Learning Outcomes

Learning Topic Course Text type Title of the task

Outcomes Section Of task
Finding out Swearing in Written task 1 Blog To what extent
how taboo taboo language is swearing
language is used considered as a
by teens in taboo language
society
√ Written Task English Lang & Lit HL
Rationale:

Swearing clearly has become a very popular thing during this time period, swearing is
commonly used by teens to express their emotions thoroughly, I have created this written task
to justify to what extent is swearing considered as a taboo language, nowadays also swearing
is prohibited by most parents, I want to justify why parents prohibit the use of explicit
language and what are the consequences of them prohibiting such language, also in the text I
also want to inform how do children nowadays are introduced to swearing.

Some parents may not understand why a child swears in certain situations , this may lead to
problems with parents and the child, parents don’t want their child to swear as they might get
a bad impression of their parenting to the public

Swearing has been considered as a taboo language to most of the adults while as in teens they
are the languages used in their day to day lives , swearing is like an essential for them, teens
may not want to admit it but they find swearing cool and they think that they fit in easily with
other peers by swearing

I chose the colour of the titles of the text to portray swearing in media nowadays, swearing is
mostly portrayed with the colour red, they stand out from the other words , as so with in real
life,
I have chosen to take secondary sources from the internet, in the form of researches done and
also
 1

To what extent is swearing considered as a taboo language

Did you know?

“ 2/4 parents condemn the use of taboo language such as swearing in their household”

Introduction
The use of swearing has become a rising popularity for kids these days, with them already
being taught swear words when they’re as young as 8 years old, these kids are taught these
words by their older peers, at school or In their own household, it is INEVITABLE for kids
to learn swear words. Some parents don't allow the use of swearwords Inside their own
household. I disagree with this common rule. I myself swear to an extent eg. When talking to
my friends or even sometimes my sibling. But in my opinion swearing should not be used so
lightly and oftenly.

Why Swear?
Swearing nowadays is considered as a method of fitting in, although some teens may not
admit it, they think that swearing is actually considered cool, but also in reality some teens
use it to express their emotions extensively, expressing the extensiveness of a problem.
Swearing in my opinion doesn’t seem rude at all, these words that are considered as taboo are
even added inside the dictionary, these words are expressive words , people use them to
express the extensiveness of a situation. Me personally, i use swearing to also conversate with
friends, although most adults may find it uncomfortable and also rude. Us teens find it
completely normal

It’s also no surprise that people are constantly learning new swear words with almost all
movies with “swear words” in them, some may be used to impose comedic relief but also
some are used blatantly in any situation, with the shining popularity of “internet influencers”
(Youtubers, Instagram artists) kids are being subject to watch them swear every now and
then, sure swearing are used by them for comedic relief but it doesn’t occur in their minds
that children are watching them too, this influences the children to swear more often as their
favourite people on their respective social media are swearing and there is no one to stop
them

As of right now “Gaming” is the new hot thing with teenagers , they play video games with
each other, what might seem as a harmless fun activity can turn really toxic in a short sum of
1 Johnodowdirl. “What Your Swearing Says about You.” CKNW, Global News, 7 Aug. 2017,
globalnews.ca/news/3642120/what-your-swearing-says-about-you/.
words, this is also why most kids may get their aggressive behaviours from. Most of the time
during gaming there will be toxic encounters, this may either lead to trauma from gaming or
it may just develop new swearing habits or anger issues

The basic idea of a swear word is that it's a word that causes a strong emotional reaction in
the audience. This is why they are so often associated with disgusting or immoral things. The
taboo comes from the fact that swear words can be used to elicit these emotions in people
who do not want to feel them. Swearing in my opinion is a good way to get a good laugh or
two, a good way to get someone’s attention

A study found out a few years back that smiling without feeling happy actually makes you
happier. Another study found out that using swearwords relieves some pain, i.e. when you hit
a table leg with your small toe.

In my opinion , people who swear tend to get numb to swearing and they would have to keep
swearing to portray their emotions, while other people are being unreasonably “excited” by
such behaviour. This self- spreading behaviour is what, in my opinion, fuels the flame of
swearwords in taboo

Parents are trying to discourage their kids from swearing by prohibiting its use, this is very
uneffective as the children will continue to swear again when the authorities are gone.
Swearing is considered to be a form of expressive language though to most parents , a child
can greatly add detail to a certain situation by swearing, this gives the impression that the
situation is critical. By swearing the child exagurates the situation to tell us how drastic it is,
they can also swear to describe something (e.g how good a pie was)

Some parents argue also that the Child should be given time to mature, i definitely agree with
this , encouraging horrible behaviour such as swearing just turns off the maturity learning
process in the child, if they are allowed to do such behaviour then they might never become
mature. Later on if the child isn’t mature he would have trouble keeping up with his social
life, or he might tend to be alone most of the time as he doesn’t fit in with the other adults.
Personally I agree with this point, a child shouldn’t be swearing in their early years, if they
are exposed to swearing at such and early age, they might have problems maturing into a
successful adult.

In conclusion swearing is used to express emotions extensively, it may be used to express a

certain situation descriptively, it helps to calm you down. But also swearing is also
considered as a bad habit and it must not be done frequently, but in the case of young teens
today swearing has become the new hip thing, helps you to fit in social groups. swearing may
be fun for some but in can also impact other’s feelings towards you. Choose your words
wisely.

What do you think of swearing? Is it absolutely necessary? It’s up to the parents to choose
how to educate or not, but as the blog states above, swearing must not be a habit since the
child is an infant, as it may have problems with their maturing process. They might have
trouble fitting into social groups, if they use curse words often, people may feel
uncomfortable being amont the person. In my opinion i would say that swearing is
completely normal and acceptable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
o Why Are Swear Words Considered Taboo? What Was the
Origin ...www.quora.com/Why-are-swear-words-considered-taboo-What-was-
the-origin-of-this-notion.
● Johnodowdirl. “What Your Swearing Says about You.” CKNW, Global News, 7 Aug.
2017, globalnews.ca/news/3642120/what-your-swearing-says-about-you/.
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