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Charlie Metcalfe
As you might expect, this article contains very strong language
All the swear words in the English language have now been ranked and categorised in order of their offensiveness by the British broadcasting regulator.
The words range from ‘cow’ in the mild section to ‘motherfucker’ in the strongest section.
Ofcom interviewed over 200 people across the UK in 2020 to discover people’s perception of the words and rank their findings.
A spokesperson told Indy100: “The findings are from new research on people's attitudes towards potentially offensive language and gestures in broadcasting, the biggest study of its kind carried out by Ofcom.
“The results are vital in supporting our broadcasting standards work to protect viewers and listeners, especially children.”
Participants in the study were asked for their opinion on 150 different swear words.
The words included those with a general aura of offence, as well as those linked to race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, health conditions, body parts, sexual references, religious insults, and even hand gestures.
The four categories allocated to the words were ‘mild’, ‘medium’, ‘strong’, and ‘strongest’.
These are the findings for the general swear words in the mild section:
Mild:
The participants cranked the level up a notch for the general medium section, although we’re still in the borderline socially appropriate (and a little bit funny) section here.
Medium:
For the strong section we’re getting into school detentions and workplace cautions arena.
Strong:
And finally for the general section, the strongest swear words in the English language (cover your ears!)
Strongest:
According to Ofcom, the words in the mild sector are acceptable for children to hear.
Those in the medium section were voted by participants as potentially unacceptable for TV before 9pm and anything stronger should be kept well after that 9pm clock strike.
The survey also discovered the most offensive words relating to sexual insults. Most were rated ‘strong’.
In the mild and medium section we have:
The research has been the most in-depth ever, according to Ofcom, and it discovered people are becoming less and less tolerant of racist or discriminatory language on TV.