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The Banality of the F-Bomb: Once taboo, the word has become an unfortunate national habit
National Review ^ | 05/09/2019 | By HEATHER WILHELM

Posted on 05/09/2019 11:19:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

One of my favorite 1960s anecdotes comes from legendary broadcaster Larry King, who tells of attending his first roast at New York City’s Friars Club. There, French actor Maurice Chevalier dared to utter the F-word live on stage. King was practically blown out of his seat. “I thought I’d die,” he recalls.

Today, as King himself has noted, the F-bomb — once known as the ultimate forbidden verbal lightning bolt, the Utterance That Must Not Be Named, or at least the word of last resort to use when you’re really hopelessly mad — might as well be growing out of random cracks in the sidewalk. In 2019, the F-word is a throwaway. It is a sneeze. It is as common as dandelion fluff.

Does anyone else find this awkward? Mock me if you will — no doubt my quest is a lonely one — but I certainly do.

Just the other day, while I was communing with a wildly energetic and occasionally shouty spin instructor in my garage — I am the enthusiastic new owner of one of those Peloton workout bikes where you can beam into classes via an Internet-connected screen — I discovered that even the most winsome and cheerful Peloton instructor might one day randomly bombard you with the F-bomb. In my case, this happened right in the middle of an insanely steep fake “hill” climb and a cheerily judgmental pop song. (If the song had happened to be Ariana Grande’s regrettably catchy hit “Thank U, Next,” or perhaps Pink’s unedited “F-ing Perfect,” I could have absorbed approximately seven bonus F-words for good measure.)

I have since discovered that Peloton classes have labels and filters for explicit language, which is certainly nice of them. I somehow missed this the first go-round, because just as no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, I naïvely failed to expect that my workout bike would one day curse at me like my own personal Colonel Jessup from A Few Good Men.

Thankfully, my kids were out of earshot when that particular F-bomb dropped. Unfortunately, there have been plenty of others to go around. My kids were in exceptionally clear eyeshot on a different day, for instance, when we happened to pass a bored-looking young lady sporting a tank top that declared, “YOU MUST HAVE ME CONFUSED FOR SOMEONE WHO GIVES A [F-WORD].” The word in question was, of course, uncensored, helpfully available for every kindergartener in a 20-foot radius to see.

What is wrong with everyone? Have we lost our national “edit” button? (I’ll answer my own question, because the answer is obvious: Yes.)

The F-bomb has long been with us, but the growing tendency to cheerfully, unhesitatingly use it in any old circumstance is something new and alarming. Forget venturing into R-rated movies or edgy art galleries: Take your kid into a random gift shop in the Texas hill country these days, and you might find cutesy hand towels embroidered with swear words that would have made young Larry King faint. Beto O’Rourke, always game to roll on the bad-idea bandwagon, gained notoriety during his Senate campaign for letting an impressive parade of F-bombs fly. Self-help books with the F-word fly off the shelves, even though — at least in the humble opinion of this writer, who grew up in the famously repressed rolling fields of the American Midwest — “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Rip” would make for just as compelling a title as “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a” — well, I’ll stop there. You know what word is coming next.

It gets worse: Just last week, Burger King, which is gross even without the help of swear words, launched a series of mood-themed “Real Meals,” questionable foodstuffs boxed with wonderfully poetic names like — you guessed it — the DGAF Meal. (DGAF, in case you’re still gloriously unaware, stands for “Don’t Give a [You Know What].”)

Weirdly, Burger King released these meal deals as part of “Mental-Health Awareness” month. That seems paradoxical at best, but since we’re speaking of mental health, let’s take this moment to get philosophical. My crusade against the public explosion of the F-bomb, you see, goes beyond simple manners. Much like, say, The Lego Batman Movie, it is far deeper than it appears.

In many ways, words can shape our very perception of reality. Edward Sapir, who helped develop the hypothesis of linguistic relativity in the 1930s, put it this way: “Human beings . . . are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. . . . The fact of the matter is that the ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group.”

It’s a radical idea, but what if it contains a grain of truth? What does our society’s thunderstorm of public F-bombs do to our greater sensibility, cultural or otherwise? When the worst swear word becomes commonplace, what do we use to describe the truly horrific? What happened to mystery and subtlety? For that matter, what happened to the fashion sense of people who regularly sport shirts that evoke memories of the early routines of Andrew Dice Clay?

It is no surprise, I suppose, that the F-bomb has become ubiquitous as our culture’s exhibitionism has gotten out of control. But here we can draw at least one consolation: Back at the Friars Club in the Sixties, the F-word was shocking and rare, at least when uttered in public. Today, it’s emblazoned in insouciant acronyms on the packaging of mass-produced Burger King meals.

Behold, America: The F-bomb has officially entered the realm of the hopelessly banal. Who knows? Perhaps if we’re lucky, Americans will get bored with using it — and that might just save us all.


TOPICS: Humor; Society
KEYWORDS: commoncore; fbomb; nea; publiceducation; publicschools; swearing; taboo; words
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To: All

This article is another demonstration of why the NRO is a totally wasted publication.


