Beware of the words ...

We can see that in every culture there are topics and words that are dangerous.
That means that educated people do not talk about these taboo
topics and do not use these taboos in polite company.

Dr. Reinhold Aman, an expert on "maledicta" (bad words), explains
three kinds of taboo words: obscenities, blasphemies, and slurs.

Obscenities are vulgar words for sexual body parts, sexual acts,
and excrement. A few hundred years ago, these words were used
freely, and were not taboo. Examples: cock, fuck, shit.

Blasphemy is language that religious teachings say are taboo: God
damn it; go to Hell; Jesus Christ! These words may be used in a
religious context, but not for other reasons.
Slurs are insulting words about someone's nationality or race.
Some words for racial or national groups are among the most
dangerous words in the language: kike, wop, nigger.


It is not the meaning of the word that makes it dangerous.
For example Buttocks, behind, and ass all mean the same part of the body.
Buttocks is a "clean" word, used in formal situations; behind is a
"cleaner" word, used in general conversation; and ass is a "dirty"
word, used in informal situations, but avoided in school, writing,
and business. You might ask, what made "ass" a bad word, if it is
all right to say "buttocks" or "behind?"

Vulgar words are the lowest social class of words. They are the
simple, clear words of uneducated people for body parts and sex
and bathroom terms. Careful speakers never use vulgar words in
formal situations, in the classroom, in the office, or in formal
written work. Don't use vulgar words when speaking to teachers,
superiors, customers, older people, children, strangers, new
friends, and mixed groups of both men and women.

If you want to learn more about these words the book titled "An Indispenstble Guide to Dangerous English 2000" by Elizabeth Claire will help you a lot.
She is a mild-mannered grandmother residing
in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. She wrote this book because she
was too embarrassed to explain terms she knew her students
wanted and needed . She is the founder and editor of Easy English NEWS as
well as the author of twenty other texts and resources for people
learning English. I would suggest that all serious langauge learners should keep copy of it with them .Since I have a copy with me I would be happy to share many things I learned from the book. Those who are interested can contact me at
41smile@gmail.com
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"A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language." says Gaston Bachelard.

Paul Goodman:"Comedy is something that we can all share, no matter what language we speak or our background, it has the power to unite us all."


"Language is a wonderful thing. It can be used to express thoughts, to conceal thoughts, but more often, to replace thinking."
-Kelly Fordyce