I generally don’t cuss in my personal life, and definitely not at work. I’m not a prude or anything… I certainly respect free speech, and if others want to cuss, then I say go for it. And even I cuss under certain circumstances.
That said, I sort of feel that if you are going to cuss, have a good reason. Be mad, upset, or angry. Maybe you just smashed your finger in a door. Or some obnoxious driver cut you off. Of you just dropped a casserole on the floor. Know what I mean?
What I am getting increasingly put off by is the F-word replacing “so” and “very” in today’s vocabulary. Like, “That’s so fucking cool”, or “It’s fucking cold outside,” or “My room is fucking dirty”, etc. It’s become a very casual adjective, used in about every third sentence. And it’s getting fucking overused, don’t you think?
It used to be that saying “Fuck you” was a powerful statement, reserved for intense situations. Now, it’s a response to any small joke or insult said between friends. Does it really mean anything anymore if it’s being used so casually, and with so little regard? Won’t saying it so much dilute the power of the word?
Movies now take the easy way out. One of my favorite movies is “9 to 5”. There’s a short line where one character angrily says to another, “You don’t understand zilch.” Any guesses what that last word would be if that same movie were written today? Maybe not fuck, but it’s fucking close to it.
I can only think of two solutions to this. One is the rather unrealistic option of asking people to stop saying “fuck” so much. Like that’s going to fucking happen. I fear that it’s so ingrained into the common culture, that there’s really no fucking stopping it.
The second solution I think is more interesting. There’s still one word from Mr. Carlin’s list that still seems pretty forbidden: CUNT. Next time you’re angry or upset, don’t say fuck. Nobody will notice or care. But yell
CUNT!
CUNT YOU FUCKING CUNT!
MOTHERCUNTING CUNT.
and I think we’ll have a cuss word that will still make an impact. Until that word gets overused, at least. And then we’ll be CUNTed.
