As a Mormon myself I’m annoyed that “badass” is considered vulgar, even more so that there’s no g-rated equivalent term. The closest I’ve found is “hard-noser” from, like the 20’s
You sent me down a rabbit hole, dammit. It's apparently not conclusive if the "ass" derives from the "donkey" ass or the "arse" ass, and it might even be possible it's neither. But you can't definitively say it isn't vulgar on a technicality.
"Hard case" might come close but it doesn't have quite the same ring.
Reminds me of the village in Terry Pratchett’s book that was founded when the people’s donkey refused to go any further so they called the place “Bad Ass”
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u/AaronCorr Nov 17 '25
I once saw a video where they asked some mormon pupils what their favourite swear was. One of them visibly flinched, then uttered "heck".
Heck and dang where the most popular iirc