Did the F-bomb recently fall off the list of most offensive curse words when I wasn’t paying attention?
More and more, I hear it creep into everyday conversation.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m neither sanctimonious nor hypocritical. I’ll drop the bomb when I drop something on my toe. In the safe company of friends and family, I’ll throw it around when I’m throwing a tantrum.
But I certainly don’t use the F word in public, and never, ever in the company of a stranger. Call me an old fogey. Conditioned at an early age, I still bristle when I hear it (not as much as G.D., but a close second).
Recently my husband and I were sliding our plastic trays through the line at a rest stop carryout. The people in front of us were stopped, holding up the line. We waited patiently.
Wishing to go around them but not wanting to take cutsies, I finally asked the woman, “Excuse me, are you waiting for an order?”
She replied, “Why, are we f—ing you up?” (I believe the word she was looking for was “holding.”)
We scooted around the waiting couple and got the heck out of there. Yes, heck.
Saturday night, we were having dinner at the bar in a neighborhood place. The dinner crowd had ebbed, so it was pretty quiet.
All of a sudden, I heard the woman beside me lash out at her partner, in an outside voice, “You’re just so f—ing impetuous!”
What’s the world coming to, gosh darn it?
Word Nymph 
Hear, hear! Like you, I’m perfectly comfortable saying it privately, but never: 1) in a group setting; or 2) in front of our sons. I’ve even seen it printed on t-shirts, which is even more deliberately offensive. Also, I like the Cee-Lo song, but fore Pete’s sake, do people have to play it so loudly in public?
When we were growing up, my mother told us that people who regularly use profanity do so because they don’t have enough intelligence to have a better vocabulary. I’m still using the sh** word in the privacy of my own home, with no one around, when I stub my toe or drop something, etc. I haven’t graduated to the f-bomb yet. I would never use either of those words in public because I wouldn’t want to sound ignorant. I guess some people don’t care.
Thanks for the post. I found it through WordPress search. It’s good to know I’m not the only one that thinks the f-word is way overused. There are so many rich, powerful, and interesting words to use. And the f-word is less and less like a bomb, and more and more like an annoying firecracker.