The Usage of the word Fuck.

[keldaryth]

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about the word 'fuck' and I thought it might be interesting to share it with everyone. It came up again today in a completely different context and it got me thinking about it again. Anyway, here goes

Comments

[taiba]

You should learn some Croatian. Common insults mostly have to do with fucking one's mother, whether it's in first person, 2nd person, or the family dog.

[sols_light]

I remember learning in high school that a fuck was a hole in the ground made with a blunt stick, probably for planting seeds.

[pezzae]

I wonder if this has something to do with one's status as a sex object in the male gaze? I very rarely say 'fuck you' or 'fuck off' or 'get fucked' or give people the finger (except in jest), and react badly to people saying that to me, for the same reason. All of them mean something along the lines of 'may you be fucked in an unpleasant way', which, yeah, violation.
Personal weirdness: I have no problem with 'bugger off' even though it means the same thing, but is more specific! Maybe because no-one says 'bugger you' it doesn't have the same connotations?

[sols_light]

This is possibly a dialect thing. Words like Bloody and Bugger don't have the severity of meaning in Australia they do in most other English-speaking countries. Anything we consider worse than that is probably about equivalent everywhere else, although I have seen tradesmen greet each other with "G'Day you ol' bastard" which surprised me a little. Probably to do with the origins of White Australians as migrants from lower-class England which has given rise to less perceived harshness in swearing.

Also, I have known people who would say bugger you, but I can't remember now if it's possibly more of a British or Kiwi thing, since I lived in New Zealand until I was 16.