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People use the term “curse words” to denote foul language, but that’s misleading. When the Bible says not to curse someone, it doesn’t mean to not use foul language. Side note: why one should refrain from foul language is a separate topic that will not be covered here.

Cursing is simply wishing something bad upon someone. That can be done without any “bad words”. I put “bad words” in quotes because what makes the words bad is the thought or meaning behind them. You can take any socially-acceptable word and use it in a curse and then it becomes bad. I prefer the term “rude words” or “vulgarities”.

The Bible gives the concept that cursing is the opposite of blessing. Most of the curses I’ve seen start with “may” (such as “may you have such-and-such happen to you”, or “may your situation/relative/health be something bad”), which to me makes “may” a curse word.

Honorable mention goes to the phrase “why don’t you” if it implies the recipient should do something harmful.

But most of the blessings also start with “may”, so “may” is also a blessing word. Everyone is familiar with the term “curse word” but I had not considered the concept of a “blessing word” until I just wrote that previous sentence.

Note that many people say “bless you” in response to a sneeze. I don’t consider that a blessing, although it is polite at least, because a curse implies ill-will toward someone and a blessing implies goodwill toward someone, and in general saying something in response to a sneeze is jut a habit with no real meaning. And if one does not respond to a sneeze, it is amusing to me how significant the lack of response is – the quiet just hanging there. For any other bodily noises, the instigator is expected to apologize or otherwise acknowledge his act, but for a sneeze it is the beholder who is expected to speak up. I’m doing my part to break that expectation, by not responding.

Another side note: the musical Fiddler on the Roof has a song in it called “The Prayer”. But I consider it misnamed. It should be called “The Blessings” because it is full of well-wishing for people. It is not a prayer because it is addressed to the people (“May God bless you, and grant you long lives”). A prayer should be addressed to God, not people.

I was going to look into if vulgarities followed the same path as euphemisms on the euphemism treadmill (or carousel of euphemisms, depending if you heard it from Pinker or Keyes first). But it seems for us Americans the set of words that are bad/rude/vulgar is fairly consistent, unlike euphemisms that have been both invented and then gone out of fashion within my lifetime.