What do you think is the worst out of all of them? I know that the N word became a double standard, You should NEVER call a girl the C word even if you hate her. And fuck is more mainstream and is used widely around the world (I am no exception). Which one really is the queen mother of dirty, nasty, vulgar words?

What does the Queen's mother have to do with this? Are we looking for a word that's a bit antique, possibly dusty, but spawns royalty?

depends on how theyve effected you, personally.

ive never been called "nigger". my father used to call black people who committed crime niggers. it upset me when i heard him call them that, but i wasnt entirely sure why. i dont personally believe in right or wrong, which is why i said that.
i imagine it is likely to be much more significant for a black person to hear.

"cunt" is a word ive heard tossed around by my fellow females. an uglier word than "bitch" but with roughly the same level of malice applied. i think "cunt" is used when "bitch" seems to have lost its punch against the person in question. ive noticed men use it much more often to describe females theyre at odds with, whereas females tend to call each other "bitch" much more often. though now that i think about it, men use "little bitch" to demean other males and seem to react to it much more than being called an asshole or bastard.

i think "faggot" is a worse "f-word" than "fuck". "fuck" is even used in porno films, so it cant be THAT bothersome. its also commonly used to imply shock, physical pain, and physical pleasure.

as for "faggot"...ive mostly heard it playfully tossed back and forth among gaming friends, or homosexuals who dont seem particularly hurt about it. granted i think women use that word MUCH less than men do, so thats pretty much the extent of my experience with it.


as for which is the worst.... i think "nigger" is. its been around for longer, it has more baggage, and while there are a few exceptions, very few people are terribly comfortable with hearing or saying it compared to the other two. "cunt" or "faggot" might be thrown around during a fight, but "nigger" typically starts fights.

and has anybody else noticed that all three are used to describe minorities? black people, gay people, and women. or sex, for "fuck", which i think paints a picture about how sexually repressed we are. hmmmmm.

I vote for N as having the worst negative impact mostly because it is also racist for anyone but an african american to say. The others are bad too but hold no racist connotations.

I personally dislike C word more though than the n word, because to me it is very disparaging an rude sounding and I never hear it used much.

I did hear some crazy white guy muttering racial etiphets out the window of his porche and he screeched 'mexican c***' at no one in particular as I drove down the street thursday. I was shocked, as I rarely see anyone act so stupidly or rudely, especailly without provocation. Maybe he was screeching at someone on his phone- but I was annoyed and disgusted at this man and wondered if he was screeching at me.

I don't think this is a debate, but growing up in New Zealand "fuck" was definitely the winner. "Nigger" wasn't used here, so it has much less an impact than in the United States, similar I suppose of "Kaffir" (a racial slur in South Africa) if it was used in the US. I think "fuck" has the most widespread impact globally, but that impact is lessening as more people say it freely - which is fine. I get a knot in my stomach when my brothers call people they dislike "faggot" with a real venomous tone - but this is the thing, right? This is highly subjective, and very locally variant.

I think this thread would do better in discussion than "debate".

I actually think that fuck (and all its permutations, such as motherfucker, which is probably the "worst" as terms containing "fuck" go) is the least offensive of the three, at least in the US. As SuicidiaParadisia pointed out, nigger and cunt are both terms used exclusively against minorities and women. (I once read a book on the linguistics of swearing called "Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language" that's really in-depth about the history of swearing, how words come to be considered bad, and it brought up the point that the worst words are ones that can only be applied to a specific group of people, and don't have as vulgar an equivalent for the person who's doing the swearing.) For example, if a white man calls me a cunt, I can't call him anything back that has similar force (a "dick" or even a "pussy" doesn't have the same force of language - and notice that the references to female body parts tend to be considered worse than male?) And if a white person calls a black person a nigger, there's no similar word a black person can apply that has the same effect - again, the closest equivalents would probably be something like "cracker" or "honky," neither of which are wont to make people gasp.

Considering the historical context that the N-word has in the US, it's probably the "worst" of the three words here, but I'm not sure about other English-speaking countries. OTOH, some members of the African-American community have made efforts to take back the N-word (just as the LGBT community has worked to take back the words "queer" and even "fag" so that they can be used by members of that group), while I've never heard of feminists attempt to retake the C-word. (Heck, I remember in high school how people got sent home/suspended for wearing "V-day" and "The Vagina Monologues" T-shirts to school, because the school felt that the word "vagina" was distracting and offensive.)

