1. Cursing Amongst Young Adults from
Different Cultural Backgrounds
By Edgar Rodríguez
Austin College

2. Abstract Introduction
This paper outlines a dialogical approach, which is to say that language is ever-
changing and constantly evolving with society, in order to investigate the
influence which cultures have on young adults and thereon explain their use and
misuse of profanity. Specifically, the focus is on explicit aspects of vulgarity
centered with their constant use in everyday dialogues and forms of
communication. In particular, the investigation argues the influence of the
Western world, especially that of the United States on other cultures’ increasing
use of profanity as a consequence of acculturation of young adults as they
become more in contact with the West physically or through various forms of
media. Through the interviews with over ten young adults from different cultural,
geographical, and religious backgrounds, the juxtaposition of these individuals’
communication skills served in favor of the research in efforts to explain the
various cultural voices that have become connected through countless
sociocultural contexts with only profanity as the main target of investigation.
With that said, this investigation is not holistic and many of the conclusions
derived to are supported by various scholarly sources and the individuals
themselves. This investigation serves to open the door to the bigger picture and
aiding to the discovery of the links between language, communication, and
culture.

3. Introduction
In general, all the interviewees were chosen for being a representation of a specific
culture and of distinct geographical backgrounds. These samples either lived in or have
lived in the United States at some point in their lives. They all admitted to swearing mostly
around friends, as most youth would probably confess to, and less so around adults. Also,
they were all between the ages of 18 and 23 –young adults only.
Swearing, cursing, obscenity, blasphemy, vulgarity, expletives and four-letter
words are all placed under the tabs of profanity and taboo language, yet what types derive
from these? According to the article “A Philosophy of Profanity,” cursing occurs in five
different ways with five distinct intentions. The first is abusive— these words are intended
to solely harm, disfavor, or objectify people with racism, sexism, religious prejudice, and
other negative -isms along with normal sex expletives intended as insults, i.e. “dick,”
“asshole,” “cunt,” “motherfucker,” et cetera. The second is emphatic— these words are
intended to describe things by definition where “fuck” is used to describe the literal sexual
intercourse of the matter. The third is dysphemism— these words act opposite to
euphemisms where “excuse me while a go to the restroom” can be dysphemized with
“don’t mind me, I’m gonna take a shit.” The fourth is idiomatic— these words are
completely conversational and with no direct meaning where “shit” just comes out of
people’s mouth even though they’re actually words and not literal “shit” itself, at least
one would hope not in an emphatic manner. The fifth and last is cathartic— these words
are directly tied to the human brain and instinct where “son of a bitch!” exits one’s mouth
after banging their toes on furniture rather than the supposed “ouch!”
After fully understanding all these types of swearing, the project directed its
attention to the emphatic and idiomatic types considering their high presence in everyday
speech, regardless of language. Abusive words were also taken into consideration for
further cultural juxtaposing when interviewees mentioned these to be taboo in their
respective culture. In regards to the interview process, all the interviewees received the

4. same questions:
Do you regularly curse in everyday communication? If so, any examples?
Do you or have you ever used swearing as a means of communicating emotion?
How do you think your specific cultural background(s) affect your use of
swearing?
Does you religion, if any, have a direct influence on your manner of swearing?
If you speak a foreign language, what is your preference of swearwords then?
How do the connotations translate to English?
Does your family participate in cursing? If so, how?
In what public spaces do you find yourself most comfortable cursing, if any?
What is considered obscene language and possibly even taboo in your culture?
Amongst your friends, what words cross the line?
Do you think the Western culture of USA affects other cultures in terms of
spreading some of its profane language and their implementation in everyday
conversations?
All interviews were either held in person or via Skype, with one held through a telephone
call, thus none of their answers were communicated through chat.
Before explaining in depth the investigation, it’s important to note that this study
simply touched the top of the iceberg in terms of culture; if a deeper study into the culture
had been intended, food, clothing, dialects and other cultural variables would’ve needed
to be taken into consideration. Instead, these seemed superfluous when studying
profanities. Also, the generalizations made throughout the paper are backed up by the
findings in the interviews themselves as well as other studies. Further explanation will be
given in its respective time. Finally, further observational studies are needed to prove
cultural influence in the use of swear words along with quantitative results to help explain
the correlations. Although interviews are the most straight forward manner of
investigating this subject, observing the interviewees outside the interview frames

