If you are like me, you probably grew up thinking all three of these things are the same. You may still think they are all just synonyms for the same thing. I did until very recently!

When I was a kid, we always called any bad word a cuss word. "I'm going to tell the teacher you're cussing!" we'd all yell at each other at school. Later as I grew up, I noticed most of the adults around me never referred to bad words as "cuss" words, but instead as curse words. I figured, as kids do, that I had been all wrong and that I should copy the adults, so I too soon started calling all bad language "curse" words. As to swearing, I used it along side both "cussing" and later "cursing", after I changed terms.

Well, did you know there is actually a difference between these three terms? If you guess the difference has to do with religion, you'd be right!

Let's look!

The commonly accepted distinction is as follows.

[note: before we jump into it, there is some disagreement among scholars here, so keep that in mind.]

[also note: I will be using bad words in this post]

Swearing is profanity—words with a religious context. But only when they have no direction. Stubbing your toe and crying out "Damn it" is swearing. In older books instead of "swearing", they refer to this as "making an oath" or something similar.

Now, cursing. Cursing kind of says it in the name. When you curse someone, you are wishing harm on them. Cursing is also profanity—words with a religious context. The difference from swearing is that cursing involves a direction. So just hitting your thumb and yelling "damn" is swearing, but looking someone square in the eye and saying "I wanted that donut that you just ate. Damn you! Damn you to hell!" is cursing.

Finally, we get to cussing. "Cuss" started as an Americanism. It was a slang way to say "curse", first recorded in 1815. But from that point, a distinction did arise. Cuss words became vulgar words—words that don't have anything to do with religion but that society agrees are "bad". These are not profane words or blasphemous, they are simply words that people don't like. So things like "Fuck you!" and "That shit she cooked is killing me" are cussing.

You can add cussing to swearing and it all becomes swearing. So when you are hammering nails and miss and strike your thumb and scream out "God fucking dammit, Christ almighty, fuuuuck" that is all swearing. Even when we add in blasphemy like that (taking the lord's name in vain) it still would fall under the "swearing" umbrella. On the other hand, when you add either one in with curse words, you are cursing. So "god damn it. I really fucking wanted that hella sweet looking donut. Damn you to hell for taking it from me, you asshole!" would be cursing.

Fun, eh?

Interestingly, though, of the three, cuss words tend to become more accepted by society over time and are considered less vulgar. Consider "nuts", as in "Nuts—I lost again." In the 1920s that was an impolite cuss word. Today, kids and church ladies say it without thought.

And now you know!

Do these distinctions matter? Not really. Almost no one knows the difference these days and probably won't care even if you explain. But it is a fun piece of trivia you can bring out sometimes among the right crowd.

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.