This post started out as a comment to Yiren’s entry on ‘Vulgarities’ but quickly snowballed into a mini-commentary instead.Hokkien expletives are generally not my cup of tea because they’re largely genitalia-related, but I’m absolutely fine with the word ‘fuck’.
Sometimes it’s not the word per se that is vulgar but the way that the ‘expletive’ is put across. For instance, I used to take offence at ‘lucky bastard’, which literally carries an extremely derogatory meaning. But then again, nobody really means that one’s an illegitimate child when they lash that out. I just learn to be more sensitive with such words the next time.
Back to the f-word, I used to refrain myself from using it. But then I realised ‘fuck’ per se is just an expression, much like an innocuous ‘shucks’ or a slightly less refined ‘shit’. My primary school English teacher used to share with us how her son would substitute ‘shucks’ for ‘shit’ or ‘fish’ for ‘fuck’, but does that make the ‘expression’ any more refined?
Inherently, ‘fuck’ is just a slang for ‘having sex’. I wonder then why aren’t the words ‘having sex’ as profane as ‘fuck’ is? In that respect, shouldn’t ‘lucky bastard/bitch’, ‘bloody retard’ or even ‘spastic’ be much more hurtful than a natural and inherently innocuous act of, having sex?
When things screw (yet another slang for ‘having sex’) up, many people would curse ‘Shit’. ‘Shit’ per se is senseless. I mean, what has one’s excrement got to do with anything? One can thus conclude that ‘shit’ is little different from the Hokkien expletives worshipping the human genitalia. But the fact that ‘shit’ is considered mildy offensive while ‘vagina’ and ‘penis’ (in Hokkien) is considered extremely offensive is food for thought.
English is a living language. Words are constantly being added (think ‘blog’) and revised. The widespread acceptance and usage of common expletives such as ‘screw’, ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ had prompted lexicographers to revise and add on to the original meanings of these words. ‘Screw’ is no longer just that innocent-looking metal pin with helical thread but also an act of sexual intercourse. Similarly, ‘fuck’ is no longer just an act of sexual intercourse but also an exclamation for anger, annoyance or contempt. In fact, ‘fuck’ is so versatile that it can be used as a verb, noun, adjective, adverb or interjection.
You know you really need the f-word when you need to use more than one adjective to describe something. “The movie’s damn bloody freaking good!!” will never do as much justice as “The movie’s fucking good!!” When “Get lost!” doesn’t work, “Fuck off!” definitely sends a more unequivocal message.
I’d say we use our wisdom to embrace some of these changes but should also be more mindful to our peers who may be less tolerant of expletives than we are.
The origin or evolution path of these words amaze me at times. I mean, there is no logical flow when you really use the f words. Say you annoyed someone and that person shouts out “fuck you” or “screw you”, which equally means “have sex with you!”. Besides dolphins, we are the only other animal species who enjoy the act of sex due to the pleasures brought about by the raging hormones. It’s a good feeling i guess so why would someone, who is annoyed by you, wishes for you to have the climax high?
Yep yep, expletives never seem to make sense. Ultimately, we are the people who deem them profane, or not.
lol just brings back memories of that wave file that was circulated many years back on the use of the f-word in the english language.. lol :D
hmmm a thoughtful post.
Personally the word ‘fuck’ has quietly slipped into my vocabulary due to the onslaught of substandard work by my project mates and hurt caused by others which other words will never wake them up, hence the use of the word ‘fuck’.
Nothing makes sense to a imbecile like a good old ‘fuck’, seriously