Just wondered what you lot do regarding using words in poems that might offend, when you are performing/doing open mic things. I haven't done any yet, but some of the poems I'd like to do have the word "fuck" in them. Is this "allowed"? I guess you take a look at your audience - if it's the local sunday school kids outing then the answer is no. But a load of poets in a pub or art centre? I guess I have to go to some events and see, but hard for me with no transport & living where I do. ALSO, I recently wrote a poem where I used the word "cripple". A friend said I should never use that word in a poem, esp as I was referring to a child. But I wanted to get the rawness and pain of that word, not say "handicapped." Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated. Ta muchly!

Ann, I think you're right about the expletives question. I personally don't like the word fuck, it seems meaningless, used so extensively as it is nowadays.
Using cripple for a damaged child sounds really derogatory, although I would possibly change the emphasis and say the child was crippled. That way you are not naming, merely describing.

Hi Ann, a quote I use in my facebook profile is from Lenny Bruce: 'If you can't say ''fuck'' then you can't say ''fuck the government'' '.

Hmm, I'm still not sure. I do like the word fuck on occasion. I do think that sometimes that's the only word that will do. I ended a poem about Morse with the line that he would be the perfect fuck. Don't think it would have worked if I'd said he'd be the best lover or whatever. But in another poem, something more romantic would work better. I would like to know if any of you lot use words like fuck when you do open mic events.

It's just a word - use it if you want to and you feel it's not inappropriate to do so (or maybe stop reading your poetry at Sunday schools?). ;-) Whether prose or poetry - I think you can use whatever vocabulary or construct you want - as long as it does its job.
When my children first 'discovered' swearing I used to tell them to use whichever words they wished, but to understand that people will judge them by their choice of language, that some people will be offended by it, and some will just assume they're not bright enough to know any different. As a consequence they both swear far less than I do!
Cx

ffs

What the f**k.

just for you Gus! lol

well, more sriously, a lot of sense from Chris etc here. Go with your instincts. Its not a matter of if you can get away with it or not. it is more a matter of if the word fits the poem then it must be said. Don't water it down. best to not include it in your set.

Win

Thank you everybody! ;-) xxxx

Hi Ann, it's a difficult one, I was 'told off' last year for my language in one of the discussions - that was quite heated , and although I was in defence of other poets,I really took this to heart. I try not to use the word (mum of 5, I try and curb the language to make up for everyone else), but, I agree that sometimes in poetry and writing there is no other word that fits, and if you are being true to a character or theme then go with it, and call it 'artistic liscence'.

I should take my own advice, lol. However in performance, use the word 'fuck' if you need to, because it has become an integral part of contemporary english language in the form of letting off some steam. xx

Ann in reference to my earlier post and your response: my quote of the word by Lenny Bruce is exactly in the vein that you suppose. It was as a precise and pertinent instance of that word.

Tommy (my kids don't swear-'oh yes they do')

Lol - I'm sure they do Tommy, just not as much as I do.
Cx

Never, Mind your Language as long as its the Queens English !!

Did anyone else catch the marvellous programme about Dave Allen on Radio 2 tonight? It contained a reminder of the huge fuss caused by his use of the f word sometime around 1990. A question was asked in Parliament and the BBC had to apologise. Times have certainly changed.

I do not fandango with the fickle f because I don't have the face to carry it off. I've tried but people think I'm saying 'fudge'.

I don't mind any sort of language really... apart from the obvious ... can't bear people being racist or inciting hatred on grounds of sexuality etc in poetry performance.

Mind you, I've no time for the politically correct ninnies either. Just don't peddle hatred - it's quite simple.

And once I upbraided a poet at a BARDS night for referring to human beings as "scum" as part of his performance. I have too much respect for human life to call any human being "scum".

Another pet hate, arriving at poetry open mic in a pub, and finding bloody CHILDREN there - and their parents, who inevitably moan about poets littering their poems with profanities! Duh! Don't bring your offspring to pubs, then! And anyway, everybody knows the the little brats hear and speak far worse in the school playground.

