Fuck
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Fuck is a vulgar expression in modern English and one of the most famous curse words in the world.
The literal translation of to fuck is "to fuck ". In colloquial language, however, it is usually not used in the literal sense, but adverbially , adjectivally , substantively or as an interjection to mark facts as extreme. "Fuck" or "fucking" is often translated as "damn", "the devil" or " shit- ... ", although only the latter expression corresponds to a similarly vulgar usage.
Like other swear words (see Seven Dirty Words ), fuck is officially subject to taboos and censorship in English-speaking countries, whose morality has been largely shaped by puritanical values . In a poll of the UK population, fuck ranked third and the derived term motherfucker second on the list of the heaviest swear words. In first place was the word cunt ( cunt ).
Etymology and first appearance
The word is probably of old Germanic origin; so there are similar and synonymous words in many of today's Germanic languages such as B. German fuck , Dutch Fokken , Norwegian fukka , Swedish Fokka or Fock . It is therefore assumed that the ancient Germanic word was possibly fuk , with the original meaning (to strike) . A Urindo-European relationship with the Latin word pugnus for "Faust" is also assumed. Reference books, such as the Oxford English Dictionary , dispute the exact etymology , but it appears that there is an Anglo-Saxon origin. From there, the expression is said to have spread first to the British colonies and then worldwide.
It is not exactly clear when the word appeared as a swear word. There is evidence that the word was considered acceptable in English-speaking countries well into the 17th century. At that time, similarly penetrate or strike in the meaning . In writing it can be proven for the first time in the 16th century as a vulgar expression . It appears in a poem by the Scottish poet William Dunbar in 1503 as fukkit . In a manuscript of Ciceros de Officiis in 1528 an English monk wrote the note OD fucking abbot as a marginal note as an expression of his annoyance at an abbot. And already before 1500 an English monk in Cambridge wrote a poem in mixed English and Latin about his confreres Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk. The end of the sentence is coded according to the Caesar code, the letters are shifted by one place in the alphabet. If you decipher the sentence, you get the plain text fvccant for gxddbov and the sentence means you are not in heaven because they fuck the women from Ely. Even older is alleged evidence that an English historian identified in 2015 in a court document of the Crown Court of Chester City dated December 8, 1310, in which a defendant named "Roger Fuckebythenavele" is mentioned; the surname may literally mean something like "fuck in the navel ".
use
"[...] nowadays motherfucker can mean nothing and everything at the same time."
Paraphrases
In situations where the direct use of the word is considered inappropriate, it is circumscribed. The usual description of fuck is as the F-word , its use as dropping the F-bomb ("to throw the F-bomb"). Often it is replaced by similar, sometimes meaningless words like feck , flip , fudge , freak , fork , frak , etc. In non-formal written language, especially on the Internet and in comics , non-alphanumeric characters can also be used, e.g. B. f *** .
Interjection
As a single exclamation, “Fuck!” Can stand for surprise, pain, fear, disappointment or anger. There are also a variety of uses:
- Fuck off! - "Fuck off!"
- Fuck you! or fuck yourself! can be understood in its literal translation ("fuck you") also in German (see Swabian greeting )
- What the fuck? - "What the hell…?"
- Fuck it! - "Fuck it all!"
- I don't give a fuck. - "I don't give a shit."
Fuck can be used to reinforce expressions:
- From shut up ( "Shut up") is Shut the fuck up! (like: "Shut the damn mouth!").
adjective
In German, for example, the adjective fucking can be translated as “damned”, but ultimately many variants are possible. A strong emphasis is added to the root note:
- None of your fucking business! - "That doesn't give a shit about you!"
The adjective fucked up or fucked for short means something like "broken", "done":
- I'm fucked. - "I'm done."
- I fucked up your computer. - "I broke your computer."
- You are a fuck up! - "You are incapable." ( Noun )
Rap musicians often use fucking as a stressed adjective, mostly due to rhythmic properties. These uses can be deleted without losing the meaning of the sentence.
- I'm the fucking man! - "I am the man" (cf. machismo )
adverb
- It's fucking cold. - "It's damn cold".
- That was fucking great. - "That was damn great."
verb
The verb to fuck can be used as a dysphemism . Here the sexual connotation is used to create heightened indignation, although this is not the topic of the conversation. This meaning is also spreading in German for the literal equivalent of “fuck”.
- I want to fuck you. - "I'll wreck you".
- I was fucked. - "I was robbed / beaten up / ..."
noun
The designation of people (also: objects) in this context is ambiguous. Although fuck can be used as a noun , fucker is more likely to be used in the context of referring to another person:
- Stupid fucker! - "Stupid asshole."
- He's a great fucker! - "He's a good buddy."
The use of fuck instead of fucker to denote a person often, but not always, implies a literal meaning in the sense of sexual partner . Misunderstandings are easily possible here.
- He's a great fuck! - "He is a good fuck (he) ( sexual partner )". Also conceivable: "He's a good litter."
- He's a dumb fuck. - "He's a complete idiot."
- You're one smart fuck. - for example: "You are a clever dog".
Derived expressions
“Fuck” is a component of many abbreviations such as SNAFU , MILF or FUBAR . Some newer coins like WTF? for what the fuck? ("What the hell ...?") Have made it very popular on the internet . The abbreviation “FU!” For “Fuck You” was voted second in 2012 when it was voted youth word of the year .
Foreign word
Most non-English speaking cultures understand its offensive effects. Possibly because it has a lesser meaning as a foreign word, no censorship or restrictive measures are usually used. For example, American rap songs are often played on European radio stations without the corresponding text passages falling victim to censorship.
In Germany, the German version of “fucked up” is also used for the English fucked up .
An example of the more relaxed attitude in non-English speaking countries was seen in Paris in the early 1990s . There was a campaign on billboards with the slogan “Préservatifs Fuck le SIDA” (“ Condoms get rid of AIDS ”).
Pop Culture
The vulgarity of the word invites comedians to play with it. Thus George Carlin published several essays such. B. "The History of the Word Fuck". Other comedians include Chris Rock , Denis Leary , Monty Python (The Word Fuck), and Sam Kinison .
Another example of the great variety is the song Mercyfuck by Mary Prankster :
I wish I could fuck all my sorrow away
And fuck 'til the dawn of the next fucking day
Fuck the chorus and verse, fuck the pain getting worse
Fuck it all' til I burn
In the song Bodies (German: "Leichen") by the English punk band Sex Pistols from 1977, John Lydon , singer of the group and author of the text, managed to put the word "Fuck" five times in a single line of the song. Quote: "Fuck this and fuck that, fuck it all and fuck her fucking brat."
In 1992, the US musician Prince released the song Sexy MF on his album Love Symbol , which was also released as a single. The abbreviation “MF” stands for “Motherfucker” and the refrain is “You Sexy Motherfucker”. In the context of “motherfucker” is not to be understood as a dirty word, but in the sexual field. Nevertheless, the single Sexy MF was boycotted by many radio stations around the world and was rarely played on the radio.
In 2002, when the controversial French film Baise-moi came out in the US, the title was changed to Rape Me ("Rape Me"), even though it should have been translated literally as Fuck Me . Some say that this was just a publicity gag. The Swedish film Fucking Åmål (German title: "Raus aus Åmål") was renamed Show Me Love .
For the album 97BT99 Japanese rock band BUCK-TICK one was errata issued to the song title My Valentine Facking in My Fucking Valentine to change. It was clear that it was a typo and not censorship, as the song appears twice on the album and in one of the cases it appears spelled correctly.
2005 appeared on the album Hefty Fine of the Bloodhound Gang the song Foxtrot Uniform Charly Kilo , whose title also forms the refrain. The four words represent the letters F - U - C - K on the NATO spelling board used by all US military personnel .
On the album Amarok by the musician Mike Oldfield there is a morphed “farewell” to the owner of his previous record company: “Fuck off rb”. With RB Richard Branson , the owner of Virgin Records , is meant.
In the old science fiction series Kampfstern Galactica , the word "frack" was used as a harmless modification, thus circumventing censorship. This word is also used again in the new Battlestar Galactica series , but in the modified version “frak”, which is only four letters long - and with a significantly higher frequency.
Dealing with Expression in American Media
The use of vulgar language (see Seven Dirty Words ) in English-language films has increased significantly since the 1990s. The use of the word fuck is considered to be the most common breaking of taboos in American films. There is a significant difference between British and American usage or the accepted tolerance threshold for family-friendly films and events. The eulogy of John Cleeses to Graham Chapman became famous as the first mention of "Fuck" at an English funeral service. When filming the comedy Four Weddings and a Death, however, every scene in which the word “fuck” appeared had to be shot a second time for the US market. A synchronization of the sound would not have been enough, as you could still clearly read the F-word on the lips of actor Hugh Grant . One of the few exceptions are the films Hangover , Hangover 2, and Hangover 3 ; In these American films the words "Fuck", "Wanker" (Wanker), "Shit (Shit)", etc. are used. a. used several times.
Evaluation of the appearance of fuck in the English language
In standard English usage, Fuck and its variations occur with a little over a few dozen occurrences per million words. Individual films with correspondingly significantly higher frequencies such as From Dusk Till Dawn present considerable challenges in terms of translation and dubbing. The evaluation of the corresponding corpora enables an exemplary representation of the translation policy such as the freedom of movement of languages, for example of television stations or film distributors. Within From Dusk Till Dawn , the different uses of fuck also serve to distinguish the morally good, such as the pastor family Fuller from the characters characterized as more evil, such as the bank robber Seth Gecko.
Websites and books such as “Family Media Guide”, “Screenit”, “Kids-in-Mind” or “Preview Online” systematically list the number and use of obscene words in films. In 2004, an overview study was published at Harvard Medical School , which compared the lists given with the rating specifications of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). In addition, the filming costs and the gross income were included. Accordingly, R-movies with sexual depictions such as obscene expressions are more successful than those with an R-rated due to depictions of violence. The proportion of violence in cartoons is, however, much higher. The Harvard study criticized a significantly higher use of alcohol and tobacco as well as illegal drugs in the corresponding films, which, contrary to obscene expressions, did not appear in the MPAA's rating information.
