Are damn and ,hell cuss words and why?

I lived my entire life on the west coast , where both the terms, "hell" and "Damn". Were not only common, but a common mode of speach that you could use under even buisness realations with your customers. I have moved to Missouri, and have been told that both of these terms are not only horrible but definitely unproffessional to use. I can understand that the majority of the super religeous are in the midwest, especially in the Ozarks where I have recently learned there are over 1700 churches in the area. I can see that these words have been taught to be wrong far more than where I moved from. Here is my issue, I can see using the term "Jesus" as a derogatory term would be an issue to be angry at . Much as the Muslims are willing to attack and kill the people of the Netherlands for supporting a cartoon artist who makes a cartoon including Mohhamed. But the words hell and damn confuse me. If hell is such a bad place that christians not only believe in and want others to believe in, shouldn't the word be derogatory in every day speach to continue to remind people that hell is a bad place? As far as "damn" is concerned, it is short for "damnation", and has spurred many other sayings including damn it. If damnation is also such a bad thing, shouldn't Christians also promote this as derogitory form to remind them? For all those of us who are not Christians, Muslims, Buddists, or any other religeon this has become common speak in the U.S. You would think Christians would be grateful for us using these terms as "bad things". My only question is why are the christians stopping it if they want their ideas to carry forward?

Who knows? christians are a weird bunch who believe in weird things. Half the crap they preach contradicts itself anyway. I heard hell is quite nice this time of year anyway :p

Hell is a metaphorical threat which was used to scare and control the general, ignorant population. Not much is new, I guess.

To hell with it and them.

reply to post by purplemonkeydishwasher


and you know there is no such place as Hell, How?

I do not esteem any word as a cuss word myself. A word is a word. I won't use them in the presence of people who think the roof is going to cave in on them for saying them though.

One thing I never understood is the use of God and damn together make it vulger.
Where in that is God's name mentioned? Where is God's name taken in vain?

The reason damn and hell are still considered taboo or curse words is basically a religious phenomenom. These two words are very close in their usage. A curse is an expression that misfortune will fall on someone. So when you say damn, you are cursing that person or object. You are calling for misfortune. Hell is the ultimate curse in the Judao-Christian religions. You are calling for eternal misfortune which is damnation. The religious take these things seriously. There are still many people who believe that words have great power. That is why these words are considered curses and are still taboo. On the other hand, I never thought it was very professional to pepper your sentances with four letter words.

reply to post by Voyager1


Taking God's name in vain is not about vocabulary. Christians take God's name (Christian = follower of Christ or God the Son). Those who call themselves Christians but act in a way that is obviously not Christ like are the ones taking God's name in vain.