It's a word that's used to express anger, shock, awe, disgust - even joy. It's a word that's extremely commonly used in the everyday language of young people but one rarely appears in the mainstream media.
Yes, even I hesitate to use the F word - both in polite company and in my writing. But it's a question we have had to grapple with. When rock bands give interviews, for example, they often use the F word. And we censor the same by printing f***.
That has been the established convention. But does it make sense anymore? The F word is being used as a verb, a noun, an adjective, or merely for effect and attitude. It's lost its original meaning or edge.
Besides, the word commonly appears on the internet. Not cloaked under *** but in its full glory.
Conventional wisdom
But it looks like times may be changing... A recent issue of DNA - a completely mainstream paper with family readership - has taken the liberty of breaking the Rule.
In an interview with film maker Tarsem Singh published in the paper's Brand-Equity type supplement 'Ad Zip' the F word is used in full - not once but twice. Was this a policy decision, or a sub-editing mistake? Would be interesting to know! And was I the only one to notice or have there been a ton of responses - negative and positive - from readers?
My view is that certain lines have to be drawn and maintained. If newspapers started publishing news in sms format bcause that is the lingo of the day - well, that would be a rather sad day!
Which is why I can't really digest this strange bit of news: A high school in England is allowing the f-word to be used in each class, but only five times per class... What exactly is the message the school admin is trying to get across..??
Fuck is so cliched, that it's becoming lame to use it. : I avoid it, not because it's a 'bad' word, but it's a dumb word. The more the people say, the more it gets boring and meaningless.
People are often under the impression that using such words makes them hip! ofcourse, it's very common now-a-days but using it conscientiously to grab attention is somewhat awkward! Probably, the flip side of globalisation all this is... Are we just trying to sell or we're trying to make a difference here?
That journalistic convention is an extremely good idea and every bit of morality helps (or whatever is left of it, even in language). You could say 'oh everybody knows it, so what the hell'.
Don't do it (I mean don't use the entire word) just because the whole world is doing it. There may be very young kids (some rural, who knows) who may not be aware. Don't make them look up the internet or dictionary. Probably a little bit of innocence saved.
In fact, be the first to tell others why you won't use certain words or phrases in full, tell them your stand on such things. You might gain much more respect not just from them but also from their parents (who'll probably be paying for it).
This is one topic that really requires attention because of the attention that it is getting. The first thing I want to know is why the hell is it being glorified ?????? Its a politically restricted word....But why..when every person here is using it 100 times in a day.
The fact that even young school children use it just proves what a popular word it is...and the only reason I can think of is because its a restricted word...Why would parents want to explain the word to their children..Just tell them its a abusive word just like 1000 other abusive words....
Why does the word come with **** and make it stand out in any article or any column? The fact that it is singled out itself gives it so much of importance,,, Is it that the word not used directly affect its use.. It is used exponentially because of the special treatment it recieves.
People who want to use it will use it and people who dont want to use it will anyways not use it,.. Its a personal decision. So please Let be... Using the word in its full glory is something to be proud of. Its definitely not even a word a person would want to explain to children, so why make it so ubiqutious.
Call me old fashioned if you have to, but we don't need to get ultra-modern and lose. I read recently that the established brand FCUK is also thinking of changing it brand name / brand strategy as the name has not been viewed favourably in the West. Some of fragrances they launched recently were titled "FCUK Him" and "FCUK Her"
Using and noticing the F word in print is quite common and i dont think any one minds when the word is mentioned as f***.. so the point any way gets across.. Also the word is quite a common use in our daily lingo, hence no one really minds it but using it on teachers is taking it a bit far..!! and if so, then why only five times..
Well, times are changing - one has also seen variants of the word coming up. You should've noticed the sms lingo creeping into the normal lives - where the use of vowels is kind of becoming obselete.. Like in reebok - its Rbk now - Same with the F word - its now 'Fck' and u could easily call it a typo and ignore it.
The rule imposed there in US needs a similar one in India ? - There is actually not much of a need because students here have alternatives - bad ones so to say. I wonder how bad shoud be defined.
Is it an experiment in reverse psychology (allow them say it - then they won't feel like it?). Or one confused, desperate-to-be-hip school! What's next? Teachers lobbying to use the F word 5 times in every lecture, perhaps.
The world is well and truly fucked.
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