5. would’ve helped answer these questions of cultural influence a lot more clearly.
▬
North America, USA— “Texan Orthodox-Presbyterian”
In interviewing this American sample, it was important to acknowledge the
influential power that the United States has on other countries. With that in mind, the
interview proceeded effortlessly. Religion was thoroughly discussed with this
interviewee’s Presbyterian background. Religious swear words were limited due to their
sinfulness, but ‘not to the extent which Baptists prohibited them.’ “Any speech or action
that profanes God is sinful and inexcusable” (Andrews, 2) which is the main reason to
avoid speaking them. Nonetheless, the interviewee admitted to doing so, outside of
church of course. In terms of culture, a sense of southern hospitality shone through this
interviewee where he avoided cursing in front of women, even when they weren’t actively
part of the conversation, let alone part of the interview. The same was evident in his
selection of swear words such as “bloody,” “cursed,” “shitty,” “hellish,” and “moronic.”
Contrary to the typical American college student potty-mouth where “fuck” rules the lips,
this more self-controlled interviewee was chosen for that purpose specifically. Like all
sampled interviewees, this one was a college student as well as well-educated and
cultured. A larger scope of culture was intended to be reached in these interview efforts
with this American sample. Accordingly, Low Uncertainty Avoidance was perceived in
the process as expected from a Western-raised individual. Specifically, he actively
requested less ambiguity in the questions I asked and he gave more detailed answers with
deeper explanations. One example of this depth occurred when he explained an incidence
he’d experienced in Indonesia. Apparently, the word “Texas,” aside from referring to the
American state, connotes as a ‘barbarous shithole’ where even the people referred to as
“Texan” would mean being from the ghetto. As preposterous as this notion sounds, it
serves as a clear example of the Western culture influencing other cultures in efforts to
exploit the use of profane language. In this regard, the US is implementing itself

6. symbolically in the Indonesian culture through the people’s interpretation of Texas as an
insulting label, yet this is only an example of much of the influence perceived in the rest
of the interviews.
▬
South America, Brazil— “Brazilian Agnostic”
Being of Hispanic descent myself, the studies done on this interviewee were very
concise with my Mexican cultural background. Disregarding my perceptions, this
interviewee brought various cultural aspects of Latin America to the table when
distinguishing herself as somewhat of a feminist. Primarily, her religious influence was
evident in her conversion from Protestant to Agnostic where swearing increased as the
Protestant chastising decreased throughout the years as anAgnostic. In veering away from
the idea of God, it was easy for her to express “God damn it” when, for her, sins are
disregarded through agnosticism. In terms of culture, her feminist approach contrasted to
the Brazilian take on machismo. This Latin American idea of masculinity where men are
superior in society served as a fuel for her cursing. Her concise use of palavrão, or swear
words, in Brazilian society is mostly to overcome the machismo imposed on her and other
women. In mentioning social implications, racism is heavily avoided and prohibited by
law in Brazil. Considering its high percentages of African-descent populations, calling a
dark person a “macaco” [monkey] is highly illegal to the point of imposing immediate
jail-time. The sociocultural variables in this Brazilian interviewee were many, thus
Gender was further observed to explain her profane language. As masculine as Latin
America may be, the mother is considered extremely sacred to all men. Saying “filho da
puta” or “hijo de puta” [son of a bitch] can lead to the worst brawls, yet calling a girl
“gorda” [fat] would have the similar consequences. Evidently, this genderization is due
to the large influence of the Catholic religion in South America where every county and
town has their own interpretation of the Holy Virgin Mary. Furthermore, this interviewee
showed evidence of idiomatic swearing when saying things like “puta merda” [bitch shit]

