{ "model": { "rank": 2936, "code": "thing-q184439", "model_id": "vr.tr.profanity", "name": "profanity", "purpose": "Let an agent explain profanity descriptively, relay linguistic, psychological, legal and cultural research from linguistics and media regulation sources with attribution, describe the named topics without reproducing offensive words unnecessarily, and distinguish profanity from hate speech, blasphemy as a legal offence, minced oaths and harassment.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q184439/", "tier": 2, "score": 94, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "vulgar", "Latin profanity", "Meitei profanity", "Esperanto profanity", "dick slang", "Profanity in science fiction", "Kazakh profanity", "Russian profanity", "English profanity", "Quebec French profanity", "Italian profanity", "Polish vulgarisms and curses", "Finnish profanity", "Portuguese profanity", "Profanity in American Sign Language", "Cantonese profanity", "Japanese profanity" ], "aliasCount": 17, "merged": 17, "knownIn": 94, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.profanity", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q184439", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184439", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T20:08:43Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q184439", "registryId": "vr.tr.profanity", "name": "profanity", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q184439/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.profanity", "name": "profanity", "purpose": "Let an agent explain profanity descriptively, relay linguistic, psychological, legal and cultural research from linguistics and media regulation sources with attribution, describe the named topics without reproducing offensive words unnecessarily, and distinguish profanity from hate speech, blasphemy as a legal offence, minced oaths and harassment.", "definition": "Language regarded as offensive, vulgar or taboo in a given culture, including swear words, obscenities, blasphemy and slurs, used for emphasis, emotion, humour, insult or group bonding, varying across languages and communities, as studied in topics such as Latin profanity, Meitei profanity, Esperanto profanity, slang terms for body parts and invented profanity in science fiction such as minced substitute oaths; this model discusses profanity descriptively without reproducing offensive terms, and slurs targeting protected groups are treated as hate speech issues.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a category of language.", "affordances": [ "explain the concept descriptively", "relay research with attribution", "describe named topics without offensive terms", "distinguish related categories" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Culturally relative", "Emotional function", "Taboo domains", "Regulated in broadcasting" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; words and phrases.", "visual_identification": [ "Offensive or taboo language", "Vulgar language, Latin profanity, Meitei profanity, Esperanto profanity, genital slang, profanity in science fiction", "Hate speech targets groups; blasphemy laws concern religion; minced oaths are softened substitutes; harassment is conduct" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "FCC v. Pacifica Foundation", "typical_range": "1978", "unit": "year", "note": "US broadcast indecency case" }, { "quantity": "swearing and pain tolerance study", "typical_range": "2009", "unit": "year", "note": "Stephens and colleagues, as reported" }, { "quantity": "registry parents", "typical_range": "meaning, word or phrase, name calling", "unit": "note", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "obscenities", "blasphemous oaths", "slurs", "minced oaths and euphemisms", "invented fictional profanity", "profanity in specific languages" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "word or phrase", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "hate speech", "why": "" }, { "relation": "includes", "target": "minced oath", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is regulated by", "target": "broadcast indecency rules", "why": "in some countries" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Broadcast codes such as Ofcom and FCC rules", "Workplace and school conduct policies", "Hate speech laws for slurs" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Gratuitously reproducing offensive terms", "Treating slurs as mere profanity", "Moralising about ordinary swearing" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What profanity is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is profanity, and how does it differ from hate speech, blasphemy, minced oaths and harassment?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question academic, about moderation or about being harassed, which may need reporting or support?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "topics", "name": "Topics", "description": "Named topics.", "findings": [ { "id": "topics-finding", "name": "Topics", "description": "Topics.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are studies of Latin, Meitei and Esperanto profanity, body-part slang and science fiction profanity, described without reproducing terms?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific topic?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "linguistics", "name": "Linguistics", "description": "Linguistics and psychology.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "function", "name": "Function", "description": "Functions.", "findings": [ { "id": "function-finding", "name": "Function", "description": "Function.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do people swear, as linguists and psychologists describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "cultures", "name": "Cultures", "description": "Across cultures.", "findings": [ { "id": "cultures-finding", "name": "Cultures", "description": "Cultures.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do taboo domains differ across languages?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "rules", "name": "Rules", "description": "Regulation.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "broadcast", "name": "Broadcast", "description": "Broadcast rules.", "findings": [ { "id": "broadcast-finding", "name": "Broadcast", "description": "Broadcast.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do broadcasters regulate profanity, such as the watershed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits watershed (broadcasting)?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "moderation", "name": "Moderation", "description": "Content moderation.", "findings": [ { "id": "moderation-finding", "name": "Moderation", "description": "Moderation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do platforms filter profanity, and what are the pitfalls such as the Scunthorpe problem?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Scunthorpe problem?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Culture.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "fiction", "name": "Fiction", "description": "Invented profanity.", "findings": [ { "id": "fiction-finding", "name": "Fiction", "description": "Fiction.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do science fiction works invent substitute swear words?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits minced oath?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How have attitudes to swearing changed historically?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits taboo?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should language-specific profanity topics be separate entries?", "How should linguistics research be linked?", "How should slurs be handled separately from general profanity?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a profanity, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain profanity descriptively, relay linguistic, psychological, legal and cultural research from linguistics and media regulation sources with attribution, describe the named topics without reproducing offensive words unnecessarily, and distinguish profanity from hate speech, blasphemy as a legal offence, minced oaths and harassment.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: vulgar, Latin profanity, Meitei profanity, Esperanto profanity, dick slang, Profanity in science fiction, Kazakh profanity, Russian profanity, English profanity, Quebec French profanity, Italian profanity, Polish vulgarisms and curses.", "17 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 94 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a profanity, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "vulgar", "Latin profanity", "Meitei profanity", "Esperanto profanity", "dick slang", "Profanity in science fiction", "Kazakh profanity", "Russian profanity", "English profanity", "Quebec French profanity", "Italian profanity", "Polish vulgarisms and curses" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 94 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 17 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one profanity from another, and a profanity from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a profanity sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a profanity from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a profanity passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a profanity between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a profanity, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a profanity is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a profanity proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a profanity, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a profanity and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a profanity consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a profanity takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What profanity is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of profanity are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is profanity operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of profanity and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of profanity?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as profanity?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a profanity came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a profanity and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a profanity is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a profanity, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a profanity, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a profanity is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }