Originally posted by: O2bnVegas
I would say, like "in the eye of the beholder", obscene or offensive language is in the ear of the beholder.
Me, I'm having to rein myself in on the d___ word and the s___ word. They've become too easy to slip out in polite company, not justified by a situation like jamming a toe against furniture or slamming a finger in a door.
Candy
Um, while literally, anyone can take offense at anything, whether something is offensive depends on a combination of societal and situational standards. So if somebody gets offended at something, that doesn't necessarily mean that said something is truly offensive.
FWIW, I doubt that saying "shit" or "damn" when you bash your toe would be frowned upon in 99.9% of social situations. In fact, people would probably chuckle and ask, "are you OK"? Yeah, maybe choke it down if you're at a wedding or being sworn in to public office.
As far as the listener judging what is and isn't offensive, I disagree. People get too offended too easily. If A says something that A can reasonably expect wouldn't be considered offensive, yet, B is offended by it, the "offense" is the fault of B, not A.
Did you know that in Victorian times, piano legs and some dining table legs were considered offensive due to their similarity to women's calves, so people would put little dresses on them to avoid being offensive? Did you know that even using the wird "legs" to refer to that part of a woman's body was offensive; only "limbs" was considered correct?
But if you do consider the word "shit" to be offensive, may I suggest you just use the word "Trump" instead? After all, they're synonyms.
