WTF?

- BY NEHA

Seriously, what the f@$%? I mean, when and how did this word become such an integral part of today’s lingua franca? Doesn’t matter whether you are an Indian, a Russian, an Italian, French or a Spaniard, chances are you know this word. Perhaps what may have mass-popularized this word is the fact that more and more people (courtesy the Internet) now have access to uncensored versions of American TV shows & movies (where use of this word is rampant). And don’t most of us feel (or rather choose to feel) that ’The American way is the coolest way’ (*eye-rolling*)!

Don’t get me wrong. I love watching American shows. I think their content quality is superior and avant-garde. But what I fail to comprehend is why would people adopt something rather inane from these shows, when there are several other things in them that are well worth espousing.

I have known people who could not even complete a single sentence without using the F-word. Now now now…before you start judging me, I am no prude and I ain’t passing judgment of any kind on people who profusely use this word. If you like using this word, go ahead - whatever rocks your boat! However, for some reason, I am not too comfortable using it. It isn’t that I think saying this word indicates lack of decorum. It’s just that I do not get the point of using it in almost every situation. People use it when they accomplish something which they thought was nearly out of their depths (F@$% yeah!); or when they mess up something important (F@$%! F@$%! F@$%!); or when they forget something (Ohhh f@$%!); or when they are angry (What the f@$% is this?); or when they are ecstatic (let’s f@$%ing partaayy!!!); or when they are addressing a close pal (hey f@$%er! Ssup?); or even in mundane matters like checking on a friend’s whereabouts (where the f@$% are you and what the f@$% are you doing?). For those of you who have watched the American TV drama series ‘Dexter’, surely you remember how this word was a staple expression in Debra Morgan’s everyday conversations.

So what does this word actually signify? I am not talking about its literal meaning here. What I mean is how come a single word has come to signify a myriad of human emotions that no other word in the English dictionary can match up to.

There have been occasions when I have perhaps, in a fit of anger or frustration, uttered the first syllable of the word, only to stop right there and replace it with another word. I remember getting so annoyed with what someone was saying that I told him to “Shut the F---ront door!”

Call it social conditioning or having been told by my parents that it is a ‘bad’ word, I till date have misgivings about using this word so much so that I do not even utter it in private. I first got acquainted with this word when I was in 6^th grade.  I saw it graffitied on my school’s bathroom wall. And what did I do next? Ask Mom what it means as soon as I got home. Imagine the look she must have given me (hawww!).

I know some of you may think that a word has no inherent ‘good’ or ‘bad’ meaning or implication unless we assign it one. Some may even call me regressive and say that the negative connotation I associate with this word is largely in my head and it is my mucky thinking that prevents me from using the F-word (I can already hear some of you saying that this girl would be such a killjoy at parties). You all have a right to your viewpoints and I am not denying their validity, but the fact is that most words have come to represent ‘good’ or ‘bad’ things or thoughts because of the meanings we have been taught (YOU included) to associate with them through generations. There are an umpteen number of words that each person associates as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’; the number and kind of such words vary from individual to individual. Do we consider all words as ‘neutral’? Each person avoids using a certain set of words in everyday conversations because he/she considers them as ‘bad’ or unpleasant. Furthermore, most of the people I know who ordinarily would exhibit no kind of restrain when using the F-word while talking to friends or acquaintances, would refrain from uttering the word in front of their parents and elders. 

Given the widely attached negative connotation to this word (it is bleeped out even on American TV) and its utterance considered as profanity by some, why then do so many people use it in everyday talk?

P.S. – I could have clearly spelt the word instead of using symbols (@$%). However, my little cousin sister reads this blog too, so I did not want to take any chances, lest my Aunt and Uncle give me the same look like my Mom did!