Fun With Language:
Fuckin’ A Right, Man!
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by David Hunter Bishop/RealOnTheRoad
Has anyone else noticed the ease and speed with which the word “fuck” has become an integral part of the American lexicon?
If you’re any kind of sentient being, not to mention a writer attuned to the popular media, how could anyone not have noticed the widespread use of the word once uttered in hushed tones only as the “f-word.”
It wasn’t always like this. What was once whispered or used with care as the “effing” something or other, is now slung around in full bloom with wild abandon.
You can hardly attend a party, watch TV, or see a movie without hearing some form of the now nearly ubiquitous word “fuck!”
It seems the damn has burst and the floodwaters now are full of fuck!
I’m no prude, mind you. I use the colorfully expressive word myself, especially now in our more forgiving new world of language.
I wonder, though, where are all the prigs and prudes? Have they simply abandoned the cause of cleaning our language closets? Well, good riddance to them. Nevertheless, I thought I might look further into the origins of this outbreak.
A scholarly article I discovered while preparing this post says America itself has made everyday use of the word “fuck” far more prevalent throughout much of the world since World War II, even in Scandinavia, of all places!
Really? It’s our fault? WTF?
In another historic reference, the phrase “fuckin' A,” originated in the military, where the word “affirmative” was used to respond positively to commands.
In World War II, soldiers adopted its use in casual conversation and would drop all but the ‘a,’ hence the affirmative response, “fucking A,” emphasizing solid agreement with something. The military term was then brought into popular use in the States by soldiers returning home from service abroad.
In that sense, this construction of the language has been lurking around for a while and now seems embedded in our popular vernacular.
“Fuckin’ A, man!”
Makes one wonder whether it has become so commonplace in our current world culture that we’ve simply inured ourselves to it, neither noticing nor complaining.
But it wasn’t so long ago that fuck’s appearance – in print, anyway – came with the blocking of some letters, often with asterisks, just so you’d get the flavor of the word without getting it all over you.
But these days, it’s flying out of mouths, newsprint, books, magazines, TV screens, movies, videos, and even on the floor of the United States Congress.
In March, for example, in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth called Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth a “fucking liar.” And Hegseth didn’t deny it.
The upshot is that in politics, at cocktail parties or ball games, wherever discussion may reach an emotional pitch, you’re likely to hear what we once quietly mouthed, the “f-word,” pouring forth like free beer on tap. Right, Pete?
I saw a video clip online recently of actress Julia Roberts portraying Erin Brockovich in the immensely popular film of the same name, now 25 years since its debut. She was yelling angrily at a female attorney for having “two left feet and fucking ugly shoes.” Point made, I think, well done, and hilarious, too. Could the “ugly shoes” reference have been that initial breach of the dam leading to today’s uninhibited use of such profanity?
“Fuck” certainly seems to have become the new all-purpose slur representing a voice of near-violent disagreement! Like when one side erupts with “Fuck you!” at some party, and the other side shouts, “No, fuck YOU!” And on it goes until fisticuffs ensue unless there are peacekeepers about holding the combatants back while calling them both fuckin’ idiots.
But here’s my tip on proper usage. For the utmost in impact, sophisticates hold onto the “ing” sound at the end of the word for maximum effect, as in, “you fuck(ing) idiots.”
One might ask, have we finally lost our moral compass? Are we fast watering down our most impactful pejoratives with such constant use that their strength dissolves? Is there a more appropriate substitute? I suppose I could search for one, but … “Fuck it!” What we have now seems suitable for all occasions!
In literary circles, author Cheryl Strayed of “Wild” fame hits a perfect “fuck” trifecta with three references in three paragraphs in her popular Dear Sugar column of (Feb. 4) concerning author-friend Lidia Yuknavitch’s new book, Reading the Waves.
First, Strayed notes that Yuknavitch’s writing is “so fucking GOOD,” which I would agree with. Then Strayed tells us why the writing is so good, which is because Yuknavitch “rings all the bells” in Strayed’s list of the five qualities of good writing, including Yuknavitch’s “motherfuckitude,” which I believe hits the jackpot of all the varieties and versions of the word “fuck” that we know of to date.
Now, that’s writing!
Even the venerable author, grandmother, and poet, Abigail Thomas, now 84, has jumped aboard. In her Substack column What Comes Next?, Thomas recounts and responds to an old slight from an academic who once insultingly dismissed her talents and had her kicked out of Bryn Mawr College for getting pregnant.
Recently, however, in light of Thomas’s success with her popular new column, she responded to her old tormentor with this classic retort: “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!”
Yet, for my money, in the end, “Motherfuckitude” has to be the fucking motherlode of the wave of “fuck” references in the land of American English language expression in 2025! So Fuckin’ A, Cheryl! Congratulations!
Nevertheless, I’m sure that someone, somewhere, is pleading that in the name of all decency and decorum, “Where and when on God’s earth is all this fucking business going to end?”
To which I could only respond, “Fuck if I know.”
