Monday, February 16, 2004
Fuck
I was driving home from work yesterday - traffic completey sucked ass; it was a Friday - Friday the 13th. The Friday before Valentine's Day. For some reason, I started comtemplating the word Fuck. The first time I remember hearing the word Fuck was around the age of 10 in 1984 (the year of my birth when I'm 50) - I was watching some Paul Newman movie with my dad, and every other word out of Paul's mouth was Fuck. I began to hear Fuck more often when I entered Junior High School. Now mind you, I went to private schools up until 9th grade, so, I guess, it's not too surprising that I was inundated with the word Fuck upon entering the public school system. My usage of the word Fuck became more regular when I started college, and now it is one of the most commonly used words in my vocabulary. I might be ashamed of this, if I still lived in the south - guilt is as heavy as the humidity on a hot August day in the south, so heavy that it seeps into the mucus lining around your brain, where questions can no longer bloom and the currents around you are accepted without struggle. But luckily, I've joined the community of fruits, flakes and nuts - a cereal that's best served without guilt, where I feel mighty fine floating around and using the word Fuck as a precursor to many adjectives, adverbs, noun, verbs, prepositions...
So fuck! How do you define/desribe the word Fuck? If an alien speaking turkey gobble lanuage were to visit earth tomorrow and wanted to know what Fuck meant, what would you say? Well, sure, you could be a loser and hand the alien a dictionary, like the one I just found on Jen's desk: "(1) fuck: to engage in sexual intercourse (2) fuck around: to fool around (3) fuck off: to leave at once (4) fuck over: to treat unfairly (5) fuck up: to bungle (6) fucked-up: totally confused (7) fucker: one that fucks or acts offensive" Well, I have to admit, the dictionary covered it pretty good. I have a couple more for those aliens:
"Fuck me" - used when in disbelief of oneself
- "Well, fuck me, if it isn't old so and so - how are ya doin', old man? It's been a long time since...."
- "Fuck me, if I didn't bring the plyers... Goddamn - now, I have to go all the way back...."
"Fuckin'" - a common adjective or adverb to further intensify one's countenance
- "This fuckin' thing wouldn't work right if..."
- "Goddamn it!! Look at the fuckin' ass on that chick to the right. She's got more junk in her trunk, then Carter's got pills. What I wouldn't do to get a piece..."
- "Man, Harold fuckin' lifted the bologna at the corner store and fuckin' got caught. Now what do we fuckin' do? Maybe the pet store..."
- "Do you fuckin' get what I'm sayin'? 'Cause I don't wanna have to bust a cap in your ass. You dig?"
"Fuck" - a curse word used in frustration or pain
- "Fuck!" yelled when stubbing one's toe into a piece of furniture that was purposely placed in one's way to precisely cause the action stated
- "Fuck!" yelled when locking one's self out of her apartment without car keys, while car is about to be towed (refer to entry "All Because of a Turkey Gobble")
"Fuck you" - telling someone to go to Hell
- "Fuck you!" yelled at an idiot driver gulity of cutting one's car off
- "Fuck you!" yelled at the many men who feel they must comment on one's ass as one walks by, when one is not in the mood to deal
- "Fuck you!" mildly replied when one's friends feel the need to harass
"Mother Fucker" or "Mo' Fo'" - similar to "Fucker"; may be used negatively or with love
- "You, Mother Fucker!! How did you get these tickets? This is awesome - I've been dying to see Britney shake that ass. Thanks, man!"
- "Hey, Mother Fucker - I was waiting for that parking spot. Don't make me get out of this car!"
- "That Mother Fucker..." said under one's breath, while passing the Kiss Ass in the office
As I was sitting in that God forsaken traffic yesterday, I was more or less contemplating why the word Fuck has become more accepted and more widely used now than ever. Well, I'm not really sure I settled on one theory, but here's two: (1) Fuck has so many different meanings that an abacus would need more wooden ball thingys to help us keep track of them (2) Fuck emphasizes and intensifies the meaning being conveyed. It's versatility is unfathomable - so versatile that at times, it takes on a meaning the exact opposite of its meaning in a prior statement. My Generation has tapped into Fuck's flexibility, and I'm not sure how it all happened. I don't hear my parent's generation use it very much (except for Paul Newman when he plays a hockey coach or a pool shark) and even the generation after that - I guess that generation would be better defined as the "St. Elmo's Fire"/Brat Pack generation. My generation adopted Fuck and took it to a new level. You easily hear the word Fuck as you're passing people on the street, and you don't think twice of it.
