Is the word "fuck" becoming more acceptable to use?

I think it is more acceptable. I’ve heard professors use it while talking to PhD students in a seminar, it’s often every other word in comedy and action movies, and even my mom says it now—although she always smirks after she uses it like she’s gotten away with something.

Fuck yeah!

…actually, I use frack.

Fuck is the national word of Australia.

It’s so overused that it no longer carries any meaning. I don’t use it, but so many around me do. Its the word for any occasion.

Its such a versatile word as shown here

I think it is a word that is used much more today then it ever has.

fuck the fucking fuckers?

I think it is more acceptable than it has ever been. I remember as a child my parents being horrified at the sound of it, you know literally cringing. I didn’t even see it until I was in fifth grade! Am I the only one who remembers how much we all caught our breath when the Van Halen album “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” came out? Now no one seems to think much of it. It is becoming sofa king cool to use it.

[Fluther Moderator:] This isn’t an opportunity to swear like crazy drunks. Please keep the discussion intelligent.

When I was a child it was forbidden to even say “poop” and “pee.” I once tattled on a classmate named Charlie for saying poop and he had to sit for a short time under one of the art easels. (I wasn’t particularly fond of Charlie anyway since he was already stalking at the age of five.) To this day if the topic of doo comes up I burst into fits of giggles because it’s so deeply burrowed into my psyche that it’s something taboo.

I know how I felt about it as a parent when my son was growing up, and now I’m also wondering how other parents deal with it, if they use it in front of their kids if the trend is indeed that it’s becoming a more commonly used and accepted word as part of our everyday language.

It is so banal. Usually the remark of an extremely limited vocabulary.

acceptable no, abused yes.
I would still be shocked if my 5 year old blurted it out. I hear a lot of woman using it more often, and it seems like its used in the workplace (office ) without a problem.

I like the word in certain situations and I do think it is becoming more “acceptable”. But, there are still many social situations where I hate it and find it completely unacceptable. For instance, if you are a spectator at a sporting event. It is never ok to whip out the queen mother of all swear words. There might be kids around. Or, just people who would be offended. Words never bother me persoanlly. They are just that, words. They have no meaning other than what you attach to them. The word “fuck” once was a crude way to refer to sexual intercourse. Now it conveys a million different thoughts and therefore a part of our venacular that is becoming more acceptable. Whew. Did I just write all that?

I still reserve it so it has more meaning. I was raised to believe that if you could say something with out swearing, you would pack a greater punch. I found this to be true. I also found that when I did swear people took notice.

Maybe it is more acceptable for a trucker or sailor (sarcasim no offense to either). How you speak says a lot about who you are and the boundaries you have. When someone with whom you are speaking excessively drops the F-bomb what is your opinion of them? Do you then become more focused on the word than on what they are saying? Things to think about.

No, its not acceptable. For some reason society seems to be very proud if its “race to the bottom” mentality lately. Just because the vast majority if people are proud to show off what dicks they are doesn’t mean we all have to join them.

Here is an interesting read on the subject: Fuck

(It is kind of long…78page PDF)

@ whatthefluther ~ that video made my day. Thanks for making me laugh so hard.

As far as the f-bomb, its use/acceptance has increased, especially over the last decade. Then again, so has profanity in general.

There are times for me when it does feel might good to utter it.

Does anyone have good alternatives I could use instead? I tried bugger it but it just doesn’t seem to flow as easily.

I have also noticed a lot of youth now say freakin’ or friggin’ as an alternative.

I recall hearing about an interview with the singer/songwriters on Linkin Park about their first album. It’s notably fuck-free, and it got some attention for it.

In the interview, Chester Bennington explained that, as he was writing some of the songs, his lyrics used profanity liberally throughout. Mike Shinoda would then ask Chester to consider what feelings/concepts he was trying to express and together they drew out words with more meaning.

The point of their work wasn’t to eliminate the profanity… but to convey meaning.

A single word that has 400 hundred meanings depending on context, placement, tone-of-voice, etc, is not, in my opinion, a word any longer… but a gutteral grunt of raw, undeveloped emotion, used as a blunt instrument for impact only.

—

[ Disclaimer: I’m not a huge LP fan or anything. I could have the names wrong above and was only explaining what I’d dredged up from memory of something from years ago. ]

@mcbealer, I do so enjoy the british-isms, even profane terms sound so cultured to my American ears.

Got me to wondering about the use of ”bloody”...

Bloody has always been a very common part of Australian speech and has not been considered profane there for some time. The word was dubbed “the Australian adjective” by The Bulletin on 18 August 1894. In the 1940s an Australian divorce court judge held that “the word bloody is so common in modern parlance that it is not regarded as swearing”.

