I Swear, The F Bomb Is Out Of Control

It's "one of the most graphic, explicit and vulgar words in the English language," U.S. Solicitor General Gregory Garre proclaimed last fall, when the Supreme Court launched hearings on Federal Communications Commission v. Fox. If TV networks have their way, Garre argued in his opening statement on behalf of the FCC, it won't be long before Americans hear "Big Bird dropping the F-bomb on Sesame Street."

I don't know about Big Bird dropping the F bomb on Sesame Street, hopefully not but Monday I had the experience of having lunch at the cafeteria at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. Sitting at the table next to me were five ladies, (?), obviously employees from their outfits and identification tabs. In their normal course of conversation the F word was being tossed around as casually as any other word in the English language. One lady in particular at the table used the word in almost every sentence she uttered. It actually became my noon hour entertainment as I munched on my healthy wrap and listened to these ladies in particular rap out what to many is a offensive word. It also got me thinking as to how much this F word has just become part of our everyday conversation. Is it no longer offensive to people? Have we become so accustomed to hearing this word that we no longer even blink or flinch? Are there no other words in our vocabulary that we could substitute and still get our point across. The funny thing in the hospital conversation was these ladies weren't angry. No one was upset. It was just regular everyday conversation.

The F Bomb of course has become accepted regular conversation used by Presidents, Vice Presidents, at least one Prime Minister, celebrities such as Joan Rivers, A Rod and others.

Looks like Garre needn't worry about puppet profanity. There may be hope at least south of the border and as far as your radio and television are concerned.
On April 28, the Supreme Court upheld the FCC policy of fining "fleeting expletives" like the one used by U2 front man Bono during his acceptance speech at the 2003 Golden Globes ("This is really, really bleeping brilliant"), to which the agency will no longer turn a blind eye — or deaf ear. Henceforth, stations both big and small can be fined as much as $325,000 for airing a single accidental (or deliberate) slip of the tongue during live prime-time broadcasts.

The ladies conversation at the Royal U got me wondering, where did this word come from, how did it come about?

First printed in a Scottish poem in 1503, the ancient and awesomely powerful F-bomb continues to mystify lexicographers. Rumors persist that legal acronyms spawned the obscenity in question ("Fornication Under Consent of the King" or the Irish police-blotter inscription "booked For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"), though the modern-day phrase has been traced to a number of etymological origins: Middle Dutch (fokken), Germanic (ficken), English (firk), Scottish (fukkit). Even the Latin terms futuerre ("to copulate") and pungo ("to prick") bear a striking resemblance to the four-letter word. Of course, its original definition linking sex with violence and pleasure with pain has broadened considerably in the past 500 years.

People in the know tell me the F bomb is used most frequently in countries such as Canada and the United States.
Apparently, they say, North American's expressions of vulgarity seem to center around sex where other countries expressions and apparently language has something to do with this, center around religion. One report I read seemed to suggest the primary users of the F bomb are English speaking. Lucky us.
The most versatile word in our language can do almost anything, other than be printed in a family newspaper. It can be a noun, a verb, a gerund, an adjective or just an expletive. It can be literal or figurative. Although it has an explicit sexual meaning, it's usually used figuratively these days, as an all-purpose intensifier.

The F-word remains taboo. But just barely. We may be entering an era in which this fabled vulgarity is on its way to becoming just another word -- its transgressive energy steadily sapped by overuse.