I think I'm much more likely than most people to take obscene expressions literally. It's probably because my sheltered upbringing caused me to spend very little time around people who used dirty words in their usual expressive and metaphorical way, and their literal meanings stayed in my head for a long time. (When I was maybe 6 years old, a friend told me what 'fuck' meant -- "it's what people do to make babies". I didn't understand the role of penises and vaginas in procreation then, so for some time I innocently understood 'fucking' as a general term for human procreative processes.)
In the wake of the flap over some FireDogLake bloggers' use of "cunt" and "whore" as terms of abuse (which I heard about first from Shakes -- Zuzu has the definitive response), I've been reminded of how my literal approach to profanity basically keeps me from using words like that. For me, the literal referents of many offensive terms have exactly the opposite significance that the metaphorical meaning is supposed to suggest.
"Cunt" provides an excellent example. Literally, it refers to the vagina, and metaphorically it's used as an insulting term for women. I don't understand why I should regard vaginas with the negative attitude that the metaphorical use suggests. As the following table illustrates, every interaction that I have had with a vagina in my life has been a positive one.