@ robmandu ~ yes, bloody is a good one

flip?

@ whatthefluther—Thank you. I needed that laugh this morning! You rock dude!!

@whatthefluther Let me third mcbealer and LunaFemme. That video made me laugh out loud.

One of the only good lessons my mom ever taught me, which I later passed on to dozens of Kaplan students:

“That word will never be on your SATs.”

@whatthefluther, I remember hearing that when I was a kid after downloading on NAPSTER (that’s how long ago it was). I had no idea that was George Carlin! Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t though, it may have shattered my image of him as the little magical train conductor. :)

The word “fuck” isn’t as easy to use as some people think. But there are people to use it very, very well. Make the word sound very cool with the right timing, emphasis, and context.

Most movies with great dialogue will have characters that tend to fit the person I’m describing. Some comedians are good at this as well.

Yes.

Hearing someone say “fuck” is the least of my problems honestly

The link that row4food provided is a very good one! It is long and I’m not even one-third of the way through it, but it alludes to remaining taboo because using it in discussion of the word itself can lead to censorship.

George Carlin is a master at using the word. Always the Right time and the right place.

I used to think that profanity was a sign of a limited vocabulary or a general blandness of personality until I met my girlfriend (that’s not to say that I didn’t use profanity before I met her. I merely considered myself bland). When we first started getting to know each other, she was self-conscious about the profanity she uses, but I’ve discovered that she uses it well. That is to say, she uses it not as a substitute for intelligent thought, but as a humorous punctuation.

Words merely represent ideas. Is it the words, or the ideas which we find offensive?

It used to be the big word for me, saved only for special occasions and it felt good to say it aloud.
I now say it more often…tho I try to save it.

I never liked it when women swore like sailors, but now am used to it. I’ll never forget when my 5 year old daughter asked me what a ‘motherfucker’ was. I nearly drove off the road.

I guess it depends on who says it and the situation. It is much more common now tho.

FUCK means Fornication Under the Consent of the King. So what’s the fucking problem. i fucking say fuck about 100 times a day and I feel fine. i hope people do start excepting it more because I hate it when some dipshit in any public place looks at me like i just dick slapped his wife when I say it. grow the fuck up! it is a word. a fucking sound. that’s it

@Sunday—I’m afraid you have your etymology wrong.

This is funny if you’re looking for etymology or usage.

As for it being more accepted, I hear pretty much all teenagers throwing it around like it’s the word apple. Especially the girls. That doesn’t bode well for the anti-swear people in the years to come.

I think it’s become more acceptable to hear it in the entertainment world, but most people still seem to find exception to hearing it on the streets and in everyday conversation. It is a word with force and malice behind it, and it still gets it’s due attention. and I’m not condoning that either

personally, I find the words ‘murder’ ‘kill’ and ‘war’ far more offensive than the lowly ‘fuck’. But then, that’s just me.

Don’t forget “rape,” “holocaust,” and “genocide.” I’m not overly fond of “racism,” “bigotry,” or “elitism” either though.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I agree, I personally find the word ‘moose’ overly offensive.

@bluemukaki, how about ‘meese’ which is the plural of moose?

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Also unacceptable. Although the non-standard Moosi is perfectly adequate.

@bluemukaki, then I suppose Mooze won’t work either? And is it true that a large gathering of moose is known as a moogly googly of moosi?

Goes to the moral decay of the nation.

As far as me putting up with it when you say it, why? You are assaulting my ears, my space, my morals. You want to use it in private, that’s fine. You want to use it in a public place, disgusting and lack of respect/caring what other people think.

I chew tobacco, do you care if I spit on your shoes or down the front of your shirt/blouse or in your ear? If you do, than do not assault me.

@pekenoe: Really? So you’re honestly comparing a spoken word to spitting tobacco on someone? That’s retarded.

Assaulting your ears, your space, and your morals? You’ve got to be kidding me. Then I’m guessing you wouldn’t find this shirt very appealing to the eyes.

Attitudes like yours are the reason that the whole damn world thinks that secondhand smoke will kill you and therefor we must cast smokers out of everything in society as if they were lepers.

You self righteous fuck

@Sakata mega lurve to you for this answer.

yes, but c*nt isn’t :) <—- still officially the worst swear word in the english language. I think its the only swear word to have any clowt nowadays..

@TheFonz_is What official made that decision? Just curious.

I am amazed, here is a question that has been pretty consistently active for ten months – a real feat on Fluther, without one single “great question.”

@poser Obama, he made that decision :)

fuck yeah man i don’t give a fuck who is offended fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck