The Most (and Least) Offensive Swear Words

If your vocabulary features at least one spicy four-letter word a day, you’re definitely not alone. A new survey found that 39% of Americans admit they can’t get through the day without swearing at least once. That includes a solid 25% who drop expletives daily—like it’s part of their morning routine. Meanwhile, 12% claim they never swear at all (and we’d really like to hear what their road rage sounds like).

The poll took a deep dive into when, where, and how we swear—and which curse words are still considered “too far.” Turns out, there’s a time and a place for everything… even profanity.

Swearing Is Totally Fine (Sometimes)
The top five moments Americans think it’s perfectly acceptable to unleash a few choice words:

1. When you’re alone
2. After you’ve hurt yourself
3. Hanging out with friends
4. Watching sports
5. Posting on social media

Basically, if you stub your toe while hanging out with your friends, you’re in the clear. But don’t go tossing F-bombs everywhere.

The top places swearing is not okay? Church, in front of kids, in front of a client, at store employees, or in front of your boss. So maybe save the colorful language until after your performance review.

The Most Offensive Swear Word Is . . . ?
The survey also asked people to rate 40 swear words by how offensive they are—and the results might not surprise you.

Most offensive:

1. The C-word (81% find it offensive)
2. “Motherf—–” (71%)
3. The B-word (66%)
4. The F-word (65%)
5. The P-word (62%)

Even relatively tame exclamations aren’t safe: 5% of people are offended by “gosh,” 6% by “heck,” and 8% by “darn.”

The Swear Words We Actually Use the Most
The top three go-to curse words in America are:

• Damn
• The S-word
• The F-word

In other words, we might find certain words deeply offensive, but that doesn’t mean we’re not saying them—especially when traffic is bad or our favorite team blows a big lead.