“Damn! I Completely Forgot”: The Use of Swear Words by Millennial Women

Abstract

Abstract- The use of non-standard languages has mushroomed in the community even including the use of bad languages, the so-called swearing. People, nowadays, tend to swear a lot than they used to be. In recent years, swearing has become a part of everyday language use and it is not difficult at all to find many people use swear words within their daily interaction. Gender plays a significant role in swearing. There is a stereotype in most cultures that men are judged to swear more than women. Also, much research has revealed that males are likely to swear more than females in most cases. However, it has raised a question about the continuity of this belief. Based on the available literature, it is believed that the long-held assumption and stereotype seems no longer accurate. The purpose of this study was to find out the use of swear words by millennial women. This survey, then, was conducted at English Department of Samudra University involving 44 female students. The students were required to complete an anonymous survey on swearing. They were asked to fill out the questions related to rating the most offensive swear word; frequency of use of swear words in their everyday life; and also the most preferred words to be used within several occasions. The study successfully revealed the most common words used by millennial women. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the stereotype no longer fits with the current phenomena since females are getting familiar with a wide range of offensive words and even swearing becomes a part of their everyday language use now. Surprisingly, most respondents do not only prefer to use those taboo terms within same-sex companions but they also tend to swear in mixed-sex interaction.