This paper analyzes phraseological units (PU) uttered by Argentine public figures in politics, religion, and sports, including taboo lexis. The aim is to identify transgressions of linguistic norms that compromise the speakers’ public image and may be considered instances of communicative inappropriateness due to their pragmatic effects. PU from speeches, interviews and social networks that have generated repercussions, and diplomatic consequences are collected and analyzed. Using Corpus Linguistics and the lexical analysis software WordSmith Tools, version 8.0 (Scott, 2020), these PU are identified and analyzed. The study concludes that the resulting textual repertoire provides diverse material for discussing phenomena of communicative transgression from a pragmatic and technological perspective. The §§§§bad words§§§§ occupy an important place, and their use opens a research field on how they affect the image of the speakers, provoking unthinkable reactions and divisions in society.