[josephg]

It also depends on where you are.

Here in Australia, hell / damn aren't considered bad words. I think americans have a perception that australians swear a lot. We do - but also, a lot of what my american coworkers considered swearing doesn't register as swearing in my head.

Here in australia (at least how I was raised), "hell" is just a word.

[brodie]

America is culturally all over the map (and literally too I suppose?), maybe more so than Australia. While the child-in-school thing might be universal across each state, there are many places were the word hell isn’t profane.

Hell, sometimes it would be weird and just plain confusing not to say the word!