Advice for the Advanced: Obscenities vs. Expletives

Advice for the Advanced:
Obscenities vs. Expletives

Obscenities (curse words) and expletives---interchangeable, right?

Well...sort of.

The word "expletive" is one of those words that have been abused and misused so very, very frequently that they have adopted a "false" definition.

Linguistically speaking, an expletive is a word that contributes essentially no meaning to the sentence that contains it---what it does contribute is rhythm. Expletives are used to fill out both the meter of verse and the cadence of prose. This definition is readily readable in the word's etymology:

Expletive
Ex --> out;
Plet--> fill;

Thus an expletive is that which "fills out".

Frequently (in fact, much more frequently than any other sort of word), obscenities are used as expletives to fill out a line or add emphasis. For the purpose of illustration, pretend with me for a moment that the nonsense word "vahg" (which, to me, rhymes with "jog") is obscene.

Consider the following sentences:

-I can't find it.
-I can't vahging find it.

Here, the obscenity "vahging" has been added to the first sentence to fill out the cadence and add emphasis to the verb "to find." The obscenity is used as an expletive, and the expletive is obscene.

Consider now the following nasty, nasty retort:

-Sven is a piece of vagh.

Here, if we're still pretending that "vagh" is a curse word, we have an obscenity that is not being used as an expletive--it is simply being used as a noun (as part of a prepositional phrase).

Consider, now, the following:

-I do have one.
-I do, however, have one.

Here, the expletive is "however". The word "however" adds no meaning whatsoever to the sentence, but it does change the sentence's cadence, which also changes its nuance.

While the first sentence is read:
-I do have one.

The second is read:
-I do, however, have one.

Here, "however" is plainly an expletive, but it is certainly not an obscenity (unless, of course, you are in the habit of telling folks to "shut the however up").

Thus, expletives are not by nature obscene.

In summary:

-Though obscenities can be used as expletives, not every obscenity is an expletive.
-Though expletives can be obscene, not every expletive is.

Thus, it is not technically correct to say that expletives and obscenities are one and the same thing. More accurately, they are two circles in the same Venn diagram: Sometimes they overlap---Most of the time, they don't.

HOWEVER--language is ever protean, so of course, it always changes. Many dictionaries and thesauruses now consider obscenities and expletives to be utterly interchangeable.

There are two (general) schools of thought on language as relates to definition. The first claims that common usage of a word is the truest definition of that word---the second claims that only etymology can determine what a word actually means. This is why I wrote that expletives and obseneties are "sort of" interchangeable. If you ascribe to the Common Usage model, then to you, the words may be used interchangeably. If you prefer (as I do) to follow etymology, then you will likely find obsenities and expletives far too different to be synonyms.


Peace and prose be with you--and may you have a wonderful day.