Curse Levels
Curse Levels
My hobby: mixing curse levels Cueball: What a gosh-darned cunt.

In this fourth " My Hobby " strip, the hobby is mixing curse levels. Curse words (aka: swear words/profanities) are disrespectful words that are typically impolite to use in public. As noted in the strip, there are "levels" of curse words ranging from those "mild" words that are more acceptable to use, to those "severe" words that are considered very impolite (the milder curse words can be used on network television in the US, for example, while severe ones can not). Although they cannot be exactly defined, they roughly fit into "safe"(heck, gosh, dang, etc.),"mild"(d*mn, s**t, h*ll and so forth) and "severe"(those that refer to more suggestive things than the others, as well as racial slurs and such). One usually uses milder cursing ("safe") because either they personally don't feel comfortable using the more severe words, or because it would not be appropriate in the context (such as on network television, in the presence of children, etc.) Thus, mixing mild and severe curses in one usage does not usually occur, as the effect achieved by keeping the one curse word mild is negated by using another that is severe.
In a mild curse, "gosh-darned" is typically used as a minced oath of "God-damned" when the latter would be inappropriate. This is mixed with " cunt " — a vulgar term for the female genitalia, considered the most offensive swear word in many English-speaking countries.
My hobby: mixing curse levels Cueball: What a gosh-darned cunt.