7. and “caralho” [dick] while also referring to abusive phrases like “vai se fuder” [go fuck
yourself]. As genderized as the culture seemed to be, it was clearly translated by the
interviewee in her choice of words and examples. Although in her point of view, she
explicitly mentioned cursing happened within cultures naturally through youth rebellion
and not necessarily due to Western influence.
▬
Western Europe, France— “French Atheist”
In recognizing the liberal nature of France, similar liberal communication patterns
were expected. “Theories say that a word’s meaning is dependent on its cultural
environment and surroundings and therefore can change their meanings as time
progresses” (Rehman, 10). The same idea can be expected from a language directly
influenced by its respective society, in this case, French. In regards to religion, this
interviewee’s Atheism allowed for a larger liberty to say “God damn” without any
resentment. In terms of culture, she found herself at ease cursing in public due to France’s
liberal society where offensive words tend to lose some of their pre-established negative
weight. Nonetheless, homophobia and racism are still unacceptable. “Pédé” [faggot],
“bougnoule” [Arab], and “nègre” [black] have kept their offensive connotations where
although the society is liberal, direct offenses to an entire group is still verboten.
According to the interviewee, ‘cursing depends on social class; the higher the class, the
less one curses and vice versa.’ Interestingly enough, one would think social classes were
abolished or at least diminished after the French Revolution when royalty lost their heads
to the guillotine, but apparently not. With that in mind, the interview demonstrated a sense
of High Power Distance in regards to the French society and cursing. She, being of middle
class status, offered the few examples of cursing she used in France where it wasn’t too
much or too little. Almost always idiomatic, she presented “putain” [slut], “merde” [shit],
and “connard” [prick] as she used them playfully among friends only. Referring back to
the notion of Western influence, France is developed enough to influence other nations

8. itself, especially those of Africa. According to the interviewee, the Western world does
influence other cultures in respect to pop culture where the more often swearing is seen
and heard in movies and music, the softer the words become to the point of losing weight
and sometimes even meaning as the earlier theory stated.
▬
Eastern Europe, Ukraine/Georgia— “Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox”
Having had various experiences in a large part of Eastern Europe, this interviewee
brought a larger cultural background to this investigation. Regarding her religion, cursing
is seen as a sin as other Christian religions, except she pointed out the larger influence of
people’s personalities. According to the interviewee, ‘swearing is a strong sin but the
emotions of the people are stronger.’ Segueing into culture, emotions seemed to continue
being the main source of communication. Being new to Russian, Ukrainian, and Georgian,
I found the curse words offensive in their sound but not in meaning, considering I don’t
speak said languages. “Because obscene language is often proscribed, learners to the
language [like me] don’t get a direct insight into the vast vocabulary of emotionally
loaded expression of [said languages]” (Rehman, 4). These Eastern European cultures are
emotionally heavy and the same attitude translates to their curse words and tone of voices.
Although the emotions rule over communication incentives, racism and sexism are, like
in past interviews, looked down upon. Russian words like “черножопый”
/chernozhopyy/ [black-ass], “узкоглазый” /uzkoglazyy/ [narrow-eyed], and “пидорас”
/pidoras/ [faggot] are all too heavy in Eastern Europe and have become heavier if an
implied negative tone is perceived by a listener. Furthermore, she brought up an instance
she used Georgian and told her brother “ბოზო” /bozo/ [bitch] which made her parents
act indignant about the entire situation. Clues like these led to the conclusion that this
interviewee’s culture was based on High Immediacy where quicker and bigger reactions
are the norm. Contact was highly requested, though she was sick, and there was a high
degree of vocal intonations and animations where vocal tones and volume were constantly

9. changing in regards to emotion, this case pertaining to being happy or surprised due to
the interview questions. The entire interview explained most of the Eastern European
culture in a nutshell and even the Western influence through pop culture. Due to the
constant hip hop music crossing borders, words like “nigga” have been adopted into
modern languages through its youth. According to the interviewee, the newest generation
is influenced to curse more in general due to Western pop culture spreading itself around
through different mediums of entertainment.
▬
Western Europe, Germany— “German-Pakistani Muslim”
Referring back to Western Europe, this interviewee represented both sides of the
German and Pakistani cultures; the developed and under-developed kind in regards to
modern nations. With a Pakistani background, this interviewee allowed for a more
analytical chance for cultural juxtaposition. For instance, although Germans are mostly
Protestant, this interviewee was Muslim and thus offered a not so typical approach to
German culture. Religion for him centered on Islam where its aim is to spread goodness
through Allah, hence prayers like “‫الرحيم‬ ‫الرحمن‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫”بسم‬ /Bismillah-ir rahmanir rahim/ [In
the name of Allah, the most Gracious, and the most Merciful]. Juxtaposing both the
cultures of Pakistan and Germany was extremely necessary in finding the German identity.
According to the interviewee, Pakistani culture has no filter when it came to words spoken,
but German culture was extremely specific in its context as it’s usually implied and
heavily requested. For Germans, an emphasis on direct terms is required. For example, in
offering examples of German curse words, the interviewee had a hard time even
pronouncing one specific word and resorted to spelling it instead. “Ficken” [fuck] must
be used emphatically and solely by definition only to describe a sexual encounter.
Germans using it outside this context may be judged as unsophisticated. With that in mind,
this interview presented Germany as an Individualistic Culture where one’s credibility
and one’s own education are extremely valuable for one’s role in society. Therefore,

