The F-bomb...what a powerful word that is! Saying it as a kid guarantees an energetic response from your parents involving punishment and/or pain! You whispered it under your breath at your boss, and yelled it out loud when you hit your funny bone. Sometimes you used it to replace every other word! There is no other word in the english language that is used so freely or so diversely!
According to Wikipedia, the F-bomb can be used as a verb (they're f-ing in bed), a noun (you f-bomb!), an adjective (you f-ing jerk), an adverb (he ran f-ing fast) and is one of the only english words that can be used as an infix (abso-f-ing-lutely). Logically, you can use it in every word of a sentence = F-bomb the f-ing f-ers f-ed! Its used as an exclamation to denote anger, disgust, surprise, pain, arousal and sometimes complete and total joy. But it is a universally known word, and its known to be a vulgar profanity. Tell someone in Nuk-Nuk, Alaska to "f-bomb off!" and dollars to donuts you'll get punched in the face.
On the other hand, a study reported by Scientific American showed that saying vulgarities such as the F-bomb when hurt or stressed lessens the pain. Its thought that our brain circuitry is linked to pain, and when our flight or fight response is activated, our tolerence to pain increases. Simply put, when we swear, our heart rate increases thus triggering the ability to feel less pain. Therefore, yelling the F-bomb is good for us! Science has proven it!
Personally, I chose this word to blog about today simply because I have kids. Rather than have 2 toddlers running about screaming "F-bomb! F-bomb! F-bomb!" at the top of their lungs, I have been trying to cut the word completely out of my vocabulary. Like the bloody elephant in the bloody room, it is almost impossible to do. During the era of BC (Before Children) it was a word that was interjected without pause or thought, used everyday in every way! Now, when I trip on one of their Legos on the floor I have to yell "fargendargen" or "motherlover" or just go with the ever popular "gaaaahhhhh"! Somehow, it just doesn't feel the same. Its not that I miss swearing, no not at all! Its that I miss the freedom and the ability to swear. I resent having to catch myself at every vulgarity, and the guilt that comes with every lapse! I may not have liked having a potty-mouth, but I liked being forced to clean it up even less! But I will do it. I will endeavor not to spew filth since my kids will repeat it ad nauseum, guaranteed. Like selective tape recorders, they inherently know which words are naughty and they will commit it to memory, the little buggers. Do I give up the F-bomb to preserve the innocence of my little angels?
F-bomb yeah!
The word actually means "seal" in French which is why the term "pardon my French" came about. Stick that in your pipe and F-bomb it!
ReplyDelete:D
One day in my senior year of high school, my English teacher was getting chewed out loudly by an administrator in front of our class. Totally inappropriate. I don’t recall the reason or anything the guy said. My teacher said nothing throughout, while we all waited, horrified at what we were witnessing.
ReplyDeleteThis teacher was extremely quick-witted and had a wonderfully sharp tongue. We couldn’t believe he wasn’t responding to this crap. Finally, it ended and the guy walked out. THEN our teacher said, obviously loudly enough to be heard by the guy as he left, turned to us and said, “...and remember, sometimes ‘mother’ is only HALF a word.”
We heard the guy stop dead in the hallway, but he didn’t come back - because we were all laughing our asses off.