If Everyone Says F####, What's The Big Deal

[MaryH]

I went to get gas yesterday at the Quicktrip in Riverside, Mo. Riverside is like the Redneck Capital of the Midwest. The Quicktrip is huge and people were pulling in and waiting everywhere. And a fight broke out between some rednecks and some bikers. And they were all screaming the F word. No one thought anything about it.

I hear it everywhere. I say it under my breath. So what is the big deal.

Little kids know the word by the time they are 1-1/2. It doesn't really have any meaning in more - other than as a frustrated gesture - or as an insult.

When I was little I wasn't allowed to say "shit." Or "damn." Now those words are no big deal.

[Deja Q]

1. I was at Cub Foods yesterday...

This couple were trying to find some sort of food and the 'man' said "Fuck! I can't find this shit anywhere!" A couple of minutes later, the 'woman' also added a comment with some choice expletives...

Very uncouth.

The difference is, I'm in Minnesota. The problem isn't confined to Missouri, though I often feel if the whole US feels like a larger version of it, given the types of TV shows, music, and movies that are popular...

[jukes]

10. HypnoToad

possibly i'm misreading, but i believe MaryH was sugg'ing that she's confused that it IS a problem. for guys my age (don't know your's) the word was 1ce considered crude & uncouth, but languages/mores change.

my personal feelings are that the use of these 1ce taboo words in common parlance indicates a more open & less inhibited view of sexuality & taboo subjex. if i were involved in child-rearing today (unlikely, i got sterilized years ago, as did my SA; my son is disinclined to become a breeder, so grandchildren are near impossible) & o'heard some1 use that language (including the child) i'd carefully explain the origin of the word, then springboard into the correct time & place for such language.

an example of language evolution: i'm perfectly comfortable typing in "k33wl sp33k" in this forum or in PMs or personal email, but certainly wdnt use the same vocabulary in an email ragging out a'pube senator.

(there's an example w/in my example: "to rag" is derived from the vernacular "on the rag", a crude reference to the female menstrual cycle. uncouth in origin, certainly, but the word phrase "rag *** out" is used in conversation casually w/o notice. "scumbag", ie, a used condom, is another example.

Samuel Johnson wd be appalled, but he was a linguistic puritan & grammar-nazi; he thought the use of puns shd be punished by dunking)

[Dirty Hippie]

2. In my household the "F word" was

Fart.

Fuck was fine but I would not allow my children to say fart. They now claim I scared them for life.

[thecrow]

3. The big deal is

that a vice-president of the United States said it to a senator on the Senate floor.
Of course we have now replaced to F word with "Cheney" here on DU

[MaryH]

6. Cheney was Uncouth

I don't mean that people should just use the word anywhere at anytime. We still have such a thing as "polite conversation." And I don't go around say Fuck in public.

But to fine stations hundreds of thousands of dollars because someone slips is a bit much. Now, if they used the "C" word, I could see that.

[bryant69]

4. I dont know.

I think it depends on whether they should be a big deal. I also think depending on your background or your family it might still be a big deal.

I know it's cliche but i hear somebody over using that word and I lose a little respect for them. Like Vice President Cheney. I heard him use it and my respect for him went even deeper into negative terrority. And I didn't think that was possible.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Sporadicus]

5. We Hold Elected Officials to a Higher Standard

than rednecks and bikers. Especially in the Senate chambers. The Foulmouthed Gargoyle showed a lack of respect for his office, for another elected official, for the institution of Congress, and for the public when he decided to let 'fuck' fly. Not only did it demonstrate his contempt for everyone, it showed extremely poor judgment on his part (not that plenty of other examples of poor judgment don't exist).

[MaryH]

8. I'm trying to Clean Up my language

It just seems like using bad language and lying to everyone and practicing wierd sex is just so Republican. I look at it as kind of a challenge to say what I want to say and not use one single swear word. It's kind of fun.

[m-jean03]

11. "Practicing weird sex is just so Republican"??

Huh??

[jukes]

24. i think she meant

REALLY weird sex; child molesters & whacking off in public.

engaging in sick-shit whilst pretending to be moral is SOOOO repub!

your sexual encounters are only wierd to wierdo-republicans. to the sane world, you be jus' fine.



'morning, buddy! :hi:

[m-jean03]

27. Oh, I see...

...that confused me, because of course my stereotype of Repugs is the super-straight-laced Bible thumping type... I didn't get that she was implying hypocrisy.
:dunce:

Hi, jukes! :hi:

[joshcryer]

7. Heh, after I saw that HBO special with Robbin Williams...

...and he said "fuck off" a ridiculous ammount of times, I started saying fuck around my highly religious mom whenever I got the chance. At first she thought it was very offensive, but since I'm obviously joking when I do it (sorry, my grin is just impossible to fight) she started laughing at it after maybe the dozenth time.

The best momment ever? A few weeks later we were sitting around joking around about whatever, and my mom, out of the blue, goes "fuck off!" just like Robbin Willams, hehe.

She now uses the "f" word whenever she feels like letting some stress off, in a joking manner. :)

But yeah, I think that "offensive words" are indoctrinated, and I think a healthy society ought to not be so freaking stuck up. :P

[MaryH]

9. It has no meaning to him

Fuck has just become a word to use - it doesn't really mean sexual intercourse anymore.