10. misusing words like “ficken” would put people in a dim light. Coincidently, properly
using racist and sexist terms like “kanake” [foreigner] and “schwuchtel” [faggot] are still
disrespectful; sophistication in this denotation should be avoided. German culture
amongst young adults isn’t as constricting, though. The use of idiomatic words like “mist”
[crap] and “scheiße” [shit] are still popular and are probably due to the influence of other
Western cultures like the US. According to the interviewee, a large portion of these
influences on profanity are due to globalization where swearing is provided but Germans
limit it to sophisticated uses.
▬
Middle East, Syria/Egypt— “Middle Eastern, Sunni Muslim”
In analyzing this geographic culture, the interviewee represented the typical
Middle Eastern qualities both culturally and religiously. In efforts of explaining his
religious influence, unlike the other Muslim interviewee, this Middle Eastern specified
himself as Sunni Muslim where cursing is seen as a sin, hence its cautious use. The
interviewee said to have used swearing only for the sake of jokes and to emphasize
positive conversations. As unusual as that notion may sound, this is typical in young
adults where swear words lose their negativity and are used as jocular mockery among
friends. This is a normal occurrence in various languages. As a matter of fact, this
interview helped reveal Arabic as one of those languages where words lose connotations
and even meanings. This culture uses curse words excessively to the point of diluting the
weight of profane words over time; all except the following examples. These examples,
after further researching their meanings, demonstrated the manner in which the
interviewee himself had also lost close ties with the words’ connotations: “‫”حمار‬ /himar/
[bitch] but literally ‘donkey,’ “‫”هطومرش‬ /sharmootah/ [bitch] but literally ‘whore,’ “ ‫قص‬
‫”إختك‬ /kess ekh-tak/ [fuck] but literally ‘your sister’s cunt,’ and “‫كلب‬ ‫”ابن‬ /ibn el kalb/ [son
of a bitch] but literally ‘son of a dog.’ All these examples are still heavy words but their
connotations have obviously gotten lost through the culture’s constant use of them.

11. Furthermore, this all served as an example of a Collectivistic Culture where the harmony
of the community is valued through religion and the social understanding that Arabic
curse words may have ambiguity. It’s as if most people of this culture share the
understanding of having lost these curse words’ origins and have proceeded to misuse
them harmoniously throughout their communities. In regards to Western influence, the
interviewee disagreed with a clear Western influence on Middle Eastern nations. It isn’t
hard to acknowledge this notion if we look at the way by which the US has aggressively
tried to persuade this area of the world in the past few years. Therefore, it’s no wonder
that the Middle East might try to avoid getting influenced by Western pop culture.
▬
Africa, Nigeria— “African-Nigerian Adventist Christian”
While beginning the interview process in this occasion, religion seemed greatly
emphasized throughout. According to the interviewee, her Adventist background
recognized cursing as an ill will but also recognized the desire to want to stop cursing as
a whole. As other Christian interviewees, she brought up the sinfulness of the matter but
contrasted that with the self-control aspect; almost as if cursing were embedded in human
nature as many cathartic curse words tend to be. In regards to culture, “swearing may be
a universal trait of human nature as people tend to swear to varying degrees in all
cultures… and it is important [to acknowledge] aspects of swearing… [with] the
relationship between swearing and the cerebral structure of humans” (Harran, 1).
Culturally, the interviewee described Africans as having no filter where dropping the ‘C-
bomb’ came and went. In this aspect, the African community seemed to dilute curse words
from heavy insults to blasé lexicon and nonchalant intentions. Nonetheless, Nigerians
particularly seemed to focus their swearing at a specific area of the body. UnlikeAmerican
cursing where it’s all genitals and excretion, the interviewee presented examples that led
me to conclude the following: Nigerians aim to insult the head, if not, the mind.According
to the interviewee, her Yoruba examples were as follows: “ni o asiwere?” [are you

