Exalt her and she shall bring you to honour

[zotz]

Yes, it's a picture of me baring my torch. Obviously.

Writers Bloc had readings in Biggar and Prestonpans.

Comments

[nmg]

The funny bit is that in the offending phrase, "fucking" is an adverb.

Is it? I thought that it was a verbal adjective (so, a participle).

[valkyriekaren]

He's right, you know. To be an adverb it has to modify a verb.

Actually I don't think there is an adverbal form of 'fucking'. What would that be? 'Fuckingly'?

"How's it going?"
"Fuckingly, absolutely fuckingly!"

[zotz]

It may or may not amaze you to hear that certain individuals on t'internet (obviously individuals with nothing whatsoever in common with you, me or Nick) have nothing better to do with their time than debate this, and have apparently done so at some length.

Here is one. There seem to be a large number of others.

[nmg]

I stand corrected - I've just checked the OED entries for 'extremely', 'most' and 'very', and the sense in which 'fucking' is used is adverbial.

I shall now bore people with this fact at the next party I attend, and it'll all be your fault.

[zotz]

Just don't give them my contact details. I don't want them turning up in the night with grammar books and axes to grind . . .

[djm4]

To be an adverb it has to modify a verb.

No it doesn't. It just has to not be modifying a noun (in which case it would usually be an adjective). The 'verb' in adverb comes from the Latin 'verbum', meaning word.

That's not how they usually teach it at school, mind you.

[spacelem]

The many varied ways of using the word "fuck", or why the F-word is the best word in the dictionary.