Documentary on the subject
In 2005 the use of fuck became the subject of an internationally acclaimed documentary. The film FUCK (also F ★ CK or F * CK ) was made by Steve Anderson and Rainstorm Entertainment in 2005 and deals with the meaning and use of fuck. The documentary contains a variety of comments from linguists, artists, porn actors and media people as well as footage of George Carlin , Scarface , Country Joe and the Fish's appearance in Woodstock , President George W. Bush showing the finger to a film crew and other film quotes. The expression itself is mentioned 824 times. The films Nil by Mouth , Summer of Sam , Casino and Alpha Dog are also known for several hundred uses of the word . Fuck was premiered in November 2005 at the American Film Institute Festival .
Diplomatic wiretapping
On February 4, 2014, a bugged conversation between the US diplomat Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine , Geoffrey R. Pyatt , was published on the video platform YouTube , in which it discussed possible solutions to the crisis in Ukraine , Vitali Klitschko's alleged unsuitability for a new Ukrainian government desired by the USA and the EU foreign policy coordinated under Catherine Ashton and Helga Schmid . In it she said "Fuck the EU" ( "Fuck the EU"), whereupon said Pyatt: " Oh, well, I think we have to do something ... " ( "Oh, Exactly, and I think we've got to do something ... "). The US State Department later said Nuland had apologized to her EU counterparts. On February 7, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the insult to the EU by the US diplomat Victoria Nuland was "absolutely unacceptable" - in Merkel's parlance the strongest form of disapproval. In the media, Nuland's statement was characterized as a particularly embarrassing " faux pas " or " mishap ", especially since Nuland is tasked with improving relations with European countries that have been affected by the NSA scandal . Nuland rated the wiretapping directed against them as “quite impressive espionage work. The tone was very clear. "
See also
literature
- Bernhard Schmid: American Slang - American-German . Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-8218-0431-9
- Christopher M. Fairman: Fuck . Working Paper No. 39 of the Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies , Ohio State University, 2006.
- Jim Dawson: Motherfucker: The Story of the Mother of All Dirty Words . Edition Tiamat, 2011, ISBN 3-89320-160-2
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrea Millwood-Hargrave: Delete expletives? The Independent Television Commission, 2000, pp. 9 ( ofcom.org.uk [PDF]).
- ↑ openculture: The Very First Written Use of the F Word in English (1528) , February 11, 2014
- ↑ io9: Here's the first recorded instance of the F-word in English , February 9, 2014
- ↑ Wikisource: Flen_flyys
- ↑ io9: A brief history of four letter words , 24 May 2012
- ^ Emily Gosden: Earliest use of f-word discovered in court records from 1310 . In: The Telegraph (online edition), September 13, 2015.
- ^ Dawson, p. 22
- ↑ spiegel.de
- ↑ Lyrics of Bodies on songtexte.com (accessed on December 22, 2018) Note: the song line in question is not completely correctly reproduced on the linked website.
- ↑ a b c Violence, sex, and profanity increased significantly in movies between 1992 and 2003 , news-medical.net. July 15, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ↑ Kimberly M. Thompson and Fumie Yokota: Violence, Sex, and Profanity in Films: Correlation of Movie Ratings With Content. Archived from the original on December 22, 2009. In: Medscape General Medicine . 6, July 13, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ^ María Jesús Fernández Fernández: The Translation of Swearing in the Dubbing of the Film South Park into Spanish . In: In So Many Words: Language Transfer on the Screen . University of Surrey . June 21, 2006. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved on February 3, 2008.
- ↑ a b c Dídac Pujol: The Translation and Dubbing of 'Fuck' into Catalan: The Case of From Dusk till Dawn . In: The Journal of Specialized Translation . August. Retrieved February 3, 2008.
- ↑ William Patrick Kill: The Family New Media Guide . Touchstone, 1997, ISBN 0-684-81322-X
- ↑ Rowan Walker: Is this an f-word too far? , The Guardian. November 19, 2006. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ↑ Trivia about the movie "Fuck"
- ^ Nile By Mouth . Screenit.com. February 23, 1998. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ↑ Preview Movie Review . Previewonline.org. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ↑ Freeze Frame: Casino . Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on May 9, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ↑ Screen It! Parental Review: Alpha Dog . Screenit.com. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ↑ Alan Cullison, Adam Entous: US blames Russia for Leaking Profane call. In: Wall Street Journal , February 6, 2014.
- ↑ Christoph Sydow: US diplomat apologizes for "Fuck the EU" In: Spiegel Online , February 7, 2014.
- ↑ Merkel: Absolutely unacceptable derailment. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 7, 2014.
- ↑ Johannes Kuhn: "Fuck the EU" affair: Malheur with four letters . In: sueddeutsche.de , February 7, 2014; Retrieved February 8, 2014
- ↑ Marc Pitzke: "Fuck" faux pas: In the eavesdropping trap . Spiegel Online , February 8, 2014; Retrieved February 8, 2014
- ↑ Nuland's curse phone call: Ukraine rejects responsibility for recording . Spiegel Online , February 8, 2014; Retrieved February 8, 2014