PS These discussion strands have been awful BORING lately. Are poets now Sad, Trad and Timid to know?!

The word 'boring' should only be applied to insects and implements that drill holes. To use it as a generalised value judgement on people is disrespectful, you wally.
'You wally' is a term of endearment, applied by one poet to another and is always followed by a bow.
'A bow' is tied to the tip of a dog's tail to indicate its level of unprovoked ferociousness. The higher the bow's tied, the less violent the dog.
'The less violent the dog' is a game of skill played by inmates in a high security detention centre who breed special strains of bacteria and dare each other to lick them.
'Special strains of bacteria' is the code name for a covert police operation involving the trial use of anodyne words as verbal coshes.
'Verbal coshes' is a euphemism for euphemism.
Yours, wally wally.

I would never say you are boring, Moxy. "Crazy in the coconuts" maybe, but not boring.


Bored now. BYYYEEE!

You want to be careful. These coconuts are loaded...

Would that be with milk? What an amusing thought...

I think bad language is ok if it serves a particular purpose - ie. isn't slung in there like you would 'and' or 'it'. It needs to be for dramatic effect - to re-enforce emotions -or humour - probably better in performance poetry.

I've been told that I was the first person to use the 'C' word in the Tudor. I used it to illustrate a point, humouressly - that point was to do with the source of all our bad language...

I have one other poem where I use the 'F' word a lot. It expresses the frustration of being a single parent with more jobs to do than there is time, and the difficulty of fitting poetry into all that - or the difficulty of fitting motherhood round poetry, in fact. Most women were very supportive of the poem but I did receive one negative comment from a man who didn't like the language. I didn't mind his comment - we are all entitled to our opinion and it was voiced in a respectful way.

You will never please everyone with your poetry - that's an impossible feat. I guess it all boils down to personal taste. Some will like the raciness of the more vernacular speech and others will prefer more restrained classical poetry.

I can’t think of any North West performance poets who actively peddle hatred - or any audience that would tolerate such bile for longer than it takes to grab hold and throw pieces of the room’s furniture at them.

I suppose some words are more predisposed to an audience reaction than others - while strings of words like ‘a day’s work’ are completely alien in places such as Liverpool and Manchester - but much of the time it depends on the context and the sentiment behind a word and its concept.

It’s a competitive world out there - even for words. Spare a thought for those redundant archaic words. Many of whom shared the same school photograph with words such as 'fuck', 'cunt' and 'shite'.

As potential writers and poets we should be encouraged to actively ‘sponsor’ just one of English language’s lesser known words.

For just two pounds a month - you could sponsor a word like ‘fucus’ or ‘fuchsin’ and incorporate these out of work lexemes into your idiolect - and given that ‘fucus’ is defined as ‘a seaweed of a large genus of brown algae having flat leathery fronds’ - that should be painless enough for any budding writers of marine biology books - or comedy.

Fuck is to a dictionary what Katie Price is to the world of celebrity. Where its over exposure contributes and highlights its lack of real meaning or purpose.

Restricting oneself to ‘The Queen’s English’ seems like a rather narrow minded notion of the world in which literature and its hairier, uglier sister linguistics dwell. ‘The Queen’s English’ is nothing more than a dialect of English - and a rapidly dying one at that.

The English language is accessible to everyone and everywhere. It’s how we use it that requires the thinking. No words are out-of-bounds - but context still has a sizable penis in terms of language.

You're right Steve - these discussions are becoming anything BUT discussion.

It appears that there are always casualties.

and Moxy - just where exactly did you obtain a genuine - I'm assuming they're genuine - pair of loaded coconuts from?

I once loaned a pair out - just can't remember who it was that 'borrowed' them?

Ah ha, Darren, I used a surrogate. A coconut surrogate, acquired through a palms dealer.

And I have a message for you from Katie Price. She says, 'you are to commentary and discussion as soya is to the rain forest. And I should know.' End of message. However, I may have misheard her.

Isobel, yes, the coconuts are full of milk because the cows use them as a secondary storage facility. Udder primary, coconuts secondary, Sealyham terriers tertiary.

