# Mailer and the euphemism "fug." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538 "2013-12-31T03:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/1 "2013-12-31T03:05:54Z")
About forty years ago, I read Norman Mailer’s _The Naked and the Dead_. It’s a powerful novel about soldiers in WWII, but what I chiefly remember about it is that the characters repeatedly use the euphemism “fug,” which was as frank as you could get get in the late 1940’s when it was published. Assuming that this classic novel is still in print, do recent editions still employ the silly substitute or has it been replaced with the word that was meant? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/2 "2013-12-31T03:44:17Z")
The version on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) which is searchable still says “fug.” I’ll defer to others on whether recent printings still have it. ---
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/3 "2013-12-31T11:31:15Z")
Thank you, Earl! It’s good to know that the book is still in print, though I’m surprised that Mailer, who died only a few years ago, didn’t update the prose in later editions. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/4 "2013-12-31T12:41:41Z")
I recall an anecdote where Mailer was introduced to a society matron as the author of “The Naked and the Dead.” She is reported to have said “Oh, you’re the gentleman who doesn’t know how to spell ‘fuck.’” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/5 "2013-12-31T13:25:07Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I recall an anecdote where Mailer was introduced to a society matron as the author of “The Naked and the Dead.” She is reported to have said “Oh, you’re the gentleman who doesn’t know how to spell ‘fuck.’” It was Tallulah Bankhead. It’s unclear whether or not the anecdote is true; [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2077/whats-the-origin-of-fuckin-a) says Mailer denied ever meeting Bankhead, while Mailer told [Paul Krassner](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/remembering-norman-mailer_b_72034.html) that it was true–although he may have done so only to claim to have delivered the comeback “Yes, and you’re the young woman who doesn’t know how to.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/6 "2013-12-31T15:31:52Z")
Why would they bother? It’s how the book was written. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/7 "2013-12-31T15:43:30Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > It was Tallulah Bankhead. It’s unclear whether or not the anecdote is true; [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2077/whats-the-origin-of-fuckin-a) says Mailer denied ever meeting Bankhead, while Mailer told [Paul Krassner](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/remembering-norman-mailer_b_72034.html) that it was true–although he may have done so only to claim to have delivered the comeback “Yes, and you’re the young woman who doesn’t know how to.” Actually, I wrote that report in 2003, not **Cecil**. Krassner wrote his comment in 2007. I’d say it’s still unclear who the woman was. ---
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/8 "2013-12-31T18:14:09Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why would they bother? It’s how the book was written. Because, Chuck, the euphemism is jarring and silly. It’s nudge-nudge-wink-wink. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/9 "2013-12-31T18:23:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why would they bother? It’s how the book was written. You’re just trying to avoid fixing that whole Oamer thing. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/10 "2013-12-31T19:28:12Z")
> [@Tante\_Dillie](#): > > Because, Chuck, the euphemism is jarring and silly. It’s nudge-nudge-wink-wink. Hey, fug you if you don’t like how I talk. Fug you straight to heck! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/11 "2013-12-31T22:34:13Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Hey, fug you if you don’t like how I talk. Fug you straight to heck! 😉 Could you make that a fug in a rug? It’s freezing here. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/12 "2013-12-31T23:03:46Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > It was Tallulah Bankhead. It’s unclear whether or not the anecdote is true; [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2077/whats-the-origin-of-fuckin-a) says Mailer denied ever meeting Bankhead, while Mailer told [Paul Krassner](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/remembering-norman-mailer_b_72034.html) that it was true–although he may have done so only to claim to have delivered the comeback “Yes, and you’re the young woman who doesn’t know how to.” I don’t believe it ever happened. Mailer accused Bankhead’s press agent of spreading the rumor and Bankhead also denied it, according to the biography Tallulah, Darling. I can’t find any origin for the quote, probably because nobody could have printed it at the time. (Not to mention that others credit it to Dorothy Parker, the fallback for all unsourced quips of the era.) The comeback quip is even sillier. Bankhead was 22 years older than Mailer. If he wanted to make a point at her expense, calling her an _old_ women who didn’t know how to fuck would have been much crueler. Tante Dillie, the idea of reprinting the book to “update” the language is even sillier than that. How many other books would you also have to do that to because they used euphemisms? The very use of fug tells you something about the time the book was written. It’s also represents a huge victory for Mailer over the bluenoses of the era that would be ruined if modernized. You haven’t read the book for 40 years. Why should you care if stupid people today would react stupidly to the original text? ---
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailer-and-the-euphemism-fug/677538/13 "2013-12-31T23:32:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Tante Dillie, the idea of reprinting the book to “update” the language is even sillier than that. How many other books would you also have to do that to because they used euphemisms? The very use of fug tells you something about the time the book was written. It’s also represents a huge victory for Mailer over the bluenoses of the era that would be ruined if modernized. You haven’t read the book for 40 years. Why should you care if stupid people today would react stupidly to the original text? Good point, Exapno Mapcase.