obscenities
as per writer bill bryson, after the word 'o.k.', 'fuck' may be one of the most versatile words in the english language.
fuck, originally meaning to have sexual intercourse, becomes 'fuck you' - an insult, rather than a come-on, 'fucking-A' - an interjection, 'fuck off' - to send someone away, 'fuck over' - take advantage of, or 'fuck up' - to make a mistake.
i had heard the term 'snafu' - but i did not know that it was originally a military term - 'situation normal all fucked up', nor two other acronyms 'fubar' - 'fucked up beyond all recognition', and 'fubb' - 'fucked up beyond belief'.
what makes something obscene? why does the term 'fuck' strike us as vulgar, but 'sex' not? or why is it 1000 times worse when you call someone a 'cunt' here than in the u.k.? since there really are no curse words in japanese, calling someone 'stupid' there has the same meaning as calling someone an 'asshole' here. it's all a matter of culture, perception and propriety...
posted by minako @ 8:28 PM
2 Comments:
Children further complicate the semantic game. My 8 year old is constantly worried that he is cursing. He shyly asks me if the "s" word is a curse - now we call stupid & shit "s" words in our house and it pains me to see him have such dilemmas over something so inane. I find out that he has been told that putting up your middle finger is funny and will make people angry so he tried it a few times - he has no idea what that means......
origin perhaps unknown, but found some history of the word (c/o dictionary.com...)
Its first known occurrence, in code because of its unacceptability, is in a poem composed in a mixture of Latin and English sometime before 1500. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, “Flen flyys,” from the first words of its opening line, “Flen, flyys, and freris,” that is, “fleas, flies, and friars.” The line that contains fuck reads “Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk.” The Latin words “Non sunt in coeli, quia,” mean “they [the friars] are not in heaven, since.” The code “gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk” is easily broken by simply substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now: i was then used for both i and j; v was used for both u and v; and vv was used for w. This yields “fvccant [a fake Latin form] vvivys of heli.” The whole thus reads in translation: “They are not in heaven because they fuck wives of Ely [a town near Cambridge].”
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