And now this thread is in debate! Hooray, mods!

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigger

I've only heard the word Nigger used a handful of times with with it's "original" meaning. I most often hear it used to mean "a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.". Even then, I only really hear it used between friends or at anonymous objects that couldn't get offended anyway. Usually, people will say "nigga" instead of "nigger" if they're just referring to their friends.

My favorite use of the word is by Dopelives. Of course he doesn't mean that video games are black people, and he would dislike them because of their race if they were, it's just a curse word. It sounds funny when he calls this guy a "ShitNigger", and it gets his point across. (I mean look at him! In context that dude is pretty frightening.)

I think that I was late to the party when it comes to "cunt"; people will say a myriad of other curse words in different combinations and with different meanings, but they step on the breaks for "cunt". I really don't get it. It's just a word.Cunt. Say it. Cuntcunt. Essentially, that's my best friend's name, she's my cunt just as she would be my bitch if that word wasn't so overused.

Everyone uses fuck. It's all purpose. People who get offended by any sort of curse word will probably still get offended by fuck, but people okay with the big seven will probably be fine with fuck.

Honestly, I think -any- word is dirty when it's pointed -at- someone, with the intent to cause emotional harm. Whether you call someone a cunt or a shithead or fuckwad or whatever, it's still (in my mind) basically equally rude and insulting. Racial insults may rank a little bit higher in my mind as it's not only insulting but de-humanizing.

Swearing that is -not- at someone - that is, "This cake is fucking awesome!" doesn't bother me in the slightest as long as it's not every other word. I don't think it's dirty or rude - I may not say it in front of, say, a government worker helping me with my paperwork, or in my kid's preschool classroom, or to someone's grandmother as I know those are situations where it may offend others, but I am not even slightly offended by such language myself as long as it's not directed at a person. It's the insult that counts, not the sounds.

As HP said, if you call someone a "fucking c***" you are using words to deliberately insult them. However if you hurt yourself and shout out "fucking c***" then it's less harmful as the words aren't directed at a particular person nor are they being used to purposely insult someone.

I loathe the C-word. I think it's vile and will not use it. In terms of swearing it is undoubtedly the most offensive word you can use. On TV here we have the watershed which means that mature content won't be shown on TV until after 9pm. The C-word, however, isn't allowed to be played until later (10pm I think).

The N-word is in a different category to swearing as it is a racial slur, but because of the history behind it I think it is the most offensive word out of the three.

PG - Some people are always offended by swearing, because they believe certain words are inherently offensive no matter the context. This is a personal thing - I am not one of those people, so I honestly cannot speak for those people as I really don't understand it. I think -any- word said too much tends to lose its impact, so I would be as annoyed with someone calling everything "awesome" as I would with them calling everything "fucking awesome" - the swearing doesn't matter, IMO.

Call anyone a cunt, and it's usually offensive. It's not a nice thing to call someone, unless you are friends with them and you know that they're not going to be bothered by it and will understand you are joking. Pretty much as el_flel said - if it's at someone, it's insulting and hurtful, but if it's just an exclamation, it's not a big deal. But other people might think it's a big deal just because you used those words and would be WAY offended if you yelped, "Fucking cunt!" because you stubbed your toe really hard, while they wouldn't be bothered at all if you said, "Oh shoot!" Again, I am not one of those people - if you're not using swear words -at someone- then I do not find it offensive in the slightest. I would be equally as offended if someone called me a cunt as if they called me a stinky butthead - it's the insult, not the words.

Calling someone a nigger, even in jest, unless you know them and (usually) are black yourself/they are black themselves is almost always offensive because of the racial implications of the word. I suggest you look up the history of slavery and post-slavery race relations in the US to understand the context of why a word that has been used so offensively toward a race would be deeply offensive when directed at someone. To the point where me, as a white chick from the US, is rather uncomfortable typing it out.

I think the n-word is the most generally offensive of the three, but I personally find the c-word very distasteful. It's an ugly-sounding word. I'm not especially fond of any of the colloquial terms for women's body parts. All of them sound rather vulgar. The terms for men's genitalia do, too, but I guess I've been somewhat desensitized to them from hearing them more often.

