Quote Originally Posted by Aleczan View Post
[COLOR="#9932cc"]Having said all the above in reply to Dreadnaught and to other people in general, I think I’ve adequately demonstrated my disagreement to this statement. It is not the society who tells people what is offensive. Personal experience and personal preference plays a big role in this. And for me, context is also important. When I talk among friends, telling them my story of angry encounter, I may use mild swear words in my storytelling. However, if I am to tell it to my parents, or teacher, those swear words would be omitted for propriety.

Retaining one’s conduct and politeness isn’t always restricted by the society’s standard of offensiveness, either, but rather by audience and one’s self-awareness, and most of all, by whether the person cares or does not care about public. Let me tell you a true story that happened to me the other day.
People are a product of society, that is to say, the person we become is directly influenced by society. Society is composed of the following institutions; Religion, education, government, media, family and economy. So your personal experiences and preferences are directly influenced by society. Your family try's to teach you to uphold certain values they feel are important as does your affiliation (or lack of) to a specific religion. Anything we experience falls under these institutions and our ideas and behavior are shaped by the experiences we have.

Those words you omit have been socially constructed to be "offensive". Not every society is the same, and some words you find offensive may not be offensive to everyone and vice versa.

Here are some real life name examples (that I have come across) that consist, or sound like "offensive" words:

Dick is used as a first name for a man.

Boner is the last name of a person I have met.

My 8th grade math teacher had the last name of Gaylord.

So if a man has the name of Dick Boner, who am I to demand he change his name because I find those words to be offensive?