I remember being completely taken aback in highschool when the popular girls starting using "pissed off." Of course - that was Salt Lake City and everyone was very straight - except for the ones that weren't.

[Kholst]

12. it's all about the context...

He said it on the Senate floor, where we'd expect decorum, but I'd find even that easily forgivable if he apologized (which he won't because he says it felt good. Wasn't it a certain president who said 2 months ago that we were moving away from being a country that does things because they feel good?). What annoys me is the hypocrisy. Kerry said F'd up in an interview and Andy Card was all over it, saying how "disappointed" he was. I haven't heard him comment on Cheney.

[Cats Against Frist]

13. It shouldn't be a big deal

Designating certain kinds of language as "vulgar" is puritainical, and is one of the most thinnly supported constructs from the construct factory.

All rules on language are censorship and are inviting a squelching of discourse. It's all part of the same argument that Republicans are always using -- why we shouldn't criticize Reagan during the mourning process, why "anger" (Al Gore, Howard Dean) means that you're irrational -- they're attempts at quelching speech.

Truly, the only reason we find them vulgar -- is because some people perceive them to be, and we keep recycling the "bad word" thing, so people have reactions to them -- even if they use them.

How do you rob them of their power? You say them all the time, to everyone. :)

[Khephra]

14. The reason that it's a big deal in Cheney's case

Is that the Republicans had just attacked Kerry for using similar language. It's a matter of hypocrisy.

[BiggJawn]

15. Would you say it at a funeral? would you say it your mom?

No, most of us wouldn't. Why? A thing called "Decorum"
TinMan was on the floor of the Senate (even though it wasn't officially in session) and they have rules against such conduct.

That's why it's a big deal. You let that kind of conduct get started, and why, they may even start beating each other with sticks and challenging other Senators to duels or something....

[kayell]

16. It is an expression of extreme hostility as usually used

The use of the f-bomb by Cheney on the Senate floor was the verbal equivalent of bunching Leahy in the face. We usually expect a little subtlety from our representatives, unlike what we expect from rednecks and bikers at gas stations.

[kayell]

19. Er, That should saying "punching" not bunching

Plaice knot yore trussed inn spilling chequers.

[patricia92243]

17. Everybody does not say it. I don't, and I guarentee I speak for many...

people.

[RetroLounge]

18. If Everyone Says F####???

F#### would indicate 5 letters, right? So which word would this be?

Frank?
Flood?
Found?
Fluff?

:):):):):):)

RL

[undergroundpanther]

23. I'd rather

Hear someone say fuck where's the ketchup!

Than "fuck you bitch"yelled at me by some male,
or "gays are fucking abominations that should be shot"


It comes down to verbal abuse.
Confusing a statement like "Oh,fuck! where's the mustard"
With "____ is a fucking loser go die motherfucker"

Is the failure to distinguish breaking the taboos on speech
(one kind of abuse society creates )
With straight out verbal abuse(individuals create to hurt others).

How fuck is used determines what you mean.

This makes people more accountable for what they mean more than getting distracted with speech styles.

If you want to take the taboo puritan power out of the word fuck use it alot.Fine.
But if you really want to undo puritan damage to the thought process do not use the fuck word to 'top' person you are angry at. Verbal abuse is abuse. Don't use fuck as a verbal abuse tool.Leave the abusive speech for the abusers,like the puritans calling people they don't like who may or may not use the word "fuck" when they can't find the relish, abominations.

Saying the word fuck doesn't have to be harmful speech.It's social taboo that makes it appear harmful,and taboo harms because it controls thought.

But choosing to deliberately call a person an abomination is using words in a way to abuse others.Any words can be used to denigrate the humaneness and value inside each of us ,so it is abusive speech because it intends to hurt like a weapon..Religion is not a sanction to denigrate others deliberately to hurt them until they comply with your belief system..A gay child raised by a fundie can be driven to suicide by to much viciousness and exposure to church and parental sanctioned hate and verbal abuse about gender..all that emotional damage can be done to a human being who is made a captive audience without 1 fuck,shit or goddammit said.

It's all in what you really meant to say,and your motives for saying it not the style in which you say it.

[RetroLounge]

25. Did you reply to the wrong post?

what on earth does this have to do with my post?

RL

[Ilsa]

20. To me, it was less about the work, and more about his attacking

a member of Congress. If Cheney had said, "Oh fuck, not that again," to Leahy, I wouldn't have thought much about it. But telling someone to go fuck himself is an entirely different thing, IMO. It's a rude and aggressive attack.

I've used the f-word in frustration. I can't remember ever telling someone to go fuck himself though. That's a different deal, and an invitation to a fight, IMO.

[indigobusiness]

21. If everyone craps on their neighbor's porch

what's the big deal?

[Hubert Flottz]

22. I say it all the Fuc...time but I have Tourette's syndro..Fuc..me!

So I'm fuc...just Fukt! Most fuc...people I'm around fuc...don't care any...fuc...how! Buuurrr...Fuc...Mommy uset to fuc...beat me for fuc...it, but it fuc...never done no good!

[Nikia]

26. I say it a lot more

There are a number of people at work and who I hang around that use it a lot. For some reason, using it also got some production workers' attention when nothing else was working. I'll say it around people who use it. I just have to be careful about being my sweet little intellectual self in my language the rest of the time instead of saying things like "Fuck those fucking fukers",