OBSCENITY

From the Latin obscenus, ≈ “foul, repulsive, detestable”

Sexual or scatological references to the body or bodily functions.

Examples:

“fuck” (when related to sex), “pussy” or “cunt” (≈ vagina), “prick,” “dick” or “cock” (≈ penis),

“shit” (≈ feces), “piss” (≈ urine), “wanker” (≈ masturbator),

“tits” or “titties”(≈ breasts), “asshole” (≈ anus), “balls” (≈ testicles)

VULGARITY

From the Latin vulgis, ≈ “the common people”

Coarse or crude language.

Examples:

“whore” or “ho” (≈ prostitute)

“fuck” or “fucking” or “motherfucking” (used as intensifiers),

“fuck over,” “fuck with,” “fuck up,”

“a motherfucker” (≈ difficult situation),

“asshole” or“bastard” (≈ unpleasant man),

“pussy” or “bitch” (≈ weak man),

“to bitch” (≈ to complain),

“shit” (≈ any object, or any annoyance), “tit” (≈ inept person)

PROFANITY

From the Latin profanes, ≈ “outside the temple”

Blasphemy, sacrilege, or taking a god’s name in vain.

Examples: “by God!,” “goddamn,” “damn,” “Jesus Christ,” “hell” “’S’blood” “S’wounds”

SLURS

From the Middle English sloor, ≈“mud”

Offensive terms expressing contempt based on ethnicity, gender, or sexuality.

Examples:

(racial epithets) “nigger,” “spic,” “wop,” “mick,” “kike,” “gook,” “chink,” “cracker,”

(misogynist language) “slut,” “bitch,” “cunt,” “skank,” “ho,” “whore,” (when used ≈ women)

 (homophobic language) “faggot,” “homo,” “queer,” “fruit,” “lesbo”

USES and MISUSES

CITATION: ACCEPTABLE

Verb form: to cite, citing, cited

Quoting or directly referencing a specific use of language by someone other than yourself.

Example: “Philip Larkin’s famous poem ‘This Be The Verse’ begins with the line ‘They fuck you up, your mum and dad.’”

INTERROGATION: ACCEPTABLE

Verb form: to interrogate, interrogating, interrogated

Critically examining a specific use of language, its meanings, and its contexts in order to better understand what it says about the person using the language and the culture in which that language-use is legible.

Example: “What are the differences between the odious racial slur ‘nigger’ and the word ‘nigga’ as commonly used in contemporary hip hop?”

DEPLOYMENT

ACCEPTABLE FOR ALL BUT SLURS

Verb form: to deploy, deploying, deployed

Replicating a specific use of language in conventional way in order to reinforce one’s meaning.

Example: “In The Great Gatsby, I think it’s pretty clear that Fitzgerald goes to great lengths to make Tom Buchanan seem like an asshole.”

WEAPONIZATION

ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE

Verb form: to weaponize, (alternately) to wield, wielding, wielded

Making use of language to attack another person or class or persons, either present or absent.

Example: “Go to hell, bastard!”