The "F" Word

   The "F" word is my least favourite word, for a variety of reasons.
   From a literary standpoint, it simply is overused; the shock value it once had is now so severely diluted that any one of a number of terms or phrases can amply take its place and be just as significant.
   Sociologically-speaking, how and when (and the frequency with which) the word gets used tends to relegate its user to at least some level of intellectual functioning.
   I remember sitting in a hockey dressing room once and one of the guys on the team was engaged in a long, descriptive narrative. He used the "f" word at least once in each sentence. In its various forms, he used it as a noun, adjective, adverb, and interjection. I can usually mildly tolerate this word but, in this particular instance, it was extremely painful to be within earshot. As this man's dissertation continued, it was as if he visually began climbing back down the ladder of evolution, right there in front of us all. At the end, it was almost like visiting a museum exhibit ("Holy cow, so that's what neanderthals looked like...")and I was happy to leave that dismal little dressing room.

   Most disturbing of all was that it was a grown man engaging in this particular use of language. Adolescents, who generally use it seemingly as though they'd discovered it, hopefully will engage in its use until they are tired of it, or realize that they've really outgrown it, at least as a common expression. This is what happened to me, I seemed so much more grown up when I was using the "f" word. At some point, though, you realize that you seem more grown up if you don't use it. Which is not to say that I've abandoned it entirely, far from it! It generally creeps up when I'm frustrated or angry. Hopefully, mostly under my breath. Bang my head on something, though, and it's a whole different story; the "f" word comes stumbling out in a variety of permutations. Used singularly, used in machine gun fire rapidity, used in supplication to deities.
   I also occasionally use it in private, with people who know me well,at times when it is probably the single most inappropriate thing to say at utterly the most inappropriate moment to say it. I do this to be funny. And, some of the time, I am!
   So those are about the only times I use the "f" word.
   There is some division as to the origin of the word. One of the more common ones dates back to medieval times when commoners required permission of their king to bear offspring. Permission granted, a sign would then be posted on their abode, declaring "Fornication Under Consent of the King". Another possible origin is the acronym "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", a sign posted when prostitutes were locked up in the stocks, on public display. Possibly the more likely origin was that it developed naturally and fully formed from Dutch or Low German back in the 15 century.
   Regardless of its origin, its usage these days seems to have very little to do with procreation. The FCC in the States has difficulty even labelling it as obscene under its own definition of obscenity because that definition refers to a sexual act. The way the "f" word is used these days, the sex act seems irrelevant.

   So there you have it, an ugly, overused word that no longer denotes or describes what it was it was originally intended to. It is not the only overused and nasty word I don't like. But you don't want the list. I don't think.
   Most assuredly the "f" word will not fade away any time soon, as previously noted it has been around for a long time. This doesn't mean, however, that we need to give in to it. Please feel free to challenge it at every opportunity, its users need to know they can do better than that. And I will try and do better than that, too!