I had an English teacher in high school whom I greatly admired. Mrs. Crane was known to opine that profanity was proof of a mind too weak to express itself in any other way. For whatever reason, I took that to heart. Until probably my early- to mid-40s, I refused to used the word "fuck." Then I had an epiphany, and I have no idea what sparked it.
I realized that "fuck" is the most gloriously versatile word in the English language- noun, verb, adjective, adverb, modifier, it could be ANYTHING you fucking wanted it to be. Now I fucking swear like fucking longshoreman...and guess what? I'm as fucking smart as I ever was.
Who fucking knew??
Now I'm fucking making up for lost fucking time. :-)
Mar 31, 2022·edited Mar 31, 2022Liked by Stacey Eskelin
LOL. great ending. A friend of mine, Carrie Keagan, wrote a funny, curse-filled memoir called: "Everybody Curses: I Swear!" Like yourself, she is a gorgeous, intelligent blonde with a mouth like a sailor. Personally, I don't cuss all that much. Maybe because I grew up with FUCK prominently displayed on the wall, so I've had my fill. My mom, a writer (you know this, of course), had a scroll in old English script about the history of the word, framed and hung up on the wall of her office.
There's the seen in "The Martian" where Matt Damon's character curses the ground management team for being bureaucratic felchers. "Don't look it up," Sean Bean's character says, utterly aghast. "I made the mistake of googling it ... " There's a "blooper" real (except Daniels did it on purpose) where instead of allowing Sean Bean to say his line, Jeff Daniels stepped in and dead panned is way through an explicit and detailed description of the term and the act it names:
There are actual studies out there that indicate people who swear a lot tend to be more intelligent. (Gary adds: Probably because they recognize bullshit when they see it, and don't have any patience for it.) It also seems to release emotions that would otherwise become toxic were they allowed to fester. That, in any event, is my story and I'm sticking the fuck to it.
For a while I went all "Lewis Carroll" in an attempt to come up with "names" that weren't words at all, and thus would pass the bot censors on FB. But I decided it made more sense to simply never engage with people who might invite such extravagances.
New to here, I was going to lecture you about your language. I think you are quite witty without implying or saying vulgar words. Then I read this essay. Well, telling you not to swear is probably as effective as telling a duck to avoid the water. So what the fuck. Have at it.
I had an English teacher in high school whom I greatly admired. Mrs. Crane was known to opine that profanity was proof of a mind too weak to express itself in any other way. For whatever reason, I took that to heart. Until probably my early- to mid-40s, I refused to used the word "fuck." Then I had an epiphany, and I have no idea what sparked it.
I realized that "fuck" is the most gloriously versatile word in the English language- noun, verb, adjective, adverb, modifier, it could be ANYTHING you fucking wanted it to be. Now I fucking swear like fucking longshoreman...and guess what? I'm as fucking smart as I ever was.
Who fucking knew??
Now I'm fucking making up for lost fucking time. :-)
Oh, there's always some bluestocking who insists that intensifiers like "fuck" are for the simple minded. That they're "intellectually lazy."
And to that I say, sure. And your point?
"And to that I say, sure. And your fucking point?" :-)
LOL. great ending. A friend of mine, Carrie Keagan, wrote a funny, curse-filled memoir called: "Everybody Curses: I Swear!" Like yourself, she is a gorgeous, intelligent blonde with a mouth like a sailor. Personally, I don't cuss all that much. Maybe because I grew up with FUCK prominently displayed on the wall, so I've had my fill. My mom, a writer (you know this, of course), had a scroll in old English script about the history of the word, framed and hung up on the wall of her office.
LOL! I wish I'd have known your mom. She was way ahead of her time. A bonafide badass. And look at her brilliant, beautiful daughter!
There's the seen in "The Martian" where Matt Damon's character curses the ground management team for being bureaucratic felchers. "Don't look it up," Sean Bean's character says, utterly aghast. "I made the mistake of googling it ... " There's a "blooper" real (except Daniels did it on purpose) where instead of allowing Sean Bean to say his line, Jeff Daniels stepped in and dead panned is way through an explicit and detailed description of the term and the act it names:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YztRYBCokfg
There are actual studies out there that indicate people who swear a lot tend to be more intelligent. (Gary adds: Probably because they recognize bullshit when they see it, and don't have any patience for it.) It also seems to release emotions that would otherwise become toxic were they allowed to fester. That, in any event, is my story and I'm sticking the fuck to it.
For a while I went all "Lewis Carroll" in an attempt to come up with "names" that weren't words at all, and thus would pass the bot censors on FB. But I decided it made more sense to simply never engage with people who might invite such extravagances.
Unfortunately, I am familiar with the term "felcher." The fact that Jeff Daniels had to explain it cracks me up.
I feel EXACTLY the same way. You see? This is why we're friend ;-)
GODFUCKINGDAMNIT!! *scene, not "seen"
It would be LOVELY if Substack gifted us with an edit button.
New to here, I was going to lecture you about your language. I think you are quite witty without implying or saying vulgar words. Then I read this essay. Well, telling you not to swear is probably as effective as telling a duck to avoid the water. So what the fuck. Have at it.