Katie Price said THAT? Flip-pin' 'eck.

That really disappoints me - I thought they both had more sense.

It's wonderful to see and read you so near to the surface again Moxy - you spend far too much time down deep in those murky waters of nom de plume.

Hmm, puts me in mind of something once uttered by Humphrey Littleton - trying to remember the programme but I remain clueless.

Tits like coconuts, he said [beat], at least the ones in my garden do.

In my humble opinion (I assert that), if you need to consider whether or not to put in the work 'fuck', then you probably shouldn't. If the work would not work without the word, then the answer is obvious, which is at should be.

For example, I am sure Philip Larkin did not long dither over the potential inclusion of the word in question in This Be The Verse. No 'fuck', no poem; no fudge.

In writing a guide for parents of teenagers, I wanted to include that poem as (in my humble...) a powerful way to remind of the influence parents can have. As the work was commissioned by a health authority they wanted to include the poem, but not the word. Can't we change it to mess?

So, as requested, I wrote to the copyright holders to ask if we might use the poem with the word 'fuck' changed to 'mess'.

Naturally, they said no. I had hoped they would say: no 'fuck' in poem; no fucking poem. Sadly not.

Why do these so called profanities distress people so much? After all, sticks and stones etc. They are words and have been part of our language for centuries - and that's all they are. They can't do us any physical or mental harm, they don't endure like torture, they are simply uttered or written and then they are gone.

I entirely agree with earlier points that they often indicate a laziness in vocabulary and that their impact has been diluted with overuse, but they still remain a part of our language to be used in the correct context, often as an expression of frustration or irritation. What puzzles me is that their synonyms, such as say, lovemaking and gentalia are not deemed "swear" words. Also is there a "ranking" or league table system for this particular part of speech? Something like "knickers" and "bum" on the bottom (oops!) rung, escalating to the f and c words at the top? (Note my judicious use of self-censorship there.)

Concepts which I find far more offensive these days are those such as:

WAR, CORRUPTION, RAPE, POVERTY, OPPRESSION, ENSLAVEMENT, INJUSTICE, INTOLERANCE, RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA, IGNORANCE, GREED, EXTREMISM, GENOCIDE, BIGOTRY, EXPLOITATION etc. Oh, and I almost forgot, those two modern day expletives - POLITICS, and of course BANKERS.

I find a good "fuck" is always infinitely preferable . . .

Regards,
A.E.

Anthony… Well said,

Fuck! Fuck!

Or as John Togher might say Ear! Ear!

I’ve read this thread with great deal of interest and now that the kettle has at long last boiled and the coat of paint it seems is now dried…

…Fug, Fugger, Fugging, Crunt, Chize, Klint, Icehole, Wonk Wonker, Prigg, Crock, bowls , bowllicks, bogger,

Glad I’ve got that off my chest… ah yes, I almost forgot, Tids!


We really are a weird group of pathetic Twads!

I certainly wouldn't expect everyone to read all of what's below - but it was copied (and pasted) from The Oxford English Dictionary (on-line)and at least offers a brief insight into the word 'fuck' and its etymology...



