Fuck Yes!
In what has been variously described as a victory for free speech and a defeat for all that is good and gentle in the world, the FCC recently ruled that U2 frontman Bono's use of the word fuck during a broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards was not obscene.
The Golden Globe as a vehicle for expanded expression? Fucking unbelievable!
One caveat: The FCC was at pains to explain that fuck is OK as long as it isn't used to describe, well, fucking. It's only kosher as a "crude" intensifier, not as a signifier of "sexual or excretory organs or activities."
Bono's line that prompted the ruling (and the complaints): "this is really, really fucking brilliant."
[Link via Poynter]
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Let’s define our term. Mr. Webster, what does it mean?
Main Entry: 1fuck
Pronunciation: ‘f&k
Function: verb
Etymology: akin to Dutch fokken to breed (cattle), Swedish dialect fokka to copulate
Date: 1503
intransitive senses
1 usually obscene : COPULATE — sometimes used in the present participle as a meaningless intensive
2 usually vulgar : MESS 3 — used with with
transitive senses
1 usually obscene : to engage in coitus with — sometimes used interjectionally with an object (as a personal or reflexive pronoun) to express anger, contempt, or disgust
2 usually vulgar : to deal with unfairly or harshly : CHEAT, SCREW
========================
It disturbs me that the etymology of this word involves cattle.
If only this will lead to the end of the rediculous and annoying “bleeps” on tv and radio.
can we get fuck (as an intensifier) on tv?
awesome! Dang, I forgot that I have a kid.
Horrible! Well, if Fuck is kosher now, I can let her listen to my rap CDs.
Will dickhead be far behind? (doesn’t that sound like an 80’s term?)
Dialogue from future TV:
“What the fuck?” “Don’t be such a fucking dickhead.” “That little shit pisses me off.” “Goddamned Fucking hippies.” etc.
What were Carlin’s seven words? How many are left?
About F-CCing time.
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits.
There you go amr.
*Jokingly*
About Goddam fucking time!
*Seriously*
This doesnt really mean a hell of a lot. Theres just still far to many people out there who have this idea that the words like the seven above can some how corrupt the youth of america. Which is obviously stupid for several reasons. Two being the obvious fact that a word has no real power and like they arent really cussing already. I remember cussing as far back as the 2nd grade.
Step four: don’t say fuck anymore
‘Cuz fuck is the worst word that you can say
You shouldn’t say fuck
No you shouldn’t say fuck
Fuck noooo!
You can call some one a “pussy” or a “dick” but you can’t say “eat my pussy/dick”
So you can say, “i am going to fucking kill you, you evil son-of-a-bitch!”
But you can’t say, “let’s fuck, sweetheart!”
Nice priorities, America.
Has it occured to anyone that moves like this are destroying the very diversity and expressive ability of our language. One of the charms of profanity is that it is (or at least was) socially taboo, and therefore a medium for enjoyment and socially innapropriate expression in bars and on elementary school playgrounds across this fair country. When a profane word is granted open use as an “intensifier,” its very efficacy as such is diffused. How much fun would Reason really be if Bill O’Reilly had the same effusive and profane vocabulary as Nick Gillespie. It seems to me that the FCC is only destroying the diversity of our rhetorical choices. Why can’t liberty take one for the team when the very efficacy of language is at stake?
I’m sick of no-talent rappers using variations of fuck to fill in when they can’t come up with enough thoughts to make the lyrics’ meter scan.
Anyone ever seen the South Park titled “Cartman Says Shit”? Allow me to borrow from Taranto of the “Best of the Web”,
FCC imitates South Park
At school, the kids were allowed to use the word shit, as long as it was used descriptively, such as: “The weather is shitty today”, or “This pencil is a piece of shit.” They could not, however, use the term when describing bodily functions. Therefore, “I have to take a shit” was right out.
Fuck an A!
Isn’t it Fuckin’ A?
Can I say, “fuck me!”?
My freshman creative writing teacher in college claimed that all the Latin polysyllables we use for bodily functions are all euphemisms, and that the four-letter words, monosyllables, most of them, are the true, honest Anglo-Saxon terms for the acts. Shit, piss, fuck, fart, etc.
