History Main / InnocentSwearing

* In ''ComicStrip/Jumpstart'', Teddy's first word ends up being a swear word, and they can't get him to stop saying it. Then he ends up shouting it while in the family's in church.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Bleep", DW hears a bad word and wants to know what it means. (She doesn't know at all that it's a bad word.) She accidentally gets her entire preschool class saying it. The Tibble twins tell her it's a hypnosis word, and saying it will make adults follow their orders. While her mother doesn't punish her ''this'' time, she finally tells her that it means that someone wants to hurt your feelings. Satisfied with this answer, D.W. decided to have a talk with her classmates the next day about using swear words.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Bleep", DW hears a bad word and wants to know what it means. (She doesn't know at all that it's a bad word.) She accidentally gets her entire preschool class saying it. The Tibble twins tell her it's a hypnosis word, and saying it will make adults follow their orders. While her mother doesn't punished ''this'' time, she finally tells her that it means that someone wants to hurt your feelings. Satisfied with this answer, D.W. decided to have a talk with her classmates the next day about using swear words.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'' did this with the word "stupid", which Caillou learns when he learns how to ride a skateboard from an older boy. After doing so, he and Leo uses the word at Clementine when she says he didn't actually skateboard by himself, which makes her upset. Caillou doesn't know why the word is bad until his mom gets a call from Clementine's mom saying that he hurt Celementine's feelings.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Bleep", DW hears a bad word and wants to know what it means. (She doesn't know at all that it's a bad word.) She accidentally gets her entire preschool class saying it. The Tibble twins tell her it's a hypnosis word, and saying it will make adults follow their orders. Her mother finally tells her that it means that someone wants to hurt your feelings.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'' did this with the word "stupid", which Caillou learns when he learns how to ride a skateboard from an older boy. After doing so, he uses the word at Clementine when she says he didn't actually skateboard by himself, which makes her upset. Caillou doesn't know why the word is bad until his mom gets a call from Clementine saying that it hurt her feelings.

* In ''Film/WishYouWereHere'', Lynda tells a psychiatrist that she began swearing when she was very little. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c0B3fS7OUY This brilliant scene has to be seen to be believed.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Well, if you didn't want to have her say ''that word'', you shouldn't have watched [[Series/JerrySpringer that show]] on front of her in the '''first''' place.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Curses", Bubbles overhears Professor Utonium using a naughty word. She later says it in front of her sisters and they start using it themselves. Many {{Sound Effect Bleep}}s ensue. In a subversion, eventually they do understand it's wrong but at the end of the episode Buttercup openly swears with clear intent, which sees her mouth washed out with soap in the closing sequence.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': While discussing the AttentionWhore lead singer of The Mother's band Marshall offers to yell insulting things like "the lead singer sucks skunk junk!" during a performance. Cue Marshall's infant son Marvin, who was sitting behind him, repeating "skunk junk" as his first words. Marshall and The Mother look around in horror and hurriedly agree that if anyone asks they'll claim his first word was actually "Mommy".

* At the climax of the first season of ''Series/BetweenTheLines'', the main villain becomes tangled up in a group of schoolchildren while trying to flee the heroes. As he tries to push the kids out of the way, one of them can clearly be heard to say (probably unscripted) "you dirty bastard!".

[[caption-width-right:350: Well, if you didn't want to have her say ''that word'', you shouldn't have watched that show on front of her in the '''first''' place.]]

** In a different episode: Moe has turned his tavern into a family restaurant and has worked himself near to the RageBreakingPoint. And then one little girl complains that her soda is too cold, [[RantInducingSlight causing Moe to erupt]] into a sanitized-for-primetime ClusterFBomb, ending with:

* Website/YouTube has plenty of examples of toddlers mispronouncing words. For example, "dump truck" becomes [[spoiler:dumbfuck]], "vacuum" becomes [[spoiler:fuck you]], and "frog" is [[spoiler:fuck]]. Some adults in the videos exploit this: "Say 'awww, truck'."

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': While discussing the AttentionWhore lead singer of The Mother's band Marshall offers to yell insulting things like "the lead singer sucks skunk junk!" during a peformance. Cue Marshall's infant son Marvin, who was sitting behind him, repeating "skunk junk" as his first words. Marshall and The Mother look around in horror and hurriedly agree that if anyone asks they'll claim his first word was actually "Mommy".

* ''Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!'': In an episode aptly titled "The Bad Word", Toto goes around spouting "tig-a-boo-boo", which is apparently a curse word in this universe, a phrase he learned from a group of mean apes. He ends up alienating everybody, until he finally gets the courage to say sorry.

** After overhearing Homer one day, one of the Flanders children swears twice at the dinner table ("Hell, no!" and "I don't want any damn vegetables.") The humor turns heartbreaking after he is scolded and runs from the room crying, not understanding what he has done wrong.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' "merfolk AU" fanfic ''Fanfic/ByTheSea'', one of the first English words the merman Cody learns is "fuck". Obi-Wan is mortified at the prospect of accidentally teaching a mythical creature profanity, although it doesn't take Cody very long to learn that's what it is. Cody comes to prefer its sharpness over Mando'a profanity.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "[=MicroPhony=]" ends with [[spoiler: Vicky yelling the word "moron" on the radio, with Timmy telling her it's illegal to say that word on the radio]].

Related to EntendreFailure. Can lead to a SwearWordPlot about how the word is offensive and shouldn't be used. Compare FeeFiFauxPas. Compare InnocentBigot if it is a racial slur that a child/children say without knowing the meaning of such words. TruthInTelevisionn for kids who are [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes very young or very sheltered]]. See also FowlMouthedParrot if the one doing the swearing is an animal.

Related to EntendreFailure. Can lead to a SwearWordPlot about how the word is offensive and shouldn't be used. Compare FeeFiFauxPas. TruthInTelevision for kids who are [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes very young or very sheltered]]. See also FowlMouthedParrot if the one doing the swearing is an animal.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'' had this with Jeffy, who got spanked.
* ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' had an example involving April.