Thirty years, and a thought on swearing.

First, it's my parents' 30-year wedding anniversary today. I'm reliably informed that that is the Pearl anniversary.

And second, a completely random thought that occurred to me whilst watching Loose Women earlier... why do people get so upset about swearing? Why are some words worse than others?

Think about it. All obscenities are slang terms for body parts or biological functions, or wishes for someone to suffer. Why is saying 'cunt' or 'twat' worse than saying 'vagina' when they mean exactly the same thing? Why is 'faeces' acceptable and 'shit' not? 'Fuck' is just another word for 'sex'.

I'm not necessarily condoning swearing. I do swear, but I don't generally say anything worse than damn or shit. It just occurred to me to wonder who decided that some words were worse than their synonyms. And why is there a scale? A 15-rating allows shit, damn, possibly some others, but it usually has to be an 18 to get away with fuck or cunt. Why are those worse?

And then there's the religious swearing. If you say 'damn' to someone you are in effect wishing that their soul will be damned. So? If wishing made it so then Hell would be overflowing. Saying the Lord's name in vain puzzles me too. I didn't think that was possible. Either you're doing it as a force of habit, in which case it's harmless and meaningless, or you actually believe - in which case, you're acknowledging God's existence. Why is this a bad thing?

Someone enlighten me, please? I'm curious.