Every Time You Curse, You’re Participating in a Weirdly Complex Cultural History

We swear for multiple reasons—because it feels good, because we want to hurt others, because we want to express our emotions—and we swear a lot.

Language, though, isn't static—it's evolving all the time. Sometimes the meaning of a word can become so far removed from the idea or thing it originally represented that it can take on a whole new life. Modern curse words have origins that run the gamut from class warfare to religious symbolism. But what "makes a bad word...bad?" asks Michael Stevens. In his Vsauce video above, he shows how the words we consider naughty in the moment reflect on how we, as a culture, see ourselves.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Curses! The Four-Letter Word Renaissance Speakers Wouldn’t Flinch At
Who Needs to Wash Their Twitter Mouth Out? A Map of Profanity on Twitter
English Evolving Much More Slowly on the Internet than During the Renaissance

Colin Schultz | | READ MORE

Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A. in journalism.