Is Foul Language Immoral?

This episode examines how so-called “clean speech” is less about ethics than about power, class, and control. From the linguistic fluidity of taboo in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales to the euphemism treadmill that turned our “cocks” into “roosters,” we trace how words become “dirty” when institutions decide they are. The argument is not relativism; harm and intention still matter. But much of what passes for moral judgment about language is really status enforcement. If the good life requires integrity rather than performance, then the real ethical question isn’t whether speech sounds proper—but whether it conceals or confronts injustice.