# Use of the f-word **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 23, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173 "2002-08-23T03:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/1 "2002-08-23T03:46:58Z")
This is not a smart-aleck question; I’m genuinely curious. **Arnold** questioned the six occurrences of the f-word in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132020), wondering if my OP was a misdirected Pit entry. I had had a fleeting thought, when I sat down to recount the incident, of Pitting the subject. But I chose MPSIMS on the grounds that the issue was my embarrassment at being caught in such a state, my indignation at having my privacy compromised, and my uncertainty as to whether the incident was a simple mistake, or an attempt at menace. I just happen to use that word a lot. Even, as I said in the thread, when I’m in a positive mood. But **especially** when I’m at sixes and sevens as I was when I typed the OP. I did, however, think my **tone** was acceptable for MPSIMS; the replies I got were in a humorous vein. I’ve heard people, though I’m not sure they’re mods, decry the “And since this is the Pit, @%_, #_&@, %#@&^!\*&+!” gag. But I never thought language was confined strictly to the Pit. I’m sure I’ve seen the f-word in MPSIMS, so at least one use in one thread must be acceptable. (I’ve tried to conduct a search, but it keeps timing out. Will report back with any relevant cites.) Is there a cap on how many times one can use the f-word in an MPSIMS post, or thread? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/2 "2002-08-23T07:21:17Z")
You’re asking if we have an exact number of times the word “fuck” is allowed in an MPSIMS post? No. But many people find the word “fuck” vulgar and offensive. I don’t think it’s too much of an imposition to suggest to people that its use be saved for The BBQ Pit. Example: in your post you say “Mr. Rilch took a moment to ravish me before he left for work…” if you replace it with “Mr. Rilch took a moment to fuck me before he left for work…” I think it sounds crass. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/3 "2002-08-23T10:30:34Z")
Well, I’d never use the second version, in any fora! Funny thing is, I don’t use that word to describe the sex act. Just everything else 😃 I tried numerous times to do a search for that word in MPSIMS, and failed to connect each time. Finally abandoned the effort, thinking it might fall into the category of a board-slowing vanity search. But you’re saying it’s not banned **outright** in MPSIMS? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/4 "2002-08-23T10:48:11Z")
Why don’t you use it to describe the sex act? Why would you not use it in that way in any forum? Please explain the difference to me. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/5 "2002-08-23T11:10:04Z")
I don’t use it to describe the sex act because…I don’t. I agree that it’s crass. So I wouldn’t use it that way in any forum because I don’t use it that way ever, IRL or online. As far as using it for emphasis, well, that’s the way you get when you were a teenager in the '80s, a college student in the '90s, and live in LA, on the fringe of the film industry. There’s no hostility in it; it’s just my way, and the way of most people I know, of expressing ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/6 "2002-08-23T11:43:25Z")
“Fuck” is an intensifier, an interjection, an exclamation, and a sign of extreme feeling of whatever sort. Whereas “the sex act” is a personal interaction with emotional involvement and human connection. Thus “fucking” would be engaging in sexual activity without interconnection. (Some dipshit is going to make that a masterbation play on words, but that’s not what’s meant.) I don’t know if that is **Rilchiam** ’s interpretation, but I have known people with that attitude. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/7 "2002-08-23T12:00:26Z")
Here’s my take. I think that in all of the “normal” fora, the word can be used conversationally on occasion, as in “what the fuck was Mel Gibson thinking?” or “fucking-a! :D” or something like that. In the Pit, you can use it with actual vitriol, as in “fuck you, Burger King.” IOW, you can’t use “fuck” in anger anywhere except the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/8 "2002-08-23T12:00:44Z")
That’s actually pretty good, **Irishman**! Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/9 "2002-08-23T13:03:04Z")
Well, Rilch, FWIW, IMO the thread in question comes off as a MPSIMS thread–until the last two paragraphs. Then it suddenly turns into a Pit thread. An occasional “fuck” in a MPSIMS thread is no biggie, but Pit threads are the ones where you holler helplessly, over and over again, “What the fucking fuck?” And, I might add, where you generally invoke the Name of the Creator, as in “Jesus Christ!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/10 "2002-08-23T13:19:50Z")
Right, **DDG**. I started off MPSIMS-style, but it started sinking in while I was typing, causing me to segue into Pit mode. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/11 "2002-08-23T15:30:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*you generally invoke the Name of the Creator, as in “Jesus Christ!” 😉 \*\* Boy, I don’t understand Christianity at all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/12 "2002-08-23T16:58:58Z")
Irishman - very well put. I can appreciate the distinction you make. Rilchiam - it seems that the people in this thread that read your MPSIMS OP agree that it was more appropriate for The BBQ Pit in the last paragraph. From your posts it seems clear that you are one of the people agreeing with that point of view. Please keep that in mind when you post in MPSIMS. I trust your questions have been answered. (Is the word ‘fuck’ banned outright? Of course not.) ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/13 "2002-08-23T19:41:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by **Rilchiam** \* > As far as using it for emphasis, well, that’s the way you get … There’s no hostility in it; it’s just my way, and the way of most people I know, of expressing ourselves. Would you do it around kids? No? Welcome to MPSIMS. I’m not trying to be judgemental, I have a horrible potty mouth, and since I so rarely hang around children, I sometimes _do_ slip up and say something inappropriate. But being on the board makes it pretty easy to self-censor. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/14 "2002-08-23T21:12:49Z")
I didn’t even notice the word “fuck” in the OP until **Arnold** pointed it out. Like **Rilchiam** , I use the word a fair amount conversationally, and I seldom notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/15 "2002-08-23T21:29:13Z")
porcupine, noooooo! Just when the tide of popular opinion was turning my way! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/16 "2002-08-23T21:34:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > \*\*“Fuck” is an intensifier, an interjection, an exclamation, and a sign of extreme feeling of whatever sort. Whereas “the sex act” is a personal interaction with emotional involvement and human connection. Thus “fucking” would be engaging in sexual activity without interconnection. On second thought: if the word fuck denotes extreme feeling, then having sex with your significant other should warrant the use of the word “fuck”. The romantic in me hopes that you (the generic you, not you Irishman or you Rilchiam) have a great deal of love for your significant other. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/17 "2002-08-23T22:27:52Z")
Its a small world after all. Good grief! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/18 "2002-08-23T22:42:49Z")
Okay, **Arnold** : I messed up. (Notice my judicious choice of verbs there!) Had I the chance to do it over, I would have posted in MPSIMS without the last two paragraphs. And yes, Mr. Rilch and I do wove each other wots and wots! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/19 "2002-08-24T02:32:55Z")
**EEWWWWW** wwwww… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173/20 "2002-08-24T06:49:33Z")
…should have said ‘wuv’ each other… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-f-word/125173.md?page=2)