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The words are similar enough that the intent is conveyed without actually saying the offensive word in question. English has many swear words. English has many MORE minced oaths in order to avoid saying the swear word. For any given swear word, there is likely at least one, if not dozens of minced oath versions of that swear word.
It depends on context: "Damn you!!!!" (in a loud and somewhat aggressive tone) the word damn is basically a replacement for the f-word, although by deliberatly not using the f-word it's not as bad. Where as "Damn, I dropped my pen" (in an exclamatory tone) is not considered swearing, and almost casual. Darn, can sometimes be seen as worse than ...
Sorted by: 9. It means very little. If someone says "I can't find the goddamn remote control", it has the same meaning as "I can't find the remote control". The curse word just indicates the speaker's frustration. It comes from "God damn" - exactly as you say "damned by God", ie judged and doomed to punishment in Hell.
1. Damn is used now in place of Damned more or less synonymously, with the exception (as Robusto pointed out) that if something "is damned" or "be damned" then it calls to mind its more literal meaning of being consigned to Hell. This meaning is where the profanity derives from. Modern usage "This damned computer!"
Just out of curiosity, is there a specific way to do this. I've noticed sometimes there isn't a specific number of symbols but normally the number of symbols correspond to the number of letters in the cuss word. E.g.: Wow dude, you are such an &#%-hole!
The general term for these is euphemism. The use of a word or phrase to replace another with one that is considered less offensive or less vulgar than the word or phrase it replaces. Edit: just found another term: minced oath. I've never actually heard this term used, mind you, but still, it's a closer match than plain "euphemism".
Think of any other curse word; they always express very rude things, or at least, things that were very rude at the time of the word's inception. Some words, like THE n-word, did not necessarily start as curse words but became curse words when the sentiment they expressed suddenly BECAME unacceptably rude.
39 1 1 4. 1. Hi Jagid, welcome to ELU.*Curse* goes back to 13th Century OE - not much is known before that but it may be from O.Fr. curuz (anger). And swear is equally old but it meant "give a promise" rather than "use bad language", which came in around C15. Swear-word came much later, but was colloquial by 1883.
The phrase ‘bloody drunk’ was apparently = ‘as drunk as a blood’ (cf. ‘as drunk as a lord’); thence it was extended to kindred expressions, and at length to others; probably, in later times, its associations with bloodshed and murder (cf. a bloody battle, a bloody butcher) have recommended it to the rough classes as a word that ...
2. Curse words are extremes in language. They are used as markers of intense anger or pain or some other strong negative emotion. They are often very much taboo - either people hardly ever use them, and they only use them in certain social circumstances.