The death of the swear word? Gen Z are now more offended by slurs,
Swear words that were once potent are losing their sting, a new study has revealed.
Among Gen Z, racist, sexist, homophobic and ableist slurs are now ranked as the most offensive terms in the English language.
At the same time, old-fashioned profanity based on sex, religion and bodily fluids barely raise an eyebrow.
According to researchers from Australia’s Macquarie University, ‘bl***y’, ‘bu***r’, ‘ba****d’, and ‘bull***t’ are now so tame that they’re not even considered swear words.
Out of the 20 most offensive terms, 16 were slurs rather than traditional swear words.
Of the four swears that did make it into the top 20, ‘c**t’, ‘m**********r’, ‘p***y’, and ‘w****r’, the researchers noted that ‘c**t’ and ‘p***y’ could be classed as sexist.
Other sexual terms like ‘p***k’, ‘d**k’, ‘c**k’ were ranked among the least offensive terms of all.
Lead author Dr Joshua Wedlock says: ‘More traditional terms used as swearwords and considered taboo in the past have fallen out of use and, in some cases, aren’t even recognised by young people today.’
For the study, researchers recruited 60 Australian-born university students and asked them to rate 55 swear words and slurs according to how offensive they found them.
This revealed that many words which would have once been seen as too rude for public use are now considered much more acceptable.
Dr Wedlock says: ‘Language—especially what’s considered taboo—is shaped by culture.
‘For example, as Australian society has become more secular, taboos around religious phrases used as swearwords have generally died out.’
That means phrases like ‘Jesus Christ’ or ‘damn’ have lost their power to offend.
But it isn’t just blasphemy that has lost its edge, as the researchers found that swear words ranked well below slurs for potential offence.
Meanwhile, some traditional swear words are now accepted enough to be used in advertising and mainstream media without any major complaint.
For example, in 2006, Tourism Australia launched the ‘So where the bl***y hell are you?’ advertising campaign, while the Northern Territories adopted the unofficial slogan ‘CU in the NT’.
However, even as the potency of some swear words has declined, slurs have begun to be seen as much more offensive.
The study found that racist slurs were seen as the most offensive of all, followed by homophobic terms, ableist terms, and sexist terms.
Sexist terms of abuse that target women were, perhaps unsurprisingly, seen as more offensive by women than by men, but the ranking of offensive terms was otherwise consistent.
The researchers also found that Australian students considered slurs targeting Aboriginal Australians less offensive than those targeting black people.
Dr Wedlock says: ‘The N-word was generally regarded as the top taboo.
‘I think this demonstrates the growing influence of American culture in media and music for young Australians in particular.’
This comes as studies reveal major changes in the world’s swearing habits.
Research conducted by Ofcom has shown that the UK public has started to see racist and homophobic slurs as more offensive, even as tolerance for swearing increases.
Dr Robbie Love, an expert on swearing from Aston University who was not involved in the study, told the Daily Mail: ‘There is nothing unusual about this development since taboo language has always followed along with broader social values.’
Dr Love’s research has also shown that the use of swear words has declined by a quarter since the 1990s.
In total, the amount of swearing has fallen by 27.6 per cent, from 1,822 words per million in 1994 to 1,320 words per million in 2014.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the British public has finally washed their mouths out.
Dr Love says: ‘Swearing is not falling out of fashion, it has existed for a very long time and performs a range of functions.
‘However, the words that people count as swearing change over time, and people are far more likely to swear in some contexts than others.’
