Imaginary offence

The Guardian has a piece today by David Mitchell, who argues against the very idea that certain "swear" words are inherently offensive. He really nails it when he says:

That's the argument often deployed against swearwords: "If you overuse them, they'll lose their effect." Well, so what, if you hate them so much? Or is the prospect of a rude word losing its offensive power too unsettling for the offendees, as it would reveal that it was only ever a word and the power was an illusion of their own making? It would emasculate their attempts to censor with their censure.