[quote thepeopleversuswork]@LobsterNapkin
Why does any word come to be seen as vulgar, though?
Well but in this case it seems just to be about a desperate attempt to euphemise anything that has to do with any bodily function.
I can understand people not wanting small children to use very strong words for parts of their anatomy/not wanting them to swear etc.
But this just seems so prudish and unecessary. You're taking a perfectly normal word which has been in use for hundreds of years, is not especially offensive and is universally understood and replacing it with ridiculously childish and often much nastier sounding euphemisms (bottom burp FFS). It's utterly ridiculous.[/quote]
Yes, but that's just it. We do that with bodily functions, particularly the ones to do with excrement, because they invoke a disgust reaction.
If you call someone a shit, or associate them with being a heavy farter, it's never a nice thing, really, it's at best comical. Even Old fart while affectionate is in a way that is meant to be a little paradoxical.
So some words associated with it become slightly rude, like fart. (And it's not super-rude, only you might not say it to your boss.) If you want to be technical you can talk about flatulence. Passing gas is accurate and non-vulgar and I would argue not really a euphemism. And then people have some sillier words too, which I suppose lightens the meaning.
They are all useful words depending on what you want to say.