So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[LizzieMaine]

Most of the swearing I heard growing up, from my 1900s-10s grandparents and my 1930s mother, was blasphemous and scatological, and very often elegantly-embriodered combinations of the same. F*** didn't show up in family circles until my mother took a job with the county in the 1980s, working for the most part with people born in the 1950s. She has, however, made up for lost time in her creative utilization of that particular word in the decades since.

I'm old enough that it still takes me by surprise to see "that sucks" printed without comment in a daily newspaper, to say nothing of hearing it spoken out loud in a humorous TV commercial.

 

[The one from the North]

If there was ever any doubt that that particular word was the All American Word Of Our Times, David Ortiz's speech after the Boston Marathon bombing dispelled it forever. Hard to believe that was ten years ago, but "This Is Our F***ing City!" remains forever burned into New England memory.

This seems to be quite universal, or at least western fenomenon. Youngsters here are using our equivalent of f*** as a punctuation mark, propably not even thinking what it actually means. It's a pity when Finnish language used to have a vast array of very colourful swears, nowadays that vocabulary is getting very boring. F***!

 

[Tiki Tom]

The sad part is that over use devalues the word. The F-bomb hardly raises an eyebrow anymore. To breathe new life into the art of swearing, someone will have to come up with a word so horrifyingly outrageous that people will actually care …and will attempt to ban it.

 

[Edward]

Not that it ticks me off, just an observation really. It never ceases to surprise me how quickly a newly arrived immigrant picks up English profanities. It seems that within a week they might be anywhere near fluent but they have no problem in stringing a few words together emphasised by the "f" word. There's a couple of fellows where I work from the Sudan. Talking to one another in what was probably, Arabic, one stopped mid flow, he looked at the other and said, in fluent English: "You must be f*****g joking!" An all encompassing word that.

I suppose it is the equivqlrnt on some level of the kids who go on school exchange trips wanting to learn the local swears....

I have been told that many ESL folks prefer to swear in English rather than the mother tongue. Sounds less rude, maybe (equivalent of you or I muttering "merde", or the classicist's 'mater fornicator'), though I'm also told the gutteral sounds of swearing in English hive it more emphasis than is available in many other tongues.

 

[tonyb]

I will never forget a late-night repast many years ago with my then-girlfriend and another couple at Tai Tung, a storied Cantonese restaurant in Seattle’s Chinatown.

The party seated in the booth across from ours was another pair of couples, considerably more dressed up than us, and apparently more recent arrivals to our fair shores, judging from their appearance and their conversation in some Asian tongue.

The two women in that other party were engaged in an increasingly loud disagreement.

They clearly demonstrated that they knew at least a few English words — those monosyllabic epithets directed toward women, the four-letter pair that start with “c” and “s,” and the five-letter ones starting with “b” and a silent “w.”

And then they threw food at each other. It was quite entertaining.

 

[tonyb]

This seems to be quite universal, or at least western fenomenon. Youngsters here are using our equivalent of f*** as a punctuation mark, propably not even thinking what it actually means. It's a pity when Finnish language used to have a vast array of very colourful swears, nowadays that vocabulary is getting very boring. F***!

As our Ms. Maine alluded to in the post immediately preceding yours, reading certain words and phrases in print, or hearing them in broadcasts, can take a person aback, provided that person is of sufficient seniority to remember when that word or phrase had a specific meaning and wasn’t tossed about so casually.

It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to deduce to origins of “it sucks,” but I’d wager it is exceedingly rare that those making that utterance have that original meaning in mind.

 

[tonyb]

As to using our Lord and Savior’s name in vain …

I’m reminded of a Bill Cosby routine from many years ago wherein he says that thanks to his father, he was 15 before he realized his first name wasn’t actually Jesus Christ. And his brother Russell? His name was Goddamnit.

 

[Tiki Tom]

My father-in-law was an ex marine corps WWII fighter pilot AND, afterwards, a church minister. If the need arose he could swear a blue streak, but drew the line at using the Lord’s name in vain.

 

[ChiTownScion]

As to using our Lord and Savior’s name in vain …

I’m reminded of a Bill Cosby routine from many years ago wherein he says that thanks to his father, he was 15 before he realized his first name wasn’t actually Jesus Christ. And his brother Russell? His name was Goddamnit.

My two cents worth on the whole "taking the Lord's name in vain" thing.

The prohibition was originally transcribed in Hebrew, and the name itself was originally given and transcribed in Hebrew. And just as the names of Anthony, Thomas, and John do not morph into Antonio, Tomas, or Juan the moment that the wheels of their Boeing 757 touch the runway in Barcelona, the name of the Almighty doesn't change either.

"God" isn't a name: it's closer to a job description.

Therefore, as to the exclamation, "******** it?" De minimis non curat lex. It doesn't violate the commandment.

Next issue is whether the commandments given to ancient Israel (whether you include all six hundred and thirteen, or just the better known Big Ten, in either their Catholic or Protestant incarnations) are even binding upon Gentiles. I'd love to argue it with a theologian who believes that they do. But not in this forum.

 

[The one from the North]

The sad part is that over use devalues the word. The F-bomb hardly raises an eyebrow anymore. To breathe new life into the art of swearing, someone will have to come up with a word so horrifyingly outrageous that people will actually care …and will attempt to ban it.

