• jan teli@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Yeah other languages normally get their swears from words for things that are considered taboo but english just has such a variety. We have swears/slurs that are related to:

    • bodily functions
    • bodily fluids
    • sex
    • relationships
    • some animals
    • being sent to hell
    • various other religious (mostly catholic) things
    • thinking you’re better than others
    • thinking others are better than you
    • and probably some others that I’ve forgotten about/don’t know of

    But also not all words from those categories are swears and not all of those swears are always swears. We also have words that sound/look like swears but aren’t.
    edit: it would appear that I am incorrect