How did fuck and the other words get so dirty? They were born that way, for the most part. Fuck has always been an offensive word, though its exact origin is unclear. It's related to words in Dutch, German, and Swedish,and the etymological meaning has to do with moving back and forth. The first known evidence of the term is found in an English and Latin poem from before 1500 that satirized the carmelite friars of Cambridge, England. In the line "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk," the author replaced each letter of the unprintable words with the succeeding letter of the alphabet: "They [the friars] are not in Heaven, since they fuck wives of Ely."
Since then, Fuck has remained consistently offensive, though it has lost some of its original punch. The word only developed its nonsexual meanings in the late 19th century. The word became much more widely used after World War I and now, along with shit, accounts for half the swearing that goes on in public. At this point, even our president and vice president will use it casually in its nonsexual sense.
Most often, swear words grow less vulgar over time. Back in Shakespeare's day, when one's lineage mattered a little more, the word bastard was so offensive, it was often written as "b-d". Meanwhile, shit was once a standard old english word for feces. Today, it remains one of the most versatile vulgarities in our language. These days, you can be "shit scared", live in a "shit hole", or have "shit for brains". And, of course, the shit can also hit the fan.
Likewise for goddamn and hell, which were so bad back in the 17th century that they were often spelled with dashes. Americans gradually softened their view on these words.
Some linguists have observed that nigger, in reflection of the political sensitivities of the United States, has become one of our most intolerable words.
Source: {http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer.2007/06/whence_the_.html}
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