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Fuck!

  
 
Bubblegum Death
02:47 / 07.12.03
I was reading an editorial in the Atlanta newspaper the other day by a woman who was highly upset that the FCC had decided to take no action against Bono or CBS for saying "fuck" on the air. I started thinking why is this such a big deal? Nobody is offended by the words sex, or copulation; why fuck? Why are people offended by ass, but not buns or booty? Anyone have any ideas?
 
 
Mike-O
03:33 / 07.12.03
Repression, lack of expression. Like how the idea of sex or liberalism is "evil" to some people.... Go figure, she's from Atlanta (no offence to any Atlantians).
 
 
SMS
04:27 / 07.12.03
I think language is one of the many ways we learn to identify those who are trustworthy and loyal to us. In Ireland, there's a town called by two names. Calling it by one identifies you as supporting the Catholics. Calling it by the other identifies you as supporting the Protestants.

Accents can make a difference, as well. People who sound like I do have a slight edge in influincing me, because they seem more like the people I know I can trust (my family and friends).

I think this important function causes us to create customs in our language and these necessarily exclude certain words. The word fuck, which is barely functionally similar to sex or copulation, was used in the sixties as an act of rebellion against authority (because it was already forbidden). This added to the offensiveness of it, because it said to traditionalists, "I'm against you," but it also helped to unify hippies together.

But there are other reasons that some words are bad as well. One of them is that the use of any expletive seems crass. Saying "Shit!" or "Fuck!" or "Son of a Bitch!" in exclamation uses a different part of your brain, as I understand, than regular language. This isn't entirely in the word, since someone could just as easily say "oh, copulation, I just hit my thumb with a hammer," but we don't do that as often. Saying "Fu-dge" shows slightly more restraint, and is seen as preferable to the real F-word. If people started screaming out Fudge loudly and proudly whenever they were very angry, it would probably seem like a little bit of a bad word. Fuck is still a little worse, though, because of the harsh ck sound that Fudge lacks.

For Fuck (or F---), there is another meaning, which is in reference to the act of copulation, but there seems to be a slightly different sense to each of the words we use. "Copulation" sounds very clinical and detached. "Sex" sounds more common and carries slightly more attachment. "Making love" sounds as though the sex is an effect of love, which gives it nice connotations. "Fucking" sounds as though there is very little but carnal desire underlying the act. Because all of these words seem to mean different things, they actually do, and the therefore represent different concepts. A similar comparison could be made amongst "breasts," "boobs," "boobies," "tits," "teats," "titties," and "chest," or with "ass," "bottom," "behind," and so on.

The final reason that I can think of is blasphemy: the act of showing contempt or lack of reverence for God. "God damn those Oakland Raiders" is not really an act of prayer. Blasphemy, in showing a lack of reverence for God also shows a lack of respect for the faithful, and thus ought not to be uttered by those who wish to show respect for the faithful. "Why can't I sell any of these fucking bibles" might illustrate this point, but I'm only linking to it, because I always get a kick out of it. One thing to notice: how did you respond when I used the word "blasphemy."
 
 
DesignerJim
13:38 / 07.12.03
I read that. That's rich - good stuff.

I also think that when you're dealing with "vulgar" words (interesting how 'vulgar' is kind of like 'vinegar') you're dealing with words that have been distilled with a certain potency over the ages. Each generation teaches the next that these words contain a power, and that power is reinforced with every generation. There's a kind of magic to it, I think. If i choose a certain word as a verbal sigil of sorts, I can infuse it with all kinds of power, to myself. I think it works the same way on a level of communal consciousness.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
22:02 / 07.12.03
The slippery nature of language can be seen in:

In Ireland, there's a town called by two names. Calling it by one identifies you as supporting the Catholics. Calling it by the other identifies you as supporting the Protestants.

It may be best not to confuse "Protestant" and "Catholic" with "Unionist" and "Republican".

On "fuck" - well, fuck's point is to offend, isn't it, to a certain extent? It is a way to demonstrate an intensitive by adding a term designed to provoke a reaction, that reaction being in part to understand that the user is expressing emphasis. It's a sound effect rather than a sense unit, if you see what I mean.

Of course, one might argue that within certain groups the term is losing its power as an intensifier through repetition, in which case its strength may depend on the reaction of our outraged Atlanteans - that is, that although I do not find the term shocking, and nor do you, we rely on the knowledge that other people *do* to make it worth using in our conversation to denote emphasis. The word depends on the ability to outrage to retain any force among those not outraged by it.

If it becomes disempowered, we have to find a new way to go about things. Americans still seem to be more affected generally by the term "cunt" than many Britons, for example. Or one could look at conceptual rather than linguistic outrage - somebody can, using sense units rather than sound effects, be quite outrageous without using a single term liable to lead to an angry letter to the editor. Chris Morris is a very good example of this, although whether the humour resides in the knowledge that *others* will be outraged or a queasy acknowledgement of our own (enlightened, educated) discomfort is open to question.
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
09:26 / 08.12.03
Having a wee nipper (20 months old) at an age when he is really starting to imitate and repeat everything I say is an interesting tangent to this question : I am noticing how utterly 'foul mouthed' I tend to be in ordinary conversation, 'cos there is something disquieting about hearing a tiny baby, in helium voice, repeat very growed up expletives...'Ooooooohhhhhh BUGGER!', 'Ahhh, Sheeet!' and so on...

Why should it be especially shocking in the mouths of babes but not at all from our fellow peers? This is the reverse of loud belching and farting, which is perfectly amusing in young children, but not really the done thing among adults (though I must confess to being guilty on this count sometimes also).

It boils down to intent, and knowledge of the social taboos one has been instructed in...And comprehension, both on the part of the one doing the swearing/belching/farting and those hearing it...

It amuses me (I'm peurile I admit)to say horrifically offensive things in polite company in Tagallog (Phillipine, learned off a load of ex pat's my brother in law worked with for years), as it sounds quite musical and pleasant. People are enchanted. 'That's great, what does it mean?'

Oh.
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
09:29 / 08.12.03
The point being, that if I told them it meant 'What a lovely day, I'm so happy to be here', and they learned and went on to repeat it, believing it to be perfectly innocent, who would be offended?

The Phillipine equivalent of Our Lady in Atlanta, no doubt.
 
 
Quantum
09:37 / 08.12.03
First, it offends us because it's supposed to, as Haus says, the Tagalog swearing doesn't really have the effect swearing is supposed to (funny though, heh).
Second, the easily offended woman and her ilk are probably worried about the general level of cursing increasing. The more we swear, the more everyone swears as time goes on (compare a playground today to a playground 20 years ago) and the less polite society comes.

I think it's important to be able to stop swearing if appropriate ("Fuck, Nan, you look like shit...").
 
 
Jack Vincennes
10:01 / 08.12.03
Why should it be especially shocking in the mouths of babes but not at all from our fellow peers?

I was going to post something about that myself, and when I came back to the thread you'd beaten me to it! I thought that possibly it was to do with the fact that the child wouldn't be aware of what the words they were saying meant ; that they'd only know the work 'fuck' as a means by which frustration is vented, rather than a reference to the act it describes... (which means that the eight year old joy of looking swearwords up in the dictionary is yet to come). The lack of knowledge on the part of the speaker means that it sits more uneasily with those who do know what it means, whereas in the case of farting and belching it's the lack of knowledge which makes it excusable.
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
10:17 / 08.12.03
[threadrot] I know this is appalling thread rot, but I had to mention that:

"Fuck, Nan, you look like shit..."

would be a brilliant title for a song, album, book, etc... [/threadrot]

Your normal headshop service is returned.
 
  
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