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Showing posts with label profanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label profanity. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Honors Comp Essay #1: Profanity

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn… for the definition of profanity."

Current Definition:
Expanded Definition:
profanity
1: the quality or state of being profane
2: the utterance of profane language
3: profane language
profanity
1: the utterance of language that both attacks and offends
2: language that both attacks and offends

When we think of profanity, we think of a certain group of words that function as both as actual words and as expletive attributives. This definition is far removed from the original definition, which was simply anything that didn't belong to the Church. A medieval speaker might have referred to a profane building or a profane herd of sheep, whereas modern listeners would be confused by such usage. Along the way, the word evolved.