prerequisite for the exercise of power” in response to many of the rulers at the time, standards in what people of power are allowed to say in today’s world are also expected to be free of profanity. One would not expect a President of Prime Minister to publicly use profanity in this day and age, for example, because it would cause the public to question their authority and whether they deserve the position they were put