[Probably cognate with Dutch fokken to mock (15th cent.), to strike (1591), to fool, gull (1623), to beget children (1637), to have sexual intercourse with (1657), to grow, cultivate (1772), Norwegian regional fukka to copulate, Swedish regional fokka to copulate (compare Swedish regional fock penis), further etymology uncertain: perhaps < an Indo-European root meaning ‘to strike’ also shown by classical Latin pugnus fist (see PUGNACIOUS adj.). Perhaps compare Old Icelandic fjúka to be driven on, tossed by the wind, feykja to blow, drive away, Middle High German fochen to hiss, to blow. Perhaps compare also Middle High German ficken to rub, early modern German ficken to rub, itch, scratch, German ficken to have sexual intercourse with (1558), German regional ficken to rub, to make short fast movements, to hit with rods, although the exact nature of any relationship is unclear.
On the suggested Indo-European etymology (and for a suggestion that the word was probably a strong verb during its earlier history in English) see especially R. Lass ‘Four letters in search of an etymology’ in Diachronica 12 (1995) 99-111.
It seems certain that the word was current (in transitive use) before the early 16th cent., although the only surviving attestation shows a Latin inflectional ending in a Latin-English macaronic text: see quot. a1500 and note at sense 1b. See discussion at FUCKER n. on various supposed (but very doubtful) earlier occurrences of the word in surnames. However, if the bird name WINDFUCKER n. (also FUCKWIND n.) is ultimately related, it is interesting to note an occurrence of the surname Ric' Wyndfuk', Ric' Wyndfuck' de Wodehous' (1287 in documents related to Sherwood Forest) which may show another form of the bird name. Use in a sense ‘to strike’ could perhaps also be reflected by the surname Fuckebegger' (1287); perhaps compare the Anglo-Norman surname Butevilein (literally ‘strike the churl or wretch’), found in the 12th and 13th centuries. For discussion of a possible (although not certain) occurrence of FUCKING n. in a field name fockynggroue recorded in a Bristol charter of c1373 see R. Coates ‘Fockynggroue in Bristol’ in N. & Q. 252 (2007) 373-6.
Many alternative theories have been suggested as to the origin of this word. Explanations as an acronym are often suggested, but are obviously much later rationalizations.
Despite widespread use over a long period and in many sections of society, fuck remains (and has been for centuries) one of the English words most avoided as taboo. Until relatively recently it rarely appeared in print, and there are still a number of euphemistic ways of referring to it (compare e.g. EFF v., FECK v.2, F-WORD n., F-WORD v.); ferk in quot. 1680 at sense 1c probably likewise shows a deliberately altered spelling. It is also frequently written with asterisks, dashes, etc., to represent suppressed letters, so as to avoid the charge of obscenity. Modern quotations for the term before the 1960s typically come from private sources or from texts which were privately printed, especially on the mainland of Europe. Bailey (1721) included the word (defined ‘Foeminam Subagitare’), but not Johnson (1755), Webster (1828), and later 19th- and early 20th-cent. dictionaries. Partridge (1937) included the word as ‘f*ck’, noting that ‘the efforts of James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence have not restored it to its orig. dignified status [in dictionaries]’. A gradual relaxation in the interpretation of obscenity laws in the U.K. followed the unsuccessful prosecution in 1960 of Penguin Books Ltd. (under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959) for the publication in the London edition of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (see, for example, quot. 1928 at sense 1b). The first modern dictionary of general English to include an entry for the verb fuck was G. N. Garmonsway's Penguin English Dictionary of 1965.]



1. a. An act of sexual intercourse. Also as a mass noun (esp. in early use): sexual intercourse.
cluster-, dry, mercy fuck, etc.: see the first element.

1663 R. HEAD Hic et Ubique I. vi. 18, I did creep in..and there I did see putting [sic] the great fuck upon my weef. 1680 EARL OF ROCHESTER et al. Poems 37 Thus was I Rook'd of Twelve substantial Fucks. 1719 in E. J. Burford Bawdy Verse (1982) 194 She'd dance and she'd caper as wild as a Buck And told Tom the Tinker she would have some fuck. 1764 J. WILKES Ess. on Woman 13 Just a few good Fucks, and then we die. 1776 Frisky Songster (new ed.) 25 She could not get one poor fk. a1796 R. BURNS Merry Muses Caledonia (1799) 49 When maukin-bucks at early fks, In dewy glens are seen, Sir. 1865 ‘PHILOCOMUS’ Love Feast I. 9 My poor pussy , rent and sore, Dreaded yet longed for one fuck more. ?1889 C. DEVEUREUX Vénus in India 87 After I had signed my name to the note to Mrs. Searle he added his initials, and ‘W.T.B.F.’ ‘What did that mean?’ I asked. ‘Will there be fuck, of course!’ c1890 My Secret Life III. 139, I was dying with want of a fuck. 1928 D. H. LAWRENCE Lady Chatterley's Lover xviii. 342 A lily-livered hound with never a fuck in him. 1965 E. J. HOWARD After Julius iii. 38 Eat well, don't smoke, and a fuck was equal to a five-mile walk. 1994 A. L. KENNEDY Now that you're Back 49, I thought we had similar reasons for being here. A fling, an affair, a fuck. I'm in the right area?
b. concr. A person considered in sexual terms or as a sexual partner. Chiefly with modifying word.