12. crazy/mad?], “oloshi” [fool or sick in the head], and “odoyo” [foolish retard]. Evidently,
these curse words pertain only to insulting people’s intellectual standing. Although
American swearing does connote some similar abusive words like “retard” and “fuck wit,”
it doesn’t solely focus on these types. Furthermore, Nigerians using words like “bastard”
and “cunt” are prone to be judged more than usual. This is due to the unusual nature of
the words with the African contexts of ‘head insults.’ Although these words’ connotations
have turned ambiguous with their constant reiteration by Africans, insulting someone’s
father is still a heavy faux pas. This, again, is tied with the notion of knowledge and mind
with whether one knows who a person’s real father is and then doubting that knowledge.
With that in mind, the interview lent itself to show this Low Context Culture in full, where
the verbal intentions of people are highly recognized and taken into deep consideration.
Any mistake made by someone will be acknowledged so the more explicit and direct one
can be in communicating, the better to avoid misunderstandings. Furthermore, in
expressing her take on Western influence, the interviewee explained how Western pop
culture has become easily accessible to the point of affecting younger generations and
their take on profanities. Again, the same notion continues; the younger and more
globalized generations seemed to be held responsible for helping spread Western
profanities and their implementations through music, movies, fashion, et cetera.
▬
South Asia, India— “Indian Hindu”
When regarding to India, it was important to acknowledge the vast influence of
religion on the culture. Specifically, it was of most importance to recognize the Dance of
Shiva as a sociocultural commandment. As a Hindu, the interviewee recognized
Hinduism’s purpose to promote righteousness and social harmony, much like in terms
with the Dance of Shiva. In this case, “Hindu philosophy is the key to understanding India
and how [it] manages to bear its immense burdens while its people seem undeterred and
filled with inner peace and religious devotion” (Gannon, 77). Likewise, cursing in this

13. culture is completely casual, most likely due to the immense use of it. Words like “छोड़”
/chhod/ [fuck] and “कुतिया” /kutiyā/ [bitch] seem to be said and taken nonchalantly. In this
regard, the interviewee expressed a sense of Low Immediacy Culture where less contact
was expected and less nonverbal gestures were required of me as the interviewer. This is
due to the experience of coping with the large Indian populations; with so many people
around, the desire for contact is almost unnecessary due to its easy accessibility in Indian
city life. Regarding the Western influence, the interviewee described similar notions as
previous interviewees. According to him, the West has a world power and serves as a
developed example for the rest of the world: ‘media affects cultures through accessing
viable examples of English cursing worldwide’ and India doesn’t stay behind.
▬
East Asia, South Korea- “Confucius-Buddhist South Korean”
Concerning religion, this interview voiced one that’s not very typical in the West.
With a background in Confucius and Buddhist beliefs, the interviewee explained the
necessity to reach universal harmony by promoting less negativity; this entailed less curse
words as well. Yet, in comparing the American and Korean cultures, he came to a
conclusion that Koreans cuss a lot due to Western influence. People, especially the youth,
are notorious for cursing constantly among friends as a sign of comradery, but cursing in
front of an elder is almost unacceptable. This is due to the notion of face where
embarrassing your elder by cursing in front of them and other people can make them lose
face and almost respect in the community. Likewise, words like “씨발” /sshi-bal/ (fuck),
“새끼” /sae-kki/ [bastard], and “고자” /go-ja/ [eunuch] being spoken in front of an elder
can bring social consequences in comparison to the indifferent reactions of speaking them
between friends. Furthermore, the interview expressed a High Context Culture in regards
to people needing to know people’s relations in society to thereon judge whether cursing
is acceptable in their presence. A further example of this is the famous cultural layer of

