Me (14y male from Poland) got my english teacher annoyed/disappointed after saying the word “crap”. I’m unsure if this is the right place to ask this question but is saying that word considered bad? I always thought it was pretty mild and not a big deal.
No, not really… there are very few environments where it would not be appropriate to say “shit”, but “crap” would be acceptable. Try it out:
You are at a job interview and you say, “Excuse me, where is the bathroom? I need to take a crap.”
You are expressing your condolences about the passing of a friend to their family, and you say, “I have some of their crap I think you might want to keep in their memory.”
A politician is giving a speech, and wants to emphasize that they’re a man of the people. They emphasize that they “don’t take crap from anyone.”
Pretty cherry picked examples. Telling an interviewer anything specific about what you’re doing in the bathroom is odd, “I need to make a bowel movement” is weird too. Comparing a deceased person’s items to excrement is bad, calling it junk would be bad too but that doesn’t make junk a swear word. The third one isn’t really off-putting because of the word to me and is more about the attitude, even if they said something like “I don’t take flak from anyone” I’d have the same reaction.
Indeed, you’d have the same reaction if they said they don’t take “shit” from anyone.
You are making my point on all three examples: the direct reference to making a bowel movement is vulgar, there’s no situation where “crap” is totally fine and “shit” is not… because crap is only very mildly less vulgar than shit, they are both vulgar references to feces.
I can keep on coming up with examples. The doctor says, “I need a stool sample,” vs. the doctor saying, “I need a sample of your crap, please.” Substitute shit and it is not particularly more shocking; neither works.
Give it a try: what’s an example where “shit” would be shocking, and “crap” would be totally acceptable?
No, a doctor saying they need a shit sample is definitely more shocking than using a medical term, lmao
My dude, re-read the comment for a sec. A doctor saying they need a “shit sample” or a “cup of your crap” would both be much more shocking than a stool sample.
… that’s the point.
Just because two words are unprofessional doesn’t mean they’re equally vulgar.
Ok. Go ahead and show they’re not. Give me a single circumstance where “shit” is unacceptable and “crap” is totally fine.
Television targeted at pre teens and teenagers is a good example, saying shit would feel weird but crap is fine.