1870 Cythera's Hymnal 75 A young woman got married at Chester, Her mother she kissed and she blessed her. Says she, 'You're in luck, He's a stunning good fuck, For I've had him myself down in Leicester.' 1874 Lett. from Friend in Paris II. 168, I had always held that dear mamma was the best fuck in the family, and in every way a most desirable and splendid creature. c1890 My Secret Life II. iii. 57 Is she a good fuck? Where does she live? 1934 ‘J. M. HALL’ Anecdota Americana 2nd Ser. 18 You are a much better fuck than your old mammy here. 1969 S. GREENLEE Spook who sat by Door ix. 77 An aborted marriage to a favourite fuck. 1984 ‘PICKLES’ Queens 34 Perhaps the commonest threat to success is the arrival of friends or former fucks. 1997 E. WHITE Farewell Symphony (1998) i. 27 He's driving me crazy... I can't bear him, though he is a pretty good fuck.
2. orig. U.S. A worthless or despicable person. Freq. with modifying word. Cf. also rat fuck n. (a) at RAT n.1 Compounds 2.

1927 J. FLIESLER Anecdota Americana 188, I won't sye nothin' nawsty, all I sye is my bloody arse 'ole to you, you bloomin' fuck. 1934 H. ROTH Call it Sleep iv. 414 Yer an at'eist, yuh fuck, he hollers. 1959 W. S. BURROUGHS Naked Lunch 96 You may be a tedious old fuck yourself some day. 1988 R. DOYLE Commitments (1991) 101 Deco couldn't believe this. This little baldy fuck was threatening him. 2006 G. MALKANI Londonstani xxvi. 320, I must not take more than eight aspirins, I must not take more than eight aspirins. Arun, Arun, wherever you are. You stupid fuck.
3. With the.

a. As an intensifier expressing annoyance, hostility, urgency, exasperation, etc.

(a) In interrogative contexts, as what the fuck, who the fuck, how (in) the fuck, etc. Cf. what (also who, why, how, etc.) the (also in) hell at HELL n. and int. Phrases 4d.

1934 H. ROTH Call it Sleep IV. iii. 380 De nex' time watch out who de fuck yer chas. 1959 W. S. BURROUGHS Naked Lunch 63 How in the fuck should I know? 1970 G. LORD Marshmallow Pie xv. 136 What the fuck do you think you're doing? 1991 L. BING Do or Die 218 What the fuck I want to change for? 1999 J. CAHILL Guy walks into Psychiatrist's Office in Sopranos (television shooting script) 2nd Ser. 29 The fuck you gonna do about it? 2005 K. HOLDEN In my Skin 93 Who the fuck are you?
(b) With a phrasal verb, often in the imperative. Cf. to get the (also to) hell out (of) at HELL n. and int. Phrases 5m.

1944 R. TREGASKIS Diary 27 July in Invasion Diary 46 Get the f off this God-damn hill! 1970 B. J. FRIEDMAN Dick 283 Anyone who didn't like the country was invited to get the fuck out of it. 1988 J. NORST Colors ii. 30 Speed up five or ten. Speed the fuck up. 2001 C. GLAZEBROOK Madolescents 66 Darren the Mutant from next-door flings the upstairs window open and yells at Sheba to shut the fuck up.
b. U.S. Introducing a response expressing emphatic disagreement or disbelief: ‘that's not true’; ‘like hell’.

