The Asterisk on the Word "Fuck"

*but seriously. I'm saying it now, I've said it before and I'll say it again: the concept that one sound or group of sounds is somehow arbitrarily "offensive," when another with an identical denotative value is acceptable for use, is a moronic and harmful concept in several ways:

• as children, the concept of profanity teaches us to accept unreason. We learn that words are “bad” based not on their meanings, but on an impossible-to-justify and quite frankly, superstitious reverence for the quasi-magical power of the “bad word.” One word means sex and is okay to use. Another word means sex and is loaded with special power. Bad power. That is some outright childish bullshit for a so-called adult to be filling a child's mind with!

• as adults, the concept of profanity harms us by giving other people unearned power over us. They need not even strain their feeble minds to upset and insult us. Just say one of the magic words, and we fold - as they wish - into anger or tears.

It’s especially ridiculous when (as most often happens) the word in question is being used in a way that is empty of literal meaning: as an expletive. An expletive, like “gosh” or “dang” is an expletive. Or as a mere intensifier: “it’s fucking cold in here.” Words used in these ways don’t even have the supposedly dirty meaning that could be attributed to them when used literally! Although, as noted above, the very idea of a “dirty” meaning is a sham, considering the fact that every bad word shares its identical literal meaning with many “clean” synonyms.

Those who give weight to profanity, or who teach others to respect the concept, are guilty of perpetuating intellectual cowardice.