What happened to make Fuck the word of our generation? Were we rebelling and taking on a word that was considered extremely foul? Did all the divorces during our childhoods create such anger that we needed the strongest curse word to express our rage? Or maybe it was the advent of Quentin Tarantino movies that made the word Fuck so cool... Nonetheless, I hereby declare my generation as "Generation Fuck". Fuck the "X"! "Generation X" (reportedly born between 1965 and 1980) is a derogatory term. The stereotype has been presented as a generation "made up of cynical, hopeless, frustrated and unmotivated slackers who wear grunge clothing, listen to alternative music and still live at home because they cannot get real jobs" - quoted from some website. A guy with the last name Fussell used "X" to describe a group of people who want to pull away from class, status and money in society. Some guy with the last name Coupland coined the term "Generation X", describing characters in his book written in the 1990's. The stereotype, as well as Fussell's definition, piss me off. I look at my friends - I don't see anyone trying to pull away. I see them asking questions; I see them wondering how we're going to clean up what several generations have left behind; I see them wanting to make life more meaningful beyond material positions and the supposed power created by climbing ladders in the corporate world.
I think a 15 year span is too large in defining a generation. My generation is "Generation Fuck", and we were born in the 1970's. "Generation Fuck" consists of many who need the release provided by yelling the word Fuck, due to the onset of the competitive job market, increased traffic, computers crashing, and the pressure put on us to follow the main stream channeled by our parent's generation. "Generation Fuck" is the most educated generation, saturated with college degrees that generally do not apply to any of our current jobs; it is the generation that finally sat up and asked, "Do I really want to be a slave to my job? Is paying a mortgage and planning for retirement all there is? Aren't we supposed to enjoy life? What fulfillment do I obtain by being the most powerful? Fuck the ideology of the old - it's time I find my own way!" That's "Generation Fuck", and I'm mighty fucking proud to be a part of it.
With that said, I wonder if the following generation will have a curse word of their own - not necessarily to be used in their title/description. Hopefully the angst felt among "Generation Fuck" will have dissipated by the next generation's birth. Maybe their "bad word" will be a little less potent...
Will Fuck be a passing fad, like leg warmers and electric blue mascara? Will the world of slang revolve back into the season of Goddamnit and Fuck be placed on the shelf, only to be used as a secondary condiment - the Apple Butter of slang? Who fucking knows? I think it's pretty fucking cool that Fuck is in the dictionary. And to the people who get offended by the word Fuck, I say to them Fuck Off!! (for definition, refer to above).
So fuck! How do you define/desribe the word Fuck? If an alien speaking turkey gobble lanuage were to visit earth tomorrow and wanted to know what Fuck meant, what would you say? Well, sure, you could be a loser and hand the alien a dictionary, like the one I just found on Jen's desk: "(1) fuck: to engage in sexual intercourse (2) fuck around: to fool around (3) fuck off: to leave at once (4) fuck over: to treat unfairly (5) fuck up: to bungle (6) fucked-up: totally confused (7) fucker: one that fucks or acts offensive" Well, I have to admit, the dictionary covered it pretty good. I have a couple more for those aliens:
"Fuck me" - used when in disbelief of oneself
- "Well, fuck me, if it isn't old so and so - how are ya doin', old man? It's been a long time since...."
- "Fuck me, if I didn't bring the plyers... Goddamn - now, I have to go all the way back...."
"Fuckin'" - a common adjective or adverb to further intensify one's countenance
- "This fuckin' thing wouldn't work right if..."
- "Goddamn it!! Look at the fuckin' ass on that chick to the right. She's got more junk in her trunk, then Carter's got pills. What I wouldn't do to get a piece..."
- "Man, Harold fuckin' lifted the bologna at the corner store and fuckin' got caught. Now what do we fuckin' do? Maybe the pet store..."
- "Do you fuckin' get what I'm sayin'? 'Cause I don't wanna have to bust a cap in your ass. You dig?"