The f-word has lost most of it's punch, I think. My grandmother still has fits when she hears it (and my dad really likes messing with her :P) but I think most people hear it so often that it has little effect. I remember seeing the movie Formula 51 and they seemingly said the f-work about once per sentence, on average. I barely even heard the word by the end of the movie and it wasn't even shocking to begin with. Wandering off topic a bit, I think cursing is most effective when it is done very seldom and thrown in to punctuate a strong sentiment. It is also funniest that way. On the other hand, my dad often achieves humor through either being very creative in his cursing or through throwing one or two innocuous words into the storm of cursing.

Anyway, I'm probably also a little desensitized to the n-word, come to think of it. I had many black classmates in public school and they would often use the word. I never used it, but I have heard them use it a lot. So that might be part of why I'm less offended by the n-word than the c-word.

I think "pussy" is the worst one by how much ground it covers by it's many uses. That word used alone can apply to both men and women, and can mean different injury by how it's used.

I think it's different for every different person. It's like asking what is the most complimentary word you can use. It's all based on opinion and context.

It appears that of the three words cunt is the worst because it seems to be the one that people are least willing to put in writing!

Wait, the c word is cunt and not cock right?

All of them are bad kinda hard choosing which one is worst different strokes for different folks.

Actually, I feel more uncomfortable writing the n-word than the c-word (maybe because I'm female?) But the c-word is indeed "cunt." Maybe it's because I've been reading too much Game of Thrones lately, but "cock" doesn't rank anywhere near the top of "list of swearwords that I consider really bad" - it just sounds kind of archaic on its own, and the only time I've heard it used aloud as swearing is in a compound word like "cocksucker." Random thought - does the word "cocky" derive from this?

I'm going to have to vote "fuck" as it's pretty much a universal bad boy. In the US, the word "cunt" isn't as bad as it is in other countries, so I personally don't find anything wrong with it. I also don't like the word "pussy", it just sounds so vulgar.

The "N" word isn't bad, IMO, but it isn't good. I know double standards are bad, but it's really one of those words that carry one. I personally use the N word - in it's less brash form "nigga" - all the time because it's just....part of the lingo, I guess. But I also am black, so it's "okay". However, I'll call anyone by that name; Black, White, Asian, Hispanic. It's a term of endearment in most cases. I just feel, like HP said, as long as the word isn't said to be mean or spiteful, then it shouldn't matter who uses it.

I know this is a little off-topic, but I'm not convinced that it makes much sense to focus on such "dirty" words as being particularly offensive or insulting. If someone wants to offend, insult or upset me, they'd be better off not bothering with swearwords at all. There are plenty of other things that a person could say to me which I would find much more insulting than any variation on cunt, or anything else - it's kind of like asking which is the most serious global ecological problem; snails, sharp pebbles on the beach, or the smell from public toilets.

Situation dependent.

I think the word nigger has pretty much lost it's background. In no way do I think it's as bad as it use to be since it's being thrown around with little thought these days. People don't understand what it's true meaning was and it's a completely different word.

Cunt was never really that bad, to be honest.

I, personally, fucking love the fucking word fuck. That being my point-It's situationally dependent and none of the words really carry their original meaning anymore. I can use fuck to describe hate, love, the act, ect. ect.

I swear like a drunken sailor. No words defined as "swear words" really bother me.

Though calling someone a "nigger" with the point of being hateful and racist is wrong. That goes with any of those derogatory words insulting someones culture (chink, wagon burner, etc.)

Calling me, or someone, "stupid" or its varieties, and I go hulk. THAT is a dirty word to me.

Cunt, wielded ironically, or in an attempt to reclaim the word is awesome. I personally like the word cunt, but don't direct it at me to insult me or we're going to have a problem.
Nigger is a horrible word and I do not agree that it's lost its meaning. It is a slur used to dehumanize a human being and nothing will ever strip that of its power. Again, there's an exception made when it's used in an attempt to reclaim the slur. I still don't like it, but being white-privileged as I am, it's not up to me to tell them when and how they should or should not use that word. Kind of like how I don't like people telling me I can't use the word cunt since I am an owner of a cunt and I only use the word around people that know me and know what my intent is.
Fuck is just a fucking word. There's plenty of other words that are much more offensive than the word fuck is but like with anything else, there's a time. I wouldn't use it in my grandmother's presence because respect but I'll use it with my friends and on the internet like nobody's fucking business.