Originally Posted by Sickntiredofliblies

Just wondering, what exactly offends people when it comes to profane words?

It can't be the meaning behind the word because there are acceptable words in our language that have the same meaning.

I'm not sure, but I think it comes down to the sound of the word. Since the definitions themselves don't seem to be the factor, I suspect certain vibrations of our vocal chords are enough to offend some people. In the culture I live in, profane words are used very regularly. Even as a child my parents would gripe at me about it but then a few minutes later they would use the same words themselves. Why did humans come up with this prohibitive-vocal-chord rule?

I posted this mainly because I saw that this topic got locked.