{"id":1673,"date":"2024-05-06T12:39:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T10:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/?p=1673"},"modified":"2024-05-06T12:39:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T10:39:47","slug":"the-f-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/?p=1673","title":{"rendered":"The F-Word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anything used beyond the bounds of moderation becomes mundane, and gross overuse is downright irritating, possibly offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All writing coaches admonish their charges constantly to avoid awful adverbs and adjectives, some even despise alliteration. So modern language use of that four-letter word beginning with the letter F in many areas of grammar is beginning to grind badly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a verb, it is a noun, it is an adjective, it is an exclamation, it is oh so tedious. My mother, who used the word occasionally, taught me that if it was to be effective it needed to be used rarely, and always in carefully considered context. Oh that her words could be broadcast to the nations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My understanding of the origin of this word dates to the court of King Henry VIII, that conflicted and egotistical ruler, who wriggled and writhed to disobey all known laws of the day in order to accommodate his fleshly desires. In almost every such situation, his mind played awful tricks, and he imagined enemies around every corner. He was probably right if one reads Hilary Mandel\u2019s Wolf Hall trilogy and other historians of that time.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
No, No, No! Not acceptable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

But I digress. To keep abreast of what was being murmured in the corridors of his many residences he would instruct his courtiers to curry favour among the women, who were known to be hearers of all that was said, and so was birthed the phrase: \u201cFornicating Under the Command of the King.\u201d If one keeps this in mind, the use of the word in countless contexts becomes quite ridiculous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched a good film the other night, but it was completely wrecked by the constant use of the F-word \u2013 at least twice in every sentence. Really? Is this how language is being taught in schools and universities nowadays?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has happened to the beautiful language of yesteryear, clever use of words to describe normalcy and thereby making it special?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 How about this from John Steinbeck: \u201cIt was her habit to build laughter out of inadequate materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had smelled many New Yorks but never the one governed by the sweet monarchy of a thousand slain gardens.\u201d Pat Conroy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or this evocative description: \u201c\u2026 shabby wind-bitten grass \u2026\u201d Alan Bennet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my best of all:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness \u2026\u201d Charles Dickens<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I guess that is the tragedy of this modern life \u2013 few people read anymore, everything is small screen focused, and our youngsters only seem to talk and write in acronyms \u2013 how I hate them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wtf