21 posted on 05/09/2019 11:40:40 AM PDT by JonPreston
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To: married21

That’s where “Undercussing” comes in.

The Barry Switzer Guide to Undercussing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5bm2Wzsh4w


22 posted on 05/09/2019 11:41:13 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I don’t use the “f” word by choice, but sometimes other drivers just pull it right out of my mouth.


23 posted on 05/09/2019 11:42:48 AM PDT by Two Kids' Dad (((( Wake me when a prominent democrat gets prosecuted. ))))
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To: SeekAndFind

If you use the F word you’re just admitting you don’t have the intellect or vocabulary to express yourself properly.

WTF?


24 posted on 05/09/2019 11:43:14 AM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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Comment #25 Removed by Moderator

To: cdga5for4

As Bob Knight said, the most expressive word in the English language.


Not just english. ;)


26 posted on 05/09/2019 11:44:29 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: SeekAndFind

My wife worked in radio, so she never swore out of habit—”The mic is always hot.”

Me, I went to college with about 1,500 other males. The f word is tossed in every sentence. It was a hard habit to break.

My wife would always call me on it, if I used the word in the house. I would catch her wrath if I used it in front of the kids. I never used it at work. Ever.

One day when my daughter was 12 or 13, I sliced the palm of my hand open—20 stitches. She said she knew I was hurt because I used “that word.”

Now the kids are grown up. My wife is out of radio. And I spend more time with the lawn and garden than I do working.

Yesterday, I heard her tell some “old lady” to “get the F off the street if you are not going to drive.”

She was all wrapped up on her car so it was just an utterance...but I gave her the look of 13 boy that just figured out he was getting to “second base” tonight!

I can finally “F-ing” swear again!


27 posted on 05/09/2019 11:45:38 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (If we get Medicare for all, will we have to show IDs for service?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Heather “vapors” Williams had best not hang around any military types.

“F—k” is used in various forms by all NATO and any US ally (eg Israel) in all its glory and forms.

She should go back to hating Trump on NPR with David French.


28 posted on 05/09/2019 11:46:17 AM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: donna
The F-word is of the left.

Absolutely! If you go to their blogs and places on the web where they post opinions rarely do you get much past Paragraph Two before the F-bomb makes an appearance. You can almost hear Abbie Hoffman rising from the grave.


29 posted on 05/09/2019 11:48:33 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Midwesterner53
I still consider a woman just short of a street walker when I hear her use the word.

Ride the DC Metro on any of the lines at around 4pm. The language being slung around by the "ladies" would amaze you.

30 posted on 05/09/2019 11:49:25 AM PDT by Not A Snowbird (I trust President Trump.)
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To: dfwgator

lol


31 posted on 05/09/2019 11:50:00 AM PDT by married21 ( As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: jmacusa

I had an aunt who used to occasionally say “oh, fudgesicles” when something vexatious happened.


32 posted on 05/09/2019 11:55:21 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Bommer

33 posted on 05/09/2019 11:57:15 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m no moralizing prude and use as much foul language as the next guy when angry, but I really can’t stand being around people who can’t speak a sentence without f_ in it, e.g. “So I f_ing went to the f_ing grocery store to buy some f_ing bread...” Such people seem to use expletives not for emphasis or expression of anger, but as particles, the way teenagers use “like.”


34 posted on 05/09/2019 11:57:54 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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To: READINABLUESTATE

If you were stuck on a desert island with only one word...


35 posted on 05/09/2019 11:58:05 AM PDT by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: SeekAndFind

i do not drink, smoke, gamble, cheat. But I do cuss. I have since i was a teen, and it’s probably gotten worse. But thats my only vice.
People that get their enormous panties in a bunch over a swear word are ridiculous.


36 posted on 05/09/2019 12:00:30 PM PDT by ronniesgal (so I wonder what his FR handle is????)
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To: Midwesterner53

I’ve never walked a street in my life!!


37 posted on 05/09/2019 12:00:40 PM PDT by CaptainK ('No collusion, no obstruction, he's a leaker')
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To: bigbob

In the last year I’ve noticed a few movies use of the “C” word, especially by women. (guess it describes them).


38 posted on 05/09/2019 12:02:02 PM PDT by sanjuanbob
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To: SeekAndFind


Step one, instead of ass say buns
Like 'Kiss my buns' or 'You're a buns hole'
Step two, instead of s___ say poo
As in 'Bull poo', 'Poo head' and this 'Poo is cold'
Step three, with bitch drop the T
Because bich is Latin for generosity
Step four, don't say f___ anymore
Because f___ is the worst word that you can say
So just use the word MMMKay
39 posted on 05/09/2019 12:04:15 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

It began back in the Hippie days when they wanted to bring vile language into public view.
Before that time, if you said such a word in mixed company a few persons would take you out behind the bar and beat the snot out of you.


40 posted on 05/09/2019 12:04:34 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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