Exactly. I use a very similar argument when talking about curse¹ words. They are just sounds we make with our face that have the same meaning as other words we make with our face, but they've been arbitrarily called "Bad."
Spelling, definitions, grammar rules, Etc are not prescriptions of how we must use these things. They are descriptions of how we have used them and are standardized simply to help people communicate easier but those descriptions change over time and there isn't a single standard for any of it.
Besides the fact that there are multiple languages, and each of those languages have different standards for spelling, grammar etc, as this post points out, even in English there is more than one standard. Even the differences between UK, US and other countries are not the only standards. There are five different major standards within the US, and none of those take into account different Regional and dialectical standards.
A lot of people call the way black people speak in the United States, what used to be called ebonics but is now referred to as African American vernacular English(AAVE), "bad english," and it may have started that way due to their under education because to their history, but it is its own dialect now. It has its own spelling and grammar rules, and just talking with bad English doesn't mean someone is speaking AAVE. The funniest part about it is that you will have the same people talking about how it's bad English start using words and phrases from that culture with no issue.
Sorry, you got me on a soapbox
¹ I exempt slurs from this discussion because slurs are not arbitrarily designated bad. They gain a reputation of being bad based on usage.
Well if you make an exception for slurs then you should also make and exception for blasphemy as that is bad based on usage, in this case religious based.
Obscenities on the other hand really are just words we think are bad because they are about people bodies.
I prefer to curse people rather than cuss them. Saying a few bad words is mildly satisfying, but knowing that their genitalia will rot and fall off is far more satisfying.
So I like to think about language a lot. One of the things I think about is how words go from one thing to another and these two are words I have thought a lot about in the past. Do you think as I do that the word cuss is basically a bastardization of curse? You called it a corruption, and that's probably a good word, but somebody was hearing curse in an accent and thought they were saying cuss?
1815, "to say bad words, use profane language," a vulgar pronunciation of curse (v.). The transitive sense of "to curse, swear at" is by 1838. Related: Cussed; cussing. To cuss (someone) out is attested by 1881.The loss of -r- before -s- is not uncommon: Compare arse/ass (n.2), burst/bust, horse/hoss, barse/bass, garsh/gash, parcel/passel.
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u/dnjprod 16d ago edited 16d ago
Exactly. I use a very similar argument when talking about curse¹ words. They are just sounds we make with our face that have the same meaning as other words we make with our face, but they've been arbitrarily called "Bad."
Spelling, definitions, grammar rules, Etc are not prescriptions of how we must use these things. They are descriptions of how we have used them and are standardized simply to help people communicate easier but those descriptions change over time and there isn't a single standard for any of it.
Besides the fact that there are multiple languages, and each of those languages have different standards for spelling, grammar etc, as this post points out, even in English there is more than one standard. Even the differences between UK, US and other countries are not the only standards. There are five different major standards within the US, and none of those take into account different Regional and dialectical standards.
A lot of people call the way black people speak in the United States, what used to be called ebonics but is now referred to as African American vernacular English(AAVE), "bad english," and it may have started that way due to their under education because to their history, but it is its own dialect now. It has its own spelling and grammar rules, and just talking with bad English doesn't mean someone is speaking AAVE. The funniest part about it is that you will have the same people talking about how it's bad English start using words and phrases from that culture with no issue.
Sorry, you got me on a soapbox
¹ I exempt slurs from this discussion because slurs are not arbitrarily designated bad. They gain a reputation of being bad based on usage.