THE 'F***' WORD

The abundant use of the F word in the recent movie Gehrayiaan created a lot of discussion online. While some claimed how it was not how young people actually spoke and the depiction was a hyperbole, there were many who lamented the fall of the culture and the degeneration of language.

I remember coming across this word when I was initiated into the world of Sidney Sheldon. While the usage was not very common, it was used when situations were bleak and may be even appropriate for the story, more among the antagonists of the story.

Soon the word came into parlance in Hindi movies, but would be beeped out for moral and ethical safety of our society.

Today its there out in the open. The Oxford English Dictionary records (paywall) the earliest known use of “fuck” with a sexual meaning in the 16th century, with roots in the Dutch word “fokken,” meaning “to beget children,” among other things (including “to strike” and “to mock”).

Language is dynamic. How it came to mean what it presently does is a study in itself. By the way, what it means may vary. It can be used to express extreme anger, extreme happiness, extreme pain or extreme astonishment.

The range of extreme could vary from person to person. So it doesn't really matter.

While the word has clearly swallowed up many a common word for expression, and is considered a beep worthy, insulting word, may be its time to revisit these insults which were in today's parlance, not just savage, but in those days long gone, examples of sarcasm with humour done intentionally!

1. "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; Bring a friend, if you have one." George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.

"Cannot possibly attend first night, I will attend the second...If there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

2. A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows, or of some unspeakable disease."

"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

3. "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

4."Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."- Moses Hadas

5."He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends. - Oscar Wilde

6."I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."- Stephen Bishop

7."I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

8."He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

9. "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

10."Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

11. "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... For support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

12. "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."- Winston Churchill