Ode To A Cuss Word

A friend of mine in his early 40's professed to me seeing a recent action movie admitting that he liked it very much. He then punctuated his review not with any interesting anecdotes or particularly flavorful dialogue, but by saying, “and do you know what was really great about it – they did it without having to use swear words”.

I paused a moment.

“Get the fuck outta here,” I said. “Are you serious? You actually noticed that?”

“Yeah, no swearing. It was great.”

“Seriously, who really gives a fuck about that?”

I mean, aren’t so-called bad words the flower garden in the mudfields of our pathetic language? You know a little fucking posie amongst the weeds? If you are keeping a scorecard for cuss words while watching a film, you’re just not appreciating the movie.

Besides, this is 2005. I’ve heard grandmothers dropping C-bombs on their way out of Sunday mass. You can’t tell me this shit shocks you anymore.

Its just a word. Maybe a mighty powerful one, but it’s still just a word.

Just like “darn” or “fudge” or “poopie” or “knobgobbling bumeater”.

Isn’t there something just plain phony about replacing a true “swear” word with a softer, less-effective acceptable cuss word like “fudge”? And how can it be worse? Essentially, it means the same thing.

Get a fucking grip people.