1965 S. LINAKIS In Spring War Ended iv. 50 ‘They don't keep you locked up.’.. ‘The fuck they don't.’ 1983 P. DEXTER God's Pocket 65, I..said..that he'd been takin' a quarter off the top,..and he says, ‘The fuck I have, you think I'm crazy?’ 2000 W. MONAHAN Light House xxvi. 145 ‘Give me another one.’ ‘No more drink.’ ‘The fuck you say.’

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHRASES

P1. not to give (also care) a fuck: not to care in the slightest. Hence in other dismissive (and chiefly negative) constructions.
go take a flying fuck and not to give a flying fuck: see flying fuck n. at FLYING adj. Additions; not to give (also care) a monkey's fuck: see MONKEY n. Phrases 10; (not) to give a motherfuck: see MOTHERFUCK n. 2a.

1879 Harlequin Prince Cherrytop 19 For all your threats I don't care a fuck. I'll never leave my princely darling duck. 1929 F. MANNING Middle Parts of Fortune I. v. 87 ‘They don't care a fuck 'ow us'ns live,’ said little Martlow bitterly. 1934 H. MILLER Tropic of Cancer 34 Nobody gives a fuck about her except to use her. 1962 I. MURDOCH Unofficial Rose vi. 63 Not that I care a fuck. 1987 T. HARRISON Sel. Poems 242 A book, yer stupid cunt, 's not worth a fuck! 1990 A. DUFF Once were Warriors vi. 56 Main street. So what, big deal, who gives a fuck, town's not even a city, and ya call this a main street? 2005 A. SMITH Accidental 26 Why should I care about him when he clearly doesn't give a fuck about me.
P2. to fuck: very much, a great deal; = (all) to hell at HELL n. and int. Phrases 4e.

1919 W.H. DOWNING Digger Dialects 12 Blow-to-fook, shatter to fragments. 1970 H. S. THOMPSON Let. 29 Jan. in Fear & Loathing in Amer. (2000) 277, I wish to fuck I could lay off some kind of healing wisdomfor either one of us. 1986 R. HEWITT White Talk Black Talk i. 27 But then I thought I'd be cut to fuck. I mean I'd be stabbed. I knew it. 1994 J. KELMAN How Late it Was 17 Mind you he once telt it to a woman and it annoyed her to fuck, she thought it was a load of bullshit.
P3. orig. U.S. a fuck of a : a striking, extraordinary, or dismaying ; ‘a hell of a ’ (HELL n. and int. Phrases 4a).

1928 in A. W. Read Lexical Evid. Folk Epigraphy Western N. Amer. (1935) 55 This is a fuck of a rain. 1973 J. BRESLIN World without End 56 It was, Dermot remembers, a fuck of a way to learn and of course he never did. 1990 R. DOYLE Snapper (1993) 37 You said it looks like another fuck of a day. 2002 N. GRIFFITHS Kelly + Victor 12 It's just as packed up here as it was downstairs but it's a fuck of a lot quieter, no music, just a babble of voices.
P4. In similative phrases indicating extremity or intensity. Freq. in like fuck.

1938 in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 393 The colloquial comparative, ‘Hotter than a Persian fuck.’ 1969 T. RAWORTH Serial Biogr. 66 Burned like fuck he said. Had to smear ointment all over it. 1991 New Musical Express 31 Aug. 19/2 We're relying on them to tour like f and write all the time. 1994 J. KELMAN How Late it Was 3 This yin with his big beery face and these cunning wee eyes, then his auld belted raincoat, shabby as fuck.
P5. for fuck's sake: expressing exasperation, annoyance, or urgency; ‘for heaven's sake’.

1943 D. BRENNAN Never so Young Again xxiii. 206 They're coming up to starboard! Weave! For f sake! 1966 D. HOLBROOK Flesh Wounds 129 Driver speed up. Come on, for fuck's sake. 1987 G. TURNER Sea & Summer 144 For fuck's sake, woman, shut up! 2000 Z. SMITH White Teeth iv. 80 OK, Auntie Alsi, I apologize, I apologize... For fuck's sake, what more do you want?
P6. to the fuck out of (a person or thing): to (a person or thing) to an excessive, violent, or unpleasant degree. Cf. SHIT n. and adj..

