Profanity

A profanity will have an original meaning (which may change across time and language) which in itself may give some cause for offence. Additionally, many profanities will have applied meanings of their own, usually associated with their context and which therefore may vary significantly depending upon the intended purpose of the word in the sentence. For example; fuck, a profanity in English, has come to be a verb for the sexual act and may be used literally in this sense - "I fucked that bitch", but also in the context of an exclamation, "Fuck, he's clever!", as part of a derogatory remark - "Fuck off!", to refer to acts of violence - "I'll fuck you up!" or to simply add weight to a sentence - "This is fucking interesting!". The degree to which a profanity is offensive is a highly subjective matter as it relies upon how the use of the word affects an individual or group of individuals. Some will consider the original meaning of a word (for example, the sexual act) as being offensive or as a subject not fit for polite conversation (sexual acts, sexual references or reference to bodily parts, or religiously sensitive subjects) whilst others will have no objection to these subject matters and therefore words used to describe them.

Some will feel that certain words, having an established social taboo associated with them, are simply offensive by themselves, regardless of any context in which they are used; others will find profanities offensive mainly when used in a way deliberately intended to offend or insult, but less offensive in other contexts, such as a neutral exclamation.

Furthermore, some people may be in the habit of using highly insulting language (which may include profanity) for style or comedy purpose, especially amongst friends or familiar company where the intention is either not to insult or is to apply only a very mild insult. Thus, otherwise highly offensive insults can be used as terms of endearment - "How's it going, motherfucker?"
Finally, profanities may cause offence, regardless of context, if they have some religious meaning which may cause their use to offend those who follow a particular religion. The original meaning of the term was restricted to blasphemy, sacrilege or saying the Abrahamic god's name (or an identifier such as "Lord" or "God") in vain. Profanity in this context could be represented as a secular indifference to religion or religious figures, while blasphemy was a direct attack on them, often interpreted as such, even when the intent was not to do so.
As the concept of a profanity has been extended to include expressions with scatological, sexist, derogatory, racist, or sexual interpretations, the broader concept of 'socially unacceptable' language has emerged, with religious meaning playing a varying role, and the more vague and inclusive interpretation blurring the distinction between categories of offensiveness.

This modern concept of profanity has evolved differently throughout different cultures and languages. For example, many profanities in Canadian French are a corruption of religious terminology (the sacres), while many English obscenities tend to reference sexuality. A term which functions as a profanity in one language may often lack any profane quality when translated into another language.