A friend of mine did a tour as a peacekeeper in the Balkans, and he had the most thorough English lesson ever. He met quite attractive female canadian peacekeeper on the side of the road with a jeep bonnet up. Of course my friend wanted to help and asked what the problem was. And the answer... "This f***ing f*** won't f***!". Oookei...

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

My two cents worth on the whole "taking the Lord's name in vain" thing.

The prohibition was originally transcribed in Hebrew, and the name itself was originally given and transcribed in Hebrew. And just as the names of Anthony, Thomas, and John do not morph into Antonio, Tomas, or Juan the moment that the wheels of their Boeing 757 touch the runway in Barcelona, the name of the Almighty doesn't change either.

"God" isn't a name: it's closer to a job description.

Therefore, as to the exclamation, "******** it?" De minimis non curat lex. It doesn't violate the commandment.

Next issue is whether the commandments given to ancient Israel (whether you include all six hundred and thirteen, or just the better known Big Ten, in either their Catholic or Protestant incarnations) are even binding upon Gentiles. I'd love to argue it with a theologian who believes that they do. But not in this forum.

I can't speak for Catholics, but in the Lutheran church of my youth we were shown the line in Paul's second letter to the Colossians, chapter 2, verse 16 (KJV).

 

[Trenchfriend]

Would they ever again do such a scene in cinema??

 

[GHT]

I suppose it is the equivqlrnt on some level of the kids who go on school exchange trips wanting to learn the local swears....

I have been told that many ESL folks prefer to swear in English rather than the mother tongue. Sounds less rude, maybe (equivalent of you or I muttering "merde", or the classicist's 'mater fornicator')

 

[LizzieMaine]

As a little girl I became convinced that "Chrysler" was a swear word after misunderstanding the many colorful permutations my mother exercised on that particular biblical word. Which, after all, isn't a name at all, but a title. Ma could, and still can, weave it into a single sentence as a noun, an adjective, an adverb, and as an interjection. You have to admire the talent.

 

[EngProf]

A friend of mine did a tour as a peacekeeper in the Balkans, and he had the most thorough English lesson ever. He met quite attractive female canadian peacekeeper on the side of the road with a jeep bonnet up. Of course my friend wanted to help and asked what the problem was. And the answer... "This f***ing f*** won't f***!". Oookei...

This reminds me a story, which may even be true, concerning a WWII British ground crewman who was working on a Spitfire engine when he broke off a bolt on that engine.
He is said to have said, "F***!! - F****ng F****rs F***ed!!
English eloquence...

 

[Edward]

As a little girl I became convinced that "Chrysler" was a swear word after misunderstanding the many colorful permutations my mother exercised on that particular biblical word. Which, after all, isn't a name at all, but a title. Ma could, and still can, weave it into a single sentence as a noun, an adjective, an adverb, and as an interjection. You have to admire the talent.

And they say swearing is a sign of a limited vocabulary - pah!

This reminds me a story, which may even be true, concerning a WWII British ground crewman who was working on a Spitfire engine when he broke off a bolt on that engine.
He is said to have said, "F***!! - F****ng F****rs F***ed!!
English eloquence...

Douglas Bader once visited a school for young ladies, were he had been invited to lecture the girls, in his mode as "war hero". So the story goes, the young ladies were rapt with attention, and eyes grew wide as he described being shot as by "these German Fockers". Eventually, the headmistress stepped in, saying

"Ladies, a Focker is a type of German aeroplane."

"Indeed it is," commented Bader, "but these fockers were in Messerschmitts."

 

[Zombie_61]

Would they ever again do such a scene in cinema??

Only if they think they can make money from it. Even then, why do it again? It's already been done, move on and do something funnier.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Only if they think they can make money from it. Even then, why do it again? It's already been done, move on and do something funnier.

It will be hard to do something funnier than the the drill scene from Stripes ...

 

[Rmccamey]

To breathe new life into the art of swearing, someone will have to come up with a word so horrifyingly outrageous that people will actually care …and will attempt to ban it.

That has already happened. There is a slang term associated with American history a century and a half ago or more that, as you say, is so horrifyingly outrageous that it has, in essence, been banned.

 

[GHT]

Douglas Bader once visited a school for young ladies, were he had been invited to lecture the girls, in his mode as "war hero". So the story goes, the young ladies were rapt with attention, and eyes grew wide as he described being shot as by "these German Fockers". Eventually, the headmistress stepped in, saying

"Ladies, a Focker is a type of German aeroplane."

"Indeed it is," commented Bader, "but these fockers were in Messerschmitts."

That's one of those tales that is so funny that it doesn't matter if there's a little bending of the truth. Another one similar was told to me by a Catholic priest.

Centuries ago, adultery was against the law, those who transgressed were hauled before the courts, where, if a guilty verdict was returned, got themselves locked up with all the other adulterers. It was said that they became known by the acronym of their wrong doing: "Found Under Carnal Knowledge." Collectively they were referred to as the f*****s!

It was all probably fiction but when I looked it up someone had written a most eloquent version more or less repeating that which the priest told me, I just wanted to believe it.