A closer look at the word fuck

In response to the article that has been around for some time and recently circulated around Facebook, on the many uses of the word fuck, I have decided to add on to it to further study the reasons behind the famous F word having so many uses.

The word fuck is a word that has dubious backgrounds. Some sources say that it is derived from the German word "frichen", others say it is Latin or Old English for sex. Of course it may be both, and in addition those who believe in Latin origins say it was meant, ironically, as a censor word, though it turned out to be a much harsher vulgarity these days than the anchor word. Additionally, "Tall" Shufen has commented that fuck is now a universal word, as it can be a front hook to almost every other English word.

As an algebraist, naturally I am not contented with merely accepting the saying that fuck is a universal word, and have decided to study the properties of fuck, for this is the purpose of a mathematician and an algebraist, to study not just what and how things are, but why they are so by means of their properties.

Fuck is a popular word, primarily because of its social unacceptance as a taboo. Almost every language that has a word isomorphic to fuck has labelled the equivalent word as a vulgarity, a swear word, or simply a "bad" word. Chinese has no direct translation for fuck, but her many dialects nearly all have, the ones commonly heard in Singapore coffeeshops include Hokkien KNN, Cantonese TLLM or TNM, Teochew PB and etc, all of which are considered very vulgar words. The Chinese word "kan" is sometimes taken to be the Chinese equivalent of fuck with the same sound, and the word "kan" means "to do", usually in a particularly forceful and / or violent way. As fuck does not sufficiently nor necessarily imply violence involved, I therefore claim that this translation is not very good. The power and beauty of fuck comes from the fact that it is a vulgarity, and so by the forbidden fruit theory, people like using it even more, even if they face opposition in doing so. In terms of power, fuck is much stronger a swear word than shit, which unlimits its use.

Another property of fuck that makes it popular and powerful is the fact that it is one syllable long, only. This makes it a lot better a swear word when you need an interjection that only involves one syllabus. Conversely, "curses" and "damn it" are both two syllable, while fuck takes half the amount of time to shoot out. Consequently, it is much easier to say fuck when you are surprised than any other swear word.

The fact that fuck starts with the letter F and ends with the letter K also gives it additional tactical manipulativity. The K makes words like "fucker" and "fucking" much easier to pronounce, compared with "shiter" and "shitting" for example. Even when we need to use the word shitting in its conventional meaning, it is already not easy to pronounce.

There are still a lot of people who are unwilling to take in the word. In my opinion, I think that guys who scold fuck are neither better nor worse than other guys, but girls who scold fuck are real elegant and hot, for they have the moral courage to do so. When a guy does it, that is sort of expected, however, when a girl swears, the electric effect of affection, respect and sometimes even attraction, results immediately.