I’ve been hearing lately some people cursing in creative manners. From youth, I’ve heard “what the f!” When James (my 5 year old) gets mad he says, “Oh pickles!” While walking down the street the other day some lady dropped something and said, “Criminey!” Others like to call upon ‘Jesus’ at times when I’m sure they’re not praying. So what exactly is profanity, vulgarity or cursing?

Wikipedia describes profanity as:

Profanity is “the quality or state of being profane” . It can also relate to using profane language, or desecration or disrespect toward an object of religious veneration. It can be a word, expression, gesture, or other social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, or vulgar.

All of this creative cursing amuses me, but raised a question. Does it matter if we use specific curse words, or is it simply the intent behind a word that makes it vulgar? I’ve seen Samuel (my 2 year old) get mad, throw a temper tantrum and begin to spew all sorts of angry syllables and sounds. If I could understand or translate what he’s expressing, I’d say it was some sort of toddler vulgarity. So I think that profanity can be defined by both intent and specific taboo words.

What do you think?