“Living here in Iowa,” she said, “We ought to be able to properly refer to the substance we happen to be standing in a lot of the time.”
I loved that woman.
Fuck the fucking fucks.
HBO made this happen. I’m too am ambivalent. Free speech is one of the things I passionately believe in and in a radical way. But I will lament that it is no longer possible to be vulgar anymore. Also I believe there’s an Orwellian aspect to this, i.e. by dumbing down the language we dumb down the population. Alas.
It’s a step in the right direction but a long way from doing away with the FCC altogether. It’s good, but not that good and there’s consequences, hence ambivalence.
Wow, you guys think it isn’t possible to be genuinely vulgar anymore? You must either carry on incredibly sheltered existences or, on the opposite hand, live in truly mean towns.
I have a kid and I’ve tried to teach him that sure, people curse all the time and I’m sure that he does too, but if you say “fuck you” to either grandma or a cop, you’re only headed for some deep shit.
So I guess next we’ll be able to see displays of genitals as long as they’re used for emphasis or exclamation and not as sexual organs.
Problem is, there are enough dicks on TV already. [Insert reference to your favorite annoying talk show host here.]
I am reminded of the old SNL “how’s your penis?” skit from the Dana Carvey days, after the FCC declared that word no longer taboo.
And another thing, this is yet another instance of US censors permitting any and all kinds of vulgarity and violence in the name of free speech, yet depictions of honest-to-goodness erotica and sexuality are still taboo.
No wonder we still produce intolerant, vindictive pantyknots like Ashcroft.
People have been saying that the FCC okayed it because it was used as an adjective. Now you quote the use, and it’s an adverb not an adjective. The educational system today sucks. PS to FCC, it’s not an intensifier either. It colors the whole utterance and merely makes a convenience of the grammar to insert itself somewhere in it.
“Will dickhead be far behind?”
Surely that’s from German, thick-head. It should be okay.
It’s not “fucking unbelievable,” it’s “un-fucking-believable.” Like, what a dweeb.
FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK FUCK!!!
Let’s get the fuck outa here. (Too crass.)
erf,
We’re gonna fuck you, Sheriff. But we’re gonna fuck you SLOW….
The FCC is only letting Bono off due to the rampant use of “feck” in Irish everyday speech. I’ll believe they will have let go the reins when a similar transgression occurs on the Tony Awards, out of the mouth of David Fucking Mamet.
Kevin
WAIT! When did genitals become inherently bad?
Michaelangelo’s “David”? What’s wrong with that?
What about James Rogers McConnells, “The Aviator” in front of Alderman Library at University of Virginia?
How are little ones supposed to become potty trained if they do not learn how to manage their genitalia? Dirty genitals are unhealthy, and are worthy of the same careful instruction as dental hygiene.
WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE AFRAID OF YOUR OWN BODY PARTS? We each have our own, and without them, we wouldn’t function very well.
“So I guess next we’ll be able to see displays of genitals as long as they’re used for emphasis or exclamation and not as sexual organs.”
Hate to tell you, genitals are multifunctional, and you don’t have to focus on their reproductive abilities.
-!-
Quit whining. People will say FUCK SHIT ASS BITCH COCK SUCKER PUSSY etc. etc. anyways. People dont use them as any form of vulgarity or offensiveness, it is simply a part of *MOST* people’s vocabulary.
this isnt 1925 anymore.
Go fuck yourself you stupid fucking dickhead.
GO FUCK YOUrSELF MOTHER FUCKER AND EAT BIG FLOPPY DONKEY BALLS!!!!! MUHAHAHAHAAH ANY LAST WORDS BEFORE I BUST YOUR BALLS?
-COCK KNOCKER
i called the editor of a newspaper in bozeman montana a fucking asshole for printing a liberal is a terrorist………..i have been charged with a crime …………………privacy in communications……………….where is the freedom of speech? i say if its a orange call it what it is an orange.. any feedback e-mail….