Profanity

"Words mean things." - Rush Limbaugh.

Say what you mean. If the words you select mean exactly the thought you want to communicate, then profanity will very rarely come out of you. It is pretty rare that, in polite conversation, you will want to refer to bodily waste, fornication, or a curse to Hell. And if those are the concepts you want to speak about, then there are better words to use. Like "bodily waste", "fornication", or "curse to Hell".

It is certainly possible one might use a metaphor, but I can think of better comparisons than calling someone a body's orifice from which waste is produced. That's just foul to think about. If you mean someone seems very stupid, a "fool" would be a reasonable comparison. Or an "idiot".

These words have become some kind of bizarre punctuation in our conversation. As if we're trying to shock people into listening to us. I ascribe this to poor upbringing, leaving children open to peer pressure. We have so little confidence in the strength of our ideas, we throw these shocking words in to lend greater emotional power. In truth, all this does is pollute the idea.