Why is the f word a swear word? What is so bad about it?

Question

I never use it, but I wonder, why is it so obsene?
^_^ I very stupid so please, try and simlify it down

Answer 1

All that stuff about Fornication Under Consent of the King is false. It's just an urban legend. Acronyms didn't really come in use until the 20th century. Check out the articles on wikipedia, snopes, or just google "etymology of f**k."

The word f**k has been in use in the English language since before 1500. No one knows for sure w it comes from but there are similar words in other languages that have been suggested as possible origins, like ficken (German), fukka (Norwegian), and fokka (Swedish), which mean the same thing.

The word means "to have sex (with)," but sex in a particularly violent, cold way. It is sex only for physical pleasure, sex without love, passion, or without duty (when it first came into use, many marriages were still loveless, and sex was performed for the procreation of children rather than from love or satisfaction). The word itself was DESIGNED to be crude. To many people throughout history (and even today), the concept of f**king was offensive. Sex itself was taboo enough in many societies, even if it was sex from love, but f**king? It offended every moral stricture of society - it even went against the bible. In Victorian times, the amount of sex education young woman received before their marriage usually amounted to being told by their mothers to "lie back and think of England." It was a woman's duty to have children for her husband and for her country, but she wasn't expected to enjoy it. Sex was wrong, vulgar, immoral, sinful. A woman who had sex before marriage, even if she was raped, was ruined forever. Imagine the kind of society behind that logic, and imagine the way the idea of f**king would hit them. Pretty hard, I would think.

Of course, the word has been reclaimed. Nowadays, it's meaning has been softened somewhat, and it's starting to lose it's original meaning altogether (as in, "I lost my f**king wallet." The speaker obviously doesn't mean that his wallet has violent and passionless sex. The word is just used for emphasis). But we've got hundreds of years of history telling us that "f**k" is bad, and it'll take a while to overcome that.

Answer 2

I can agree to some point that these other words, c()nt, N word and a few others I suppose are all horrible to use but like someone said already, it all matters how you use them. And plus you can use the f word in a positive way anyhow. Somewhere on the net theres a recording of all the diff uses of the F word and kinda makes it seem like, not so bad a word anymore.

Answer 3

I'm not sure exactly why it starts off as a swear word, but it originates from another language apparently. According to a documentary on English we were shown in Uni, it originates from low dutch, the word being something like fooking originally, though I may of spelt that wrong.

As for why it's a swear word now, most likely because it means to have sex with connotations of crudeness, negativity and quite often force. As well as the fact that it's changed so it adds negativity to the sentence, such as instead of "leave", slightly commanding and rude, "f- leave" changes it to extremely rude and more violent.

Answer 4

Some say the four letter f word comes from a saying similar to "sleeping with the king to get higher up on your social status".

Note: the four **** below = the four letters of the f word.

Answer 5

the word f*** comes from medeval times, when the king would have crazy parties, and had to approve any matching up in the castle. So a couple would ask his approval, and if it was given they would go into a room to "do their thang"... The room that they went into had a sign on the door that had F. U. C. K. on it - Fornification Upon Consent from the King. So literally, that's where the word came from that that's its meaning. I guess because of the meaning, it's offensive and inappropriate for public. Also the meaning or power behind it makes it more vulgar when people shout it at each other ;)

Answer 6

Its the origins of a word which make it obscene, if it comes from a bad word that it will be considered bad by society.

Answer 7

I was told by my teacher it comes from the time of shakespear. it stands for Fornication Under the Command of the King. I dont know why it turned into a ugly word.

Answer 8

I guess because it's about a 'private' bodily function/parts..... as are other body functions/parts..... the problem seems to arise with all of them when the words are used in anger against another.... but not so much when used as in "I'm going to go......".....or "My .... hurts"....... ???... *smile*........so much for the seven dirty words you can't use on television , huh?!!......

Answer 9

Me personally its my favorite word in the world love to use it I think people are just to sensitive.

Answer 10

Almost all swearwords and insults are related to bodily functions and products - it shouldn't be necessary to exemplify them here. F.u.c.k is probably considered the worst because of the implication of rape in 'f*** you!'

Hi_you51's teacher was pulling the class's collective leg. F.u.c.k probably comes from a germanic root originally meaning 'to hit'.