Apparently the term "Black Hole" was rejected because of its obscene connotation. The proponent is supposed to have added: "But these black hole don't have hair around them!"

It's just a sound coming out of a person's mouth, it's probably not the word itself but how it's being used although many people have been trained to auto-react to hearing those words. If they were insulted with curse words in a pleasant tone by someone who spoke a language they couldn't understand, they probably wouldn't take offense. And sometimes we take offense even when there's no 'bad' words, we just don't like what's being said or how it's being said.

I don't think words themselves are bad. There is just poor usage made of words.

Wow....emigrated to Australia at the age of 33 without any knowledge of vulgarism? Comparable to being being thrown into the pool to learn how to swim! lol!

Any of you old enough may remember a natural history show called Crocodile Hunter with an Australian called Steve Irwin. Now he was renowned for saying "Crikey!" all the time, the funny bit of course that it took the producers a lot of work to get him to say "Crikey" rather than the more common Australian vernacular "F***".

I think the shock value of profanities have been in decline since the 1940's. 'Bad' words have slowly entered into our everyday discourse and with more common use they have lost much of their original shock value. Still, a well placed expletive can shock, amuse, or be very snarky.

Funnily enough I am considered well spoken by most as in I do not use offensive language often, the reason that I find that funny is I cannot consider words to be offensive.
A rose by any other name would smell like a porcupine or something like that.
So, F bomb C word etc,
may as well just say the word and we should all just get over it.

I don't really give a shit about using most bad words as long as they aren't directed at other people with the intention to be hurtful or abusive (e.g. gay or racial slurs or abusive language like "fuck you, asshole" ).

..But if I stub my toe, "god fucking damn it, you asshole sidewalk"

I'm guilty of using this option. If you don't like it f*** you.

If used appropriately I don't see the problem

I find people who believe culture can be changed by linguistics irksome, its just a means of communication nothing more, internal change has shit to do with language, its a lazy inept fix for a deeper problem.

I'm a fairly foul-mouthed individual in casual settings. I'm glad the setting is there to protect those who'd rather not be exposed to the C-word and the F-bomb.

Define "bad" words - could vary by culture and context. I prefer creative insults to common vulgarities probably because it's more interesting to listen to,

oh for fuck's sake words are just made up human constructed noises. If you let them offend you then they have power over you. I refuse to let a human sound or written marking (word) hold the power to upset me. Besides as Billy Connelly says "its not true that people use swear words because they have limited vocabulary. I know lots of words but I still love the word fuck".

If just used in common text and/or speech, not directed towards someone; than I personally don't mind. I myself, and multiple studies have shown that people who swear or use profanity more often are more trustworthy and honest. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it, because if someone is saying what immediately comes to mind or is giving raw emotion in speech; then they're not going to censor their language.