My son-in-law was driving my 4 year-old granddaughter and her 2 year old brother, Damon, when he heard her begin chanting; “Don’t say the F word! Don’t say the F word! Don’t say the F word!”
My son-in-law, who I have never heard use the “F” word, pulled over and turned to the back seat, “What are you saying?”
I said, “Don’t say the F word!”
“But why would you say that?”
“Because the F-word means cookies and if you say it Damon will not eat his supper.”
“Honey, Cookies doesn’t start with F it starts with C.”
Sitting back she crossed her arms and said, “Oh!”
Thought about it then started chanting, “Don’t use the C word, don’t say the C word!’
I was reminded of this incident this morning when someone posted a funny Lewis Black clip of him reading a resignation letter from an 18 year-old Mormon. The piece was clever, well written and very funny, however the use of the F-bomb kept me from reposting it.
I know it is 2015 and everyone uses it. George Carlin had a very funny and famous piece about the seven words you can’t use on television, in which this world played a prominent role. Unfortunately George is gone and so are the rules around the seven words. An any given night you can hear them on TV, except for the kids channel, in which Sesame Street has yet to say, “Todays show is brought to you by the letter F.”
It’s not the use of the word that bothered me so much but as a writer I squirm whenever the same word is used three times in every sentence, no matter what the word. I rubs, like, like, you know what I mean, like.
At one time the word was reserved to express; anger, frustration, pain, surprise, shock, or as an insult or description of an action. Now it is used as filler and soon Toast Masters will have to add it to the list of Um’s and Awes to be counted so speakers realize how many times they use it.
This over use is watering down its true effectiveness, and soon it will have no more value than yelling the word spoon and its use will disappear from our lexicon.
What else can I yell when I am outraged? “Damn!” At one time that was a bad word, remember Clark Gable shocking the world at the end of Gone With The Wind, when he uttered those famous words, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” OMG!
We are fast approaching the point where there will be no effective words to use in such a scene. Even my Granddaughters word, “Cookie” doesn’t fit. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a cookie!” just won’t fit.
So join with me lets only use the word where it belongs, put it back in its fucking place.
Thank you.
Back Road Scholar 