Language

[gnawsome]

TLF monitors very carefully the language used and I have considerable regard for that being so but;
What was once regarded as 'foul' language is now deemed as entirely acceptable across all segments of population.
That raises a puzzle for me.
We are all too familiar with the general term for sex - it starts with F.
It seems to be the obligatory exclamation in most TV programmes but when the dialogue wants to refer to the actual act taking place it gets expressed as 'sleeping with'.
Is that somehow meant to the more delicate amongst us?

[didds]

[sleeping with] knows

[XFool]

...

[jfgw]

The first time I ever heard that word (or one of its derivatives) on TV was on Dave Allen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbTqxycsQ2Y. The word seems all too common now.


Julian F. G. W.

[Tedx]

But it's such a versatile word!

An expression of contempt.

Telling someone to leave you alone.

An adjective to add emphasis to your exclamation.

An adjective to add emphasis to your insult.

A way to express disbelief or confusion.

An alternative verb for saying “to have sex”.

Yet another way to say you want to have sex with someone.

A way to describe a great sex session.

An noun to describe someone who is good at sex.

A way to describe someone as a total idiot or jerk.

A way to tell someone that he or she is a mischievous or crafty person.

A way to add emphasis to someone’s actions.

A town in Austria.

A way to express surprise and joy.

A way to express satisfaction or happiness.

A way to express anger, disgust, or shock.

[Tedx]

Personally, I like it when its inserted into the middle of another word eg. 'Absolutely'

[mc2fool]

A town in Austria.

Not any more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugging,_Upper_Austria

[XFool]

The first time I ever heard that word (or one of its derivatives) on TV was on Dave Allen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbTqxycsQ2Y.

I can beat that! I saw the original TV program with Kenneth Tynan. He said "Nobody would mind these days if I said...". They did mind!

You'll have to look up the reference in Wikipedia yourself because, guess what?

From Wikipedia:

Examples of more recent usage
"The first documented use of the word [expletive deleted] on live British television has been attributed to theatre critic Kenneth Tynan in 1965, though it has been claimed Irish playwright Brendan Behan used the word on Panorama in 1956 or the man who painted the railings on Stranmillis Embankment alongside the River Lagan in Belfast, who in 1959 told Ulster TV's teatime magazine programme Roundabout that his job was "[expletive deleted] boring"."

(I'd guess Behan was likely drunk...)

[stewamax]

When I worked in the US, f**k and its derivatives was almost de rigueur in any conversation overheard in NY and New Jersey.
Bl**dy, on the other hand, was regarded as extremely offensive: on a par with c**t.

[XFool]

From Wikipedia:
Examples of more recent usage
"The first documented use of the word [expletive deleted] on live British television has been attributed to theatre critic Kenneth Tynan in 1965, though it has been claimed Irish playwright Brendan Behan used the word on Panorama in 1956..."

(I'd guess Behan was likely drunk...)

Yep!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Behan#Writer

"In May 1956, The Quare Fellow opened in the Theatre Royal Stratford East, in a production by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. Subsequently, it transferred to the West End. Behan generated immense publicity for The Quare Fellow as a result of a drunken appearance on the Malcolm Muggeridge TV show. The English, relatively unaccustomed to public drunkenness in authors, took him to their hearts. A fellow guest on the show, Irish-American actor Jackie Gleason, reportedly said about the incident: "It wasn't an act of God, but an act of Guinness!" Behan and Gleason went on to forge a friendship. Behan loved the story of how, walking along the street in London shortly after this episode, a Cockney approached him and exclaimed that he understood every word he had said—drunk or not—but had not a clue what "that bugger Muggeridge was on about!" "