The F Word

History of the English LanguageWendy Chuang, Jessica Tsao

Swearing

• Express our emotion

• Positive manner

•A frequent act

Outline

•History

•Usage

•Acronyms

• Euphemisms

History

• Via GermanicDutch -fokken Norwegian regional- fukka Swedish regional fokka; fock (penis)* Indo-European root- fuk

• Via Latin or GreekGreek phyōLatin futuereFrench foutreCatalan fotre Italian fottere Romanian futereSpanish follar and jode Portuguese foder

History

• "Flen, flyys and freris"• Coded

– “Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk”– “non sunt in coeli, quia fvccant vvivys of heli”

•  Church personnel of misbehaving

History

• False etymologies-acronymic→backronym-”Fornication Under Consent/Command of the King”-”For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”

• Urban legend-Irish law-Black Death-Birth control

• Little documentary evidence exists

History

•  Shakespeare - to firk (strike) a soldier• John Ash's 1775 A New and Complete

Dictionary• 1972 the Oxford English Dictionary

fuck

Usage

•Verb: transitive/intransitive; active/passive•Adjective•Adverb•Noun

• Parts of a word

Usage

•Despair •Disappointment• Pain•Denial • Panic•Hypocrisy

• Intelligence

•Agreement • Impressed • Pleasure •Good job• Exhaustion •The History of Fuck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfqEY8QNsjk

Acronyms

• FA---Fuck All• FUBAR---Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition• LMFAO---Laughed My Fucking Ass Off• SNAFU---Situation Normal All Fucked Up•WTF---What The Fuck• FU---Fuck You• FISH---Fuck It Shit Happens

Euphemisms

• F (the F word)• The four-letter word

• Freaking• Fricking• Frigging• Fracking• Fecking

Reference•Use of the Word Fuckhttp://justin.justnet.com.au/rudestuff/uses-of-the-word-fuck.html•OED http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/75197#eid3514079•Minced Oathhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath•The History of Fuckhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfqEY8QNsjk•Fuckhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck

Reference•The Origin of “Fuck”http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-f-word.htm•Internet Acronyms Dictionaryhttp://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/?lookup=F

Thank You!!