Why are people offended by the word sh*t and not by other words that mean the same thing like manure or crud?

Answer 1

According to my dictionary, the word is much older than the 1800s, appearing in its earliest form about 1,000 years ago as the Old English verb scitan. That is confirmed by lexicographer Hugh Rawson in his bawdily edifying book, "Wicked Words" (New York: Crown, 1989), where it is further noted that the expletive is distantly related to words like science, schedule and shield, all of which derive from the Indo-European root skei-, meaning "to cut" or "to split." You get the idea.

For most of its history "****" was spelled "shite" (and sometimes still is), but the modern, four-letter spelling of the word can be found in texts dating as far back as the mid-1700s. It most certainly did not originate as an acronym used by 19th-century sailors.

Apropos that false premise, Rawson observes that "****" has long been the subject of naughty wordplay, very often based on made-up acronyms on the order of "Ship High in Transit." For example:

In the Army, officers who did not go to West Point have been known to disparage the military academy as the South Hudson Institute of Technology.... And if an angelic six-year-old asks, "Would you like to have some Sugar Honey Iced Tea?", the safest course is to pretend that you have suddenly gone stone deaf.

Finally, all these stories are reminiscent of another specimen of folk etymology claiming that the F-word (another good, old-fashioned, all-purpose, four-letter expletive) originated as the acronym of "Fornication Under Consent of the King," or, in another variant, "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge."

Suffice it to say, it's all C.R.A.P.

Answer 2

The 'curse' words have often boggled my mind. I believe this one in particular is offensive because it is (like so many others) used out of context and used as a curse. It just happened to fall off the 'i'm an ok word' bandwagon and tumbled in to the curse word pile. You could ask this question about so many other words, the 'f' word, d*mn, b*st**d, b*tch and a couple others. Besides the 'f' word, all these words have legitimate meanings, but they are used out of context from those and made to be curses. That is why so many people are offended by them.

Answer 3

It's not the meaning of the word, but the meaning behind the word if you know what I mean.

People aren't offended by fornication or sex, but might be by the four-letter word equivalent. Sh*t is used as an epithet or swear word and that offends some people.

Answer 4

Because sh*t is a slang word that is meant to be used in a vulgar way. Manure is a proper word.

Answer 5

when William the conqueror invaded England French became the language of the upper classes. The language used by the
Anglo Saxons was considered low class. most of the words that are considered swear words are from the Anglo Saxon vocabulary

Answer 6

Connotation vs. dsenotation.

You are right; it is all the same meaning, but when you hear "s", you think one thing, as opposed to manure or crud or crap or filth

Answer 7

becaus this is the twenty first century and people can do things that don't make sense. It;s partly that the word SH** is used in terms of bad and often yelled... your guess is as good as mine.

Answer 8

Because people are idiots who assign more weight to words than need be.