1957 N. COWARD Diary 17 Feb. (2000) 349, I am very old indeed and cannot understand why the younger generation, instead of knocking at the door, should bash the fuck out of it. 1960 N. COWARD Diary 19 June (2000) 442 There was a real blazing row in the course of which Peggy and I roared at him, banged the table and generally frightened the fuck out of him. 1974 B. GREENE Billion Dollar Baby 87, I always wanted to beat the fuck out of somebody on stage. 1987 B. E. ELLIS Rules of Attraction 111 But thinking about it bores the fuck out of me so I just walk around the dorm for a while and then split. 2002 C. MALONE in L. Purcell Black Chicks Talking 169, I was going to try the heavy shit but the ‘thought’ that I was actually thinking about doing it, that scared the fuck out of me.
P7. for the fuck of it: for the mere sake of doing so; for the fun of it; = (just) for the hell of it at HELL n. and int. Phrases 4k.
J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) I. 832/2 records an oral use from 1970: ‘I'd beat him up just for the fuck of it’.

1976 S. HAYDEN Voyage 211 Take a look. Just fer the fuck of it. 1994 Vox July 5/1 The Wonder Stuff have split up on ‘very amicable terms..just for the fuck of it’ and will play together live for the last time at the Phoenix Festival on July 15. 2005 R. SCARCE Contempt of Court iv. 126 Some assholes pick him up and kick the shit out of him jes' for the fuck of it.
P8. Chiefly Brit. fuck knows: indicating that something is unknown to the speaker; ‘no idea’; ‘God knows’.

1976 P. CALLOW Story of my Desire vi. 42 ‘When's your case come up?’ David said. ‘Fuck knows’. 1988 G. PATTERSON Burning your Own (1993) 245, I know what youse're thinking: ‘he must be mad’. Well, if that was mad, then fuck knows what youse'll say when youse see the next knockdown bargain. 2001 C. GLAZEBROOK Madolescents 302 Tell spaceboy to turn the volume down. I can't get through to him, fuck knows what he's on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMPOUNDS

attrib. Chiefly of written or visual material: describing or involving sexual activity; pornographic.

1941 W. C. WILLIAMS Let. 6 Jan. in W. C. Williams & J. Laughlin Sel. Lett. (1989) 61 You've got to feed 'em the bunklove and war and all the old fuck stuff. 1946 Amer. Speech 21 33/1 Fk books, sexy pulp magazines. 1968 C. BUKOWSKI Let. 26 Feb. in Screams from Balcony (1998) 323, I read your fuck-piece and that boy is a master-fucker. 1985 Playboy (Nexis) Feb. 118, I wanted to find out who these people are who make fuck films, to bring some veracity to my movie. 2002 A. BEHRMAN Electroboy (2003) ii. 31, I thumb through some magazines... Shrink-wrapped packages with three or four hard-core fuck magazines in them for $7.99.


If you read this far - or skipped to the end - fucking well done.

Can you just run that by me again.

I skipped to the end... ; )

xxx

my erection just went soft.

'my erection just went soft'.

Tommy, welcome to the world of linguistics.

Darren, Tommy

In an effort to counteract your loss of erectility may I suggest you both start your day with a little stiffener, I suggest 1no. 100mg film coated Sildenafil.

Welcome to world of pole dancing

Overheard in the Methodist Recorder's newsroom... about a photocopier.

"F*ck! F*cking f*cker's f*cking f*cked!"

Which proves you can be spendidly profane AND grammatical.

Darren, I read the whole thing through to the end, but now I am... er, fatigued.
I think those dictionary writers are just attention seekers. As for those who quote them... :-)

Tee hee - you are a better man than me Julian. I took one look at the size of Darren's addition and decided that I knew well enough what 'fuck' meant.

Hello

Darren, I thought your major contribution of fucking definitions was really interesting, all of it. But I'm a language bloodhound, not on your scale, of course, but always really intrigued by word histories and appreciative of other people's scholarship.