"Fuck" - a curse word used in frustration or pain
- "Fuck!" yelled when stubbing one's toe into a piece of furniture that was purposely placed in one's way to precisely cause the action stated
- "Fuck!" yelled when locking one's self out of her apartment without car keys, while car is about to be towed (refer to entry "All Because of a Turkey Gobble")
"Fuck you" - telling someone to go to Hell
- "Fuck you!" yelled at an idiot driver gulity of cutting one's car off
- "Fuck you!" yelled at the many men who feel they must comment on one's ass as one walks by, when one is not in the mood to deal
- "Fuck you!" mildly replied when one's friends feel the need to harass
"Mother Fucker" or "Mo' Fo'" - similar to "Fucker"; may be used negatively or with love
- "You, Mother Fucker!! How did you get these tickets? This is awesome - I've been dying to see Britney shake that ass. Thanks, man!"
- "Hey, Mother Fucker - I was waiting for that parking spot. Don't make me get out of this car!"
- "That Mother Fucker..." said under one's breath, while passing the Kiss Ass in the office
As I was sitting in that God forsaken traffic yesterday, I was more or less contemplating why the word Fuck has become more accepted and more widely used now than ever. Well, I'm not really sure I settled on one theory, but here's two: (1) Fuck has so many different meanings that an abacus would need more wooden ball thingys to help us keep track of them (2) Fuck emphasizes and intensifies the meaning being conveyed. It's versatility is unfathomable - so versatile that at times, it takes on a meaning the exact opposite of its meaning in a prior statement. My Generation has tapped into Fuck's flexibility, and I'm not sure how it all happened. I don't hear my parent's generation use it very much (except for Paul Newman when he plays a hockey coach or a pool shark) and even the generation after that - I guess that generation would be better defined as the "St. Elmo's Fire"/Brat Pack generation. My generation adopted Fuck and took it to a new level. You easily hear the word Fuck as you're passing people on the street, and you don't think twice of it.
What happened to make Fuck the word of our generation? Were we rebelling and taking on a word that was considered extremely foul? Did all the divorces during our childhoods create such anger that we needed the strongest curse word to express our rage? Or maybe it was the advent of Quentin Tarantino movies that made the word Fuck so cool... Nonetheless, I hereby declare my generation as "Generation Fuck". Fuck the "X"! "Generation X" (reportedly born between 1965 and 1980) is a derogatory term. The stereotype has been presented as a generation "made up of cynical, hopeless, frustrated and unmotivated slackers who wear grunge clothing, listen to alternative music and still live at home because they cannot get real jobs" - quoted from some website. A guy with the last name Fussell used "X" to describe a group of people who want to pull away from class, status and money in society. Some guy with the last name Coupland coined the term "Generation X", describing characters in his book written in the 1990's. The stereotype, as well as Fussell's definition, piss me off. I look at my friends - I don't see anyone trying to pull away. I see them asking questions; I see them wondering how we're going to clean up what several generations have left behind; I see them wanting to make life more meaningful beyond material positions and the supposed power created by climbing ladders in the corporate world.
I think a 15 year span is too large in defining a generation. My generation is "Generation Fuck", and we were born in the 1970's. "Generation Fuck" consists of many who need the release provided by yelling the word Fuck, due to the onset of the competitive job market, increased traffic, computers crashing, and the pressure put on us to follow the main stream channeled by our parent's generation. "Generation Fuck" is the most educated generation, saturated with college degrees that generally do not apply to any of our current jobs; it is the generation that finally sat up and asked, "Do I really want to be a slave to my job? Is paying a mortgage and planning for retirement all there is? Aren't we supposed to enjoy life? What fulfillment do I obtain by being the most powerful? Fuck the ideology of the old - it's time I find my own way!" That's "Generation Fuck", and I'm mighty fucking proud to be a part of it.
With that said, I wonder if the following generation will have a curse word of their own - not necessarily to be used in their title/description. Hopefully the angst felt among "Generation Fuck" will have dissipated by the next generation's birth. Maybe their "bad word" will be a little less potent...
Will Fuck be a passing fad, like leg warmers and electric blue mascara? Will the world of slang revolve back into the season of Goddamnit and Fuck be placed on the shelf, only to be used as a secondary condiment - the Apple Butter of slang? Who fucking knows? I think it's pretty fucking cool that Fuck is in the dictionary. And to the people who get offended by the word Fuck, I say to them Fuck Off!! (for definition, refer to above).
