kaymac 1.22.08

One of my absolute favorite words to use is “absofuckinglutely” because, in my mind, you can’t be any surer than that. So this brings to me to something that I am interested in, which is how the word “fuck” came to be such a bad word. It has so many variations, uses, and definitions. Urbandictionary.com has eight definitions to the word and 66 sounds—meaning close definitions or variations.

So how did one of the “worst” words to say in the English language adapt so many forms and definitions? DeSaussure and Dr. Rog said something along the lines that the community establishes meanings to words, so something must have happened to give “fuck” such a bad rep, considering it wasn’t even in a dictionary until 1972.

So with some research, I found that “fuck’s” origin is Germanic, although that’s up for debate. I also found some reports about Eddy Duchin remaking a Louis Armstrong song in 1938 during The Great Depression and he used the word “fuck” in it. Over 170,000 copies were sold, which was 12 times the average sale back then. Was it because it had the word “fuck” in it and the public wanted something that was taboo? Or take J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” for example. It’s almost always been a center of controversy because of the use of the world “fuck” in it.

But through all of this, I haven’t been able to find out why “fuck” is a bad word and I don’t think anybody knows. But then again, how do all words get their meanings and to go further back, how are they even formed? Dr. Rog is right, this naming of things is arbitrary. We as a human race just put sounds that we could make together and slapped them onto things to make us feel more superior, which is a lot like politics. Maybe it isn’t so arbitrary after all.