Serious question: Why? What is it about it that makes it beyond the pale?
Not racist. Not misogynist. Not religious. Usually not aimed at someone (I agree that calling anyone a name is never acceptable, politicians excepted. 
)
So why is that the one that is so much worse?
I curse when Iâm driving and someone else pulls in front of me without using their blinker, etc. It just happens and I think my daughters learned the basic curse words from me that way! But, thatâs in my car.
From casual observation, I do believe one thing. The general level of civility has gone down and the amount of bombastic behavior has gone up in this country the past year or so, generally speaking.
Itâs been going on a lot longer than that. Ten years ago when my kids were in high school, I complained to the teachers about permitting students to use the âfâ word and the âmfâ word in school. I was told I was being culturally insensitive.
My kids and I were volunteering at a food bank when they were about 10 and 13 and there was a group of high school kids from a religious school that is not my religion (they wearing t-shirts and they were there as a group but I couldnât identify a parent or teacher with them). They pretty loudly and very regularly used âJesus Christâ as a swear word and it made me extremely uncomfortable - Iâm a member of a protestant denomination.
I really wondered what to do about it because it deeply offended me and I didnât want my kids to hear it - but since they were not Christian I guess they didnât consider it a swear word so who was I to tell them that itâs inappropriate. Their faith doesnât consider Jesus to be God, so I guess they werenât technically using the Lordâs name in vain.
I ended up not saying anything but telling my kids after the 3 hour shift was over that the use of âJesus Christâ is offensive and disrespectful and upsetting to me.
I still wonder if I should have said something to the kids using the words? It still bothers me. I feel like I failed at being a good parent and a good Christian.
ETA: Study showing swearing is a sign of intelligence:
https://www.sciencealert.com/swearing-is-a-sign-of-more-intelligence-not-less-say-scientists
@garland, itâs like obscenity - you know when you see (hear) it. I canât believe we would have to explain why a word like that is offensive. 
Itâs like that because you were told from the time you were tiny that it was a swear word or a âbadâ word. Itâs just 4 letters. It could have been ârockâ that you were told was bad way back when. It only has significance and an offensive meaning if you choose to impart the word with that.
I just personally donât get why some find simple words so offensive. I honestly feel like âshut upâ is worse because of the meaning behind it and how it is used. That was something I didnât allow my kids to use in our house. But it has nothing to do with the two words themselves.
Iâm an offender. I swear a lot - especially these days.
Timely thread for me⊠last night at dinner there was a woman at the next table (easily in her 40s and maybe in her 50s) who was regularly - and in a loud voice - using the F word, followed by words that described the male genitalia (and not the anatomically correct words), and others that I thought were inappropriate, considering there were young kids at every table except hers and mine. She was also drinking, excessively. When she stood up to drive herself home, I asked the waiter (who clearly knew her), if he thought he should call her an Uber. He thanked me for my concern - and said thatâs just how she is.
Interestingly, it was clear from the conversation that this was a group of coworkers and one of their clients!!
My family teases me about having a mouth like a sailor, but this was inappropriate even in my book!!
Purely linguistically, if you use swear words left and right, it renders them meaningless. Theyâre supposed to convey very strong emotions, and thatâs how I see highly educated people around me use them - rarely and appropriately.
Now donât get me started on Russian swear words, their richness of expression is a stuff of legends
Interesting discussion! I looked up âprofanityâ on the source of all wisdom, Wikipedia, and saw a couple of classifications of the functions of swearing.
Another narrows it down to three:
To me itâs simple. Offensive language is offensive. Itâs a form of bullying. Itâs impolite. Itâs uncivil. Itâs unnecessary to make oneâs point.
Again, I modify this statement by excluding milder, inoffensive words. Itâs the f word the mf word, the c word and so forth, the really offensive ones Iâm referencing.
My son came home from elementary school one day completely shocked. He said his teacher said the four letter âcâ word. We talked about it a little bit and he had always heard that the c word was a word to never say. I started wondering and asked him to spell it for me. C-R-A-P
Haha. Even CC allows crap.
One of my kids did something similar talking about another kid in kindergarten saying the S word. I asked them to whisper it to me. It was STUPID. But that is actually a more harmful word to say to another young kid than the other S word, IMO.
One day my then two-year-old said âDimmitâ and it immediately caught my attention. I asked her what it meant, and she said it meant she spilled something and was really mad. I think she may have overheard her father say something similar on occasion.
@doschicos Once again you have said what I was thinking only more clearly than I could have.
Whatâs fascinating to me is that some people canât imagine that not everybody cares or is offended by â inappropriate â words. To them itâs unquestionably a bad thing and they are shocked that we donât care if our kids use âbadâ words anyplace other than somewhere like school where there are actual rules against it (which we expect our kids to follow)
One thing I can. not. stand. Is when men apologize to women (onlyâŠnot to other men) for swearing. I canât even tell you how disrespectful I think that is from someone who thinks they are being respectful.
Like our ears are virginal? 
As far as Iâm concerned, you can swear a blue streak if youâre around people who donât care. But if youâre around people who do, or are out in public, I think itâs crass for you to do it. Whatâs hard for me to imagine is that people donât âget itâ (or care) that some people ARE offended by language like that.
My older kid uses the f word all the time. Apparently thatâs the way all his friends talk. The younger one not so much. We asked them not to use it at home. I think itâs important to be able to code-switch. There are situations where you will be judged by your language. They are adults now and can make their own choices.
@college_query, thanks for this quote about different reasons for swearing.
If you had #1 happen to you as a child, or actually at any age, repeatedly, by someone you love or trust, it can linger. Those words can get associated with a person being out-of-control, abusive, violent. Of course, itâs also about tone, body language and actions, but for some reason abusers tend to swear at their victims, so a connection may form.
If you only hear people swearing when they drop their coffee or out of conversational habit, I could see why you might not understand the strong reaction some have to those words.
One time when I was a very new engineer, my employer was slow, so they asked me to oversee construction of manholes and sewer pipes in our town. Like I knew ANYTHING about that - Iâm a structural engineer! I was on site from October through January, in Maine. What a miserable experience. We had to have had record-breaking rainfall amounts - there was mud everywhere. The crew was incompetent and every other word was F. It obviously made no difference to them that I was female, ha. I would come home every night with that filth in my head. I am glad I never had to work in the field again!