Why is the four letter word beginning with an "F" considered to be dirty?

Question

It cannot be used in Yahoo Q&A. It is an old English word that means “to plant.” Farmers once used a tool that punched a hole in the ground and put a seed inside the hole. It was called a “F***ing Machine.” You can find details and pictures of them in old encyclopedias. The same term is used to depict the process (also called “making love”) to make babies. Surly the fact that GOD wanted man to participate in the act of creating new life is one of his most precious gifts. How can a religious person consider such an act be dirty? Any one got any ideas?

Answer 1

It actually stands for "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" and was used to brand adulterers, at least that was always my understanding.

Answer 2

Every time somebody asks questions about this word we get weird theories about where it comes from.

To answer your question, - because the word describes an act which you would not normally do in public. Same as S**t .

The word you are refering to cannot be found in Old English, there is no written record of it before the 15th century, and it seems to have come from Scotland. Before that people used other words, (most of which have now become 'un-dirty' through lack of use!

Answer 3

What a Foul question!

From dictionary.com: "Word History: The obscenity f*** is a very old word and has been considered shocking from the first, though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in code because of its unacceptability, is in a poem composed in a mixture of Latin and English sometime before 1500. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, "Flen flyys," from the first words of its opening line, "Flen, flyys, and freris," that is, "fleas, flies, and friars." The line that contains f*** reads "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk." The Latin words "Non sunt in coeli, quia," mean "they [the friars] are not in heaven, since." The code "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" is easily broken by simply substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now: i was then used for both i and j; v was used for both u and v; and vv was used for w. This yields "fvccant [a fake Latin form] vvivys of heli." The whole thus reads in translation: "They are not in heaven because they f*** wives of Ely [a town near Cambridge]."

And from reference.com: "Drilling-The term used for the mechanised sowing of an agricultural crop. The seed from the hopper of a seed drill is distributed by a seed metering mechanism into a set of tubes arranged to provide a suitable distance between each other to allow optimum growth of the resulting plants. The seed falls into "drills", or channels made by a coulter."

There is no agricultural device known as the f***ing machine. They are known as seed drills.

More on the word and how ridiculous some of you sound...
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/****.asp
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=****&searchmode=none

Answer 4

Key words: OLD ENGLISH. The current meaning seems to offend some people. I'm more offended by the addition to the language of non-words like irregardless, which means: regardless and ginormous, which is a combination of the words gigantic and enormous, both of which already adequately described something large. These offend human reason.

Answer 5

"Religious" people consider it "dirty" BECAUSE THEY"RE RELIGIOUS!!! The term "curse" is used to define such "dirty" words, but they're NOT curses!!! I'm not saying you should use words that aren't "socially acceptable" to any given situation, but they're inappropriate, NOT curses, Curses are very different. As far as the act of intercourse, in the right context, I don't think anyone finds it "dirty." If they do, they need to pray that the spirit of religion that is oppressing them, be broken

Answer 6

ROFLMAO, "patriot" like "christian" and "hero" are words that are thrown around alot and claimed by people who do not even know the meaning of the words. I don't cringe because someone uses the word, I cringe because some of these simpletons actually believe they are patriots, instead just loud mouth idiots.

Answer 7

It's because of the meaning. Sex is considered dirty by some. Also, your old meaning is wrong.

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/****.asp

Change the **** to the word. It gives the etymology.

Answer 8

because over time, people and society have become more "civilized"...more like brainwashed.
it is a word, say it if you want.
Any word can be considered offensive over time, in the future, any commonly used word today could be offensive, or dirty.
don't fall victim to a brainwashed society.

Answer 9

It's not so much that this word is "dirty", but people don't use it for the right reasons. They use it to curse others.

Answer 10

It's considered dirty because a big population of people have decided it is.

Answer 11

LoL. How quaint.

Listen you little farmer, you listen to me good. I don't's like's you's kind's. hahahaha.....
Nah, listen man, a dirty word is a filthy word we give meaning to as such. You wouldn't teach your children dirty things would you man?