Are 'ass' and its derivations considered vulgar words?

Question

I have seen in several movies that instead of "fuck" they use the words which are less vulgar, but I have repeatedly seen that they feel free to use "ass" or words like "jackass" or "asshole" or even the expression of "watch your ass", as what I have searched in dictionaries I consider the word "ass" as an offensive word, but as of what I have seen in the mostly American movies this isn't that bad to use, is it? If I use it where the conversion is friendly but polite, would it be considered as a rude manner or this is common?

This question came to my mind cause I remember once that I've been watching a show on CNN about one of Trump's quotes that contained "fuck" in his sentence, CNN censored the word, but they don't censor "ass" while Merriam Webster explains it as "impolite".

Answer 1

It's on the mild end of the vulgarity spectrum, but yes, generally considered somewhat vulgar. Just a few short years ago it would have been censored more often than it is today. In "friendly but polite" conversation I would avoid using it.

Answer 2

I caution you to avoid making judgements about the acceptability of words in general based on their occurrence in media. Perhaps more useful would be consider the times of day and to what audiences these words are used, and any content ratings on the shows they are used in.

• Words used only in programming for adults only, shown only on for-pay channels in the middle of the night, will bring consequences if you use them in polite company.
• Words used only after children's bedtime should be avoided in general.
• Words being used in shows and movies for teens, but not in young children's shows, does NOT imply that they are 'not vulgar'. In some cases, they are used intentionally to draw a more restricted rating, that does not prevent them from being shown to teens.

Regarding 'ass' specifically, there are a few different senses of the word with varying levels of vulgarity.

• A donkey. This usage is obsolete in America. You will only see it in the Bible, other literature from before about 1940, and in jokes and puns, because pretty much everyone knows about this meaning, even though it is obsolete in speech and modern writing. But this is the only non-vulgar use of the word in American English.
• Someone who acts like a donkey, figuratively. A brash person who says inappropriate or vulgar things or who has bad manners or habits. An ass is someone whose very presence is off-putting. Using the word 'ass' to describe someone is considered vulgar in itself, but not severely so. Non-vulgar equivalents would be 'jerk', 'uncouth', etc. This is different from 'asshole', which usually is a mean and selfish person who does not mind causing offense or inconvenience to others. An asshole spreads conflict and misery wherever they go. Describing someone as such is also a vulgarity, at least in American English. Non-vulgar equivalents would be 'scumbag', 'slimeball', etc.
• The buttocks. Using 'ass' to refer to the buttocks is always vulgar, but not severely so and not necessarily sexual.
• Occasionally the sense of the buttocks will be used anthropomorphically, such as, "He drove into the ass end of my car." This would also be vulgar.
• Note that in America 'arse' is not part of the lexicon at all, but everyone seems to assume here that it is a rude reference to the buttocks. So whether it actually means that or not, it's best to avoid this word with an American audience.

Answer 3

To answer this from a UK perspective, "ass" is not a word for polite company, but is not considered too strong. This is not a complete reference, more a series of musings on the topic.

The British consider sexual swear words to be "the worst" type whilst still being broadcastable.
I suppose with some thought you could build a list of swearing 'types'.

Body parts & functions [not including overt sexual references]
Sexual references
Illness references, if they are not your own
Race or religion references, if they are not your own.

Of these four broad categories, ass belongs in the first, fuck in the second. In recent times, the third and fourth categories have gone rapidly out of fashion [& rightly so]. Until recent decades, they would have been above sexual references & could be considered milder terms. The map has changed a lot in recent times. You cannot call anyone 'mental' these days and expect to get away with it.
It's still acceptable, for instance, for a comedian to make an entire routine from the latter two categories… but they need to be very aware of their audience & they need to be mainly self-referential. It is very much OK for [for instance] a disabled african muslim to make jokes about all three. It is not OK to make jokes if you do not belong to any of those groups, other than in quite specific circumstances. There is a UK comedy show with three presenters, two of whom are disabled, one isn't. In that context all three presenters get to use the same references as jokes.

So long as they're vaguely Christian in origin/reference, religious swear words have long been acceptable to a British audience.

Sexual references: The UK has a 'watershed' at 9pm after which most of these terms can be used fairly freely these days; though not on the news. Everything has its place, of course.
There was a famous interview on a late night talk show with Samuel L. Jackson, who is quite well-known for using one particular phrase more than most. He said it within the first two minutes of the interview, prompting the host to shout "Oops!" then apologise & explain… "We can say most things at this time of night in the UK without any fear. We can say 'mother' and we can say 'fucker'… but we're not quite at the stage we can yet string them together as one word." Jackson was amused, if somewhat bemused. That particular peculiarity has since been removed. You can now say the whole thing, the flood gates are now fully open.

There was a time when haemophiliac references [whether that's what they were originally or not] were heavily frowned upon. Queen Victoria's husband, Albert, was a haemophiliac. This vanished long ago & by the 70's 'bloody' was being used in family entertainment comedies, so long as they were after the watershed.

There was one sexual swear word that strangely escaped censorship, "bugger". It was frequently used in British comedies in the 60s & later. I have no idea why that one escaped when the others didn't. You could say it at a time when you couldn't say 'arse' or 'shit'.

In TV and film, there has always been a kind of 'allowance' as to how much swearing could be broadcast in any particular show. I recall one comedy sketch about the use of swearing in a TV show. The characters being portrayed were a 'head of station' & a 'program maker'. After some introductory preamble, the discussion came down to which and how many swear words could be in the show. At one point the program maker made the bid, "I'll swap you three bloodys for a fuck."

There was a period in the 80s/90s when terms were going through a reshuffle much like the 'woke' movement of today. It was known as 'political correctness', abbreviated to PC. Though it tried to move in the right direction, it did get many things 'wrong' by trying hard to rename things that didn't make sense to rename. Any word with the subset of letters 'm, a, n' was in for some rough treatment, so we went through some iterations of chairman, chairwoman, chairperson before arriving at chair. Through these days it was jokingly said, "That's someone who calls a spade a manual earth moving implement". The 'bin man' became the 'refuse collector'.
Planets were renamed - or not actually renamed, but artificially …re-pronounced. [Emphasis syllables in italics]
Uranus [Your Anus], long the butt [& I use the term advisedly] of schoolboy jokes, became 'You ren uss'
This led to a rather famous skit on Spitting Image, where they had the puppet of the then current newscaster of the main national news show questioning this practise, then announcing a new moon which had been discovered orbiting Jupiter.
It was called 'Byoom Holl Ay' and of course, it was spelled… Bumhole.
_{YouTube link to the sketch}

Answer 4

“Ass” is relatively mild. If I had to rank swear words, I'd put it somewhere between “hell” and “damn”. Probably OK in a conversation with friends, but you may want to substitute “bottom” or “rear end” when talking to young children or strongly non-swearing people.

“Asshole” is stronger, though, on about the same level as “shit”.

Answer 5

In Australia, it is not particularly vulgar. The answer will vary depending on where you are asking about though. In the USA I imagine it is vulgar enough to be censored in some television broadcasts.