The Elder Goth - Word of Curse

Speak not the word of curse or ye shall call forth the fates of doom. I received a classic education in Africa, thank you colonization for bring civilization to the savage wilderness. Unfortunately the digital age decided to bastardise written and spoken communication to gift us with Grammarly,  the official idiot decoder ring. Recently a colleague shared their concerns about the explicit language use on a WhatsApp group chat for, as everyone on the group were informed, idiot is a curse word according to the Grammarly decoder ring update of 2025. Sometimes I wish I was making this up but none on my works of fantasy are deeply creative, Netflix want the series right, somebody call Beyoncé for the lead.

I asked my buddy Google about this.

Hey Google, is the word idiot a curse word?

It is an insult—it means “stupid person”—but it is not offensive enough to be on the list of taboo words. That is, it is not vulgar or profane. For a word to qualify as a swear word, it must have the potential to offend, crossing a cultural line into taboo territory. As a general rule, swear words originate from taboo subjects. This is pretty logical. The topic is off-limits, so the related words aren't meant to be spoken either. The terms idiot, imbecile, moron, and their derivatives were formerly used as technical descriptors in medical, educational, and regulatory contexts. These uses were broadly rejected by the close of the 20th century and are now considered offensive but not words of curse.

Thank you Google. I'll tell what are words of curse; the want of understanding. Having exhausted my good buddy Google I turned to myself for insight. I asked myself, self what other words in Africa are misconstrued by want of understanding?

Irony. There is no word in the languages of Africa for Irony. People simply don't understand it because they don't know it.

Accountabilty. There is not a politician in Africa capable of spelling the word, Accountabilty is hard.

Sarcasm. The want of understanding is often perceived as offensive insult, thus a word of curse.

Common sense. No I'm joking, even idiots have common sense...