# What's wrong with "fuck"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 21, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181 "2002-12-21T04:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soup\_Nazi\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@Soup\_Nazi\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_Nazi_1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/1 "2002-12-21T04:54:28Z")
Seriously… I don’t understand why the general population places so much taboo on the word “fuck”. **IT IS JUST A WORD!** What if I got 20 people to start telling 20 other people they knew (etc…) that the word _sife_ is a “bad” word and we should all make it taboo… do you think it would get around and the FCC would ban its use too? WTF??? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/2 "2002-12-21T04:58:43Z")
It’s wrong outside the Pit - I assume a mod will be along shortly to move this, which is a true rant in addition to using profanity. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lindsey\_GA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lindsey\_GA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lindsey_GA)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/3 "2002-12-21T05:00:57Z")
What I don’t understand is why certain words are censored on tv! Why is Bitch not blocked out but Fuck, asshole, or even shit is? And along with the word Fuck, why is the middle finger such a huge obscenity too? ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/4 "2002-12-21T05:06:37Z")
What would [George Carlin](http://staff.dstc.edu.au/bill/carlin.html) have to say about this? ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_Nazi\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@Soup\_Nazi\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_Nazi_1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/5 "2002-12-21T05:12:23Z")
Well I was looking for people’s humble opinions ( as the forum is IMHO) … but if Czarcasm or TVeblen feel this is nothing more than a rant (though not intended) then I am sure they shall move it… ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/6 "2002-12-21T05:15:28Z")
After 8.30 pm here in Aus you can say whatever ya like (on the telly that is)…mind you, I remember the days when you couldn’t even say '_pregnant_ without incurring the wrath of the censor-police!! Oh, my, how times have changed. So what’s wrong with ‘fuck’? Well, a lot of people don’t like it’s use in general conversation, so I for one am happy to limit MY use of it to the pit!! It’s common courtesy. That’s all…yeah, it’s a word like any other, but it’s still a cursing word, and not one that you’d bung into the conversation with your grandma. ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/7 "2002-12-21T05:18:02Z")
Well there’s nothing wrong with it — nothing wrong with pulling your pecker out in front of grandma either if you take that attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_Nazi\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@Soup\_Nazi\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_Nazi_1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/8 "2002-12-21T05:26:20Z")
that’s my point **kambuckta** , why should we limit it in conversations? Why is it a cursing word? Why should anyone be so “offended” by _that_ word? Why not get the same reaction by saying “Man my arm _dist_ing hurts” and "What the _dist_ just happened? They are both four letter _words_, why place so much shun on one, but not another? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/9 "2002-12-21T05:29:57Z")
> [@](#): > > yeah, it’s a word like any other, but it’s still a cursing word, and not one that you’d bring into the conversation with your grandma. Funny. Just this week my grandson was dicussing the possible origins of the word “fuck.” He is eleven. It was handled without bashfulness or giggling. He said that he thinks the word has something to do with plucking a bow string with the middle finger. I think that maybe that has more to do with the origin of shooting birds than the origin of “fuck.” My semantics and linguistics professor would agree with Soup Nazi. But he would remind us that it is more than just a word; it is a **symbol**. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/10 "2002-12-21T05:53:43Z")
To the Pit with ye! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/11 "2002-12-21T06:08:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup Nazi \* > What if I got 20 people to start telling 20 other people they knew (etc…) that the word _sife_ is a “bad” word and we should all make it taboo… do you think it would get around and the FCC would ban its use too? WTF??? The FCC does not ban words. ---
**Author:** ![super\_head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/12 "2002-12-21T06:12:13Z")
Because words have meaning, both denotatively and connotatively. Duh. To ask why people should be offended is to ask why they should assign any meaning to any words - to do otherwise would make all of language amount to gibberish. Is this really that difficult? Here’s a fun experiment - go to a poor, black neighborhood (assuming you are non-black) and say “Hey all my n\*ggers, the KKK is in the house!” While they’re kicking your ass, ask them why they got so worked up. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/13 "2002-12-21T06:23:55Z")
What was that movie where there was a white cop, who was negotiating a hostage situation, or something, and he had to walk around in a black neighborhood with a sandwich board that said “I HATE NIGGERS” on it? That was funny. ---
**Author:** ![j\_kat\_251](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/14 "2002-12-21T07:16:22Z")
Die Hard. And fuck is just so useful it’s ridiculous to not use it. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/15 "2002-12-21T08:09:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Here’s a fun experiment - go to a poor, black neighborhood (assuming you are non-black) and say “Hey all my n\*ggers, the KKK is in the house!” While they’re kicking your ass, ask them why they got so worked up. I don’t think that’s comparable to what the OP is saying. By using the word “nigger” and the acronym “KKK” in that way, you’re offending an entire group of people. How does “I hurt my fucking elbow” compare to that? Who are you offending? People that are offended by the word “fuck,” I guess… You can take any definition of the word “fuck,” put it into a more socially palatable vernacular, and it will cease to lose its power to offend (e.g. “What the **heck** ,” “I want to **have sex with** that woman,” “You made a big **stinking** mess.”). You can’t take a racial slur and do the same thing. If you turn “nigger” into “coon,” it’s still just as offensive. People are offended by the word “fuck” because their parents told them to be offended by it. These people edit any mention of this word from music and television. They leave in the grisly murders, dead bodies, and overflowing cleavage, but for some reason they think that those four letters will shatter Junior’s fragile mind (even though he’s probably already them four times today). Sometimes I just don’t get people… ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/16 "2002-12-21T08:11:53Z")
Err… already _heard_ them. ---
**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/17 "2002-12-21T13:46:57Z")
Friedo, that would be Die Hard With A Vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/18 "2002-12-21T14:41:01Z")
Remember if there’s no stigma attatched to ‘fuck’ then you have to find something else to shout when you bang your elbow. We appear to need offensive words. ---
**Author:** ![nitek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@nitek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitek)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/19 "2002-12-21T14:48:13Z")
Just as removing all intention and implied feeling from words undermines the power of language, so does condeming a word to one offensive symbol or interpretation. Censorship, being mainly zero tolerance, does not allow room for interpretation and is consequently a hinderance to language. In my opinion, it also teaches people that they don’t have to think for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181/20 "2002-12-21T18:05:42Z")
I think I’ve said fuck in GD, I’m not sure if it’s been blocked out though. I can’t remember if I’ve ever said “fuck you” - I know I’ve thought it more than a few times, but it may not have reached my keyboard! I find “fucking hell” and “for fuck’s sake” far less “strong” or offensive than “fuck you.” I think I’ve also used “wtf” (=what the fuck) before. I also find it far less offensive than gender or race oriented words (the c word, the n word, etc). This is probably the most times I have ever - and hopefully will ever - use fuck in a post. Strange, but somehow it looks even more sharp/pricky/offensive used here in an informational or non-offensive sense, than it does as part of a rant. Interesting. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-fuck/144181.md?page=2)