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The Dilemma: You’ve just jammed your toe or cracked open your 401(k) report, and you’re ready to explode with a barrage of words that would make even the most seasoned sailor blush. Which category do those vivid expletives belong to?
People You Can Impress: Sailors, legal experts, linguists.
The Quick Trick: Who’s upset by your choice of words? Obscenity will get you into legal trouble. Profanity will ruffle the feathers of religious groups and authority figures. Vulgarity just gets you a disapproving look from your mom.
The Explanation: Obscenity (derived from the Latin obscenus, meaning "foul, repulsive, detestable") typically refers to sexual or vulgar references to the body or bodily functions (e.g. F*&k and s#$t). It is also used in legal contexts to describe expressions—whether words, images, or actions—that violate the sexual morals of a particular time and place, and thus are not protected by the First Amendment.
However, in the legal world, we're still trying to define exactly what qualifies as obscene and what doesn't.
Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously stated that although he couldn’t define obscenity, he knew it when he saw it. The Miller Test, established by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. California, brought us a step closer. If an expression meets these three criteria, it is considered obscene:
1. An average person, applying contemporary community standards, would judge that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest. 2. The work depicts or describes, in an explicitly offensive manner, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically outlined by applicable state law. 3. The work, viewed in its entirety, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
If the expression does not satisfy any one of these criteria, you're in the clear. However, terms like "average person," "community standards," "patently offensive," and "serious value" are all subjective. Even with the Miller Test, there’s no universal standard for what is obscene, and the lines between protected speech and unprotected obscene expression can differ across federal court districts.
When using profanity, you don't have to worry about legal issues (since it has no legal definition), but if you believe in an immortal soul, you might run into problems. Profanity (from the Latin profanes, meaning "outside the temple") initially referred to things outside the church. Over time, it evolved to mean blasphemy, sacrilege, or taking the Lord's name in vain (which we now simply call blasphemy).
Today, profanity is considered language that specifically offends religious communities. It can also extend to language that is scatological, derogatory, racist, sexist, or sexual. What counts as profane often depends on the context and the people around you.
Lastly, vulgarity (from the Latin vulgis, meaning "the common people") originally referred to writing in a vernacular language rather than Latin. Nowadays, it holds two meanings depending on the perspective. For some, vulgarity is simply coarse or crude language. For others, it specifically means using a crude word in a context where a more refined expression would be expected.