14. Nunch’i (눈치) where inside jokes between friends is necessary to understand that “새끼”
/sae-kki/ said between them can literally mean ‘bastard’ or the US friendly version of
‘nigga.’ Consequently, without this cultural knowledge, Korean cursing can become too
ambiguous in misinterpreting relationships. It is argued that between these teen friends,
“the pragmatics of swearing point to a bonding function of behavior that is otherwise
perceived only as aversive because of [their] use of negatively charged words” (Winters,
173). Furthermore, the use of swearing amongst Korean youths can aim at creating
closeness. In terms of Western influence, South Korea is greatly influenced by the West
due to its close history with the United States since the Cold War era. The interviewee
only backed up this theory with his extensive knowledge in American curse words and
media. An example he presented was the profane fashion of most Koreans where words
like “cunt,” “fuck you,” and “bitch” have almost become literal fashion logos without the
explicit English connotations.
▬
Oceania, Australia- Australian-born Greek Orthodox
As Western as Australia sounds to British and American ears, the cultural
differences brought forth from the interview were many. In terms of religion, the
interviewee admitted that the Australian culture overwhelmed her Greek Orthodox
background. This is understandable when one juxtaposed the amount of time spent in
Australian society versus time spent in an Orthodox church. The culture, in fact, is as
overpowering as Australia’s continental size. According to the interviewee, Australian
culture is very expressive in terms of swearing sparingly without intentionally
degrading anyone. With that said, racist and sexist terms like “cunt,” “abo” [short for
aborigine], “blacky,” “wog,” and “bogun” are unacceptable. For example, “bogun,”
[Tasmanian hick] although it’s the least offensive of the list, when used to label a
person, it can carry heavy negative intentions in verbally ostracizing them from the rest
of Australia. With that said, the interview lent itself to reveal the culture as Low Power

15. Distance where a larger sense of social equality is sought; anyone can curse with very
little restrictions as long as they aren’t actively degrading. Consequently, foreign insults
tend to have greater effect on people than the English curse words. This refers back to
the notion of equality within Australian culture; it’s only fair for two people to insult
each other in a language that both can understand. Evidence of this comes from the
interviewee’s experience when her father insulted someone using the Greek “μαλάκα”
/maláka/ [asshole] and “άντε στο διάολο” /ánte sto diáolo/ [go to Hell]; the reaction was
much bigger than the usual road rage yelling. In terms of youth swearing, Australian
culture uses this same niche of equality for the newer generations. Australian youths
“use their lexical variations in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of society,”
(McLeod, 4) especially from older generations. According to the interviewee, Australia
has gotten influenced mostly by the British due to ex-colonization. Australian English
has become notorious as a parody of British English through its constant employment of
profane vocabulary. Also, the expanse of racism throughout earlier British and US has
transpired into Australian borders where abusive curse words have taken reigns in the
presence of Australia’s equality goals. Being part of the Western world, Australia
represents a very optimistic view of this world but in its own ‘bloody terms.’
▬
Conclusion
The ability to communicate emotion, meaning, and knowledge by means of
language is a truly remarkable attribute of humans. We express love, anger, excitement,
sadness, disappointment, surprise and much more with the manipulation of words,
especially the idiomatic ones. Yet, like with the inexperience of the youth, we realize
that mistakes are inevitable; we sometimes use words abusively as daggers aimed to
hurt and undermine people, but also use these same words to connote trust and
friendship in others. Variegated as this notion may sound, curse words may carry
colossal meanings or very minuscule ones. Nonetheless, overusing curse words by some

16. people can debilitate the rest of society in falling under the same ‘meaningless’ use of
words as many world cultures have demonstrated casually. As offensive as it may sound
to some cultures, others use these sparingly and mindful only due to their own cultural
barriers. Not limited to adults, cursing in this interview study has expressed the
rebellious aspect of cultures’ ways of communicating the taboo and profane through the
mouths of some of its youth. Its efforts are to exclaim the Western influence of the US
upon world cultures and their habitual cursing as seen in its ideals of Freedom of
Speech. These interviews offered a better understanding of the social implications of
swearing to facilitate a more thoughtful use of profane language and result in a greater
appreciation of its power and weight to thereon affect people worldwide. In this way,
curiosity can spark and instigate more studies that strive to discover more concise
evidence of the sociocultural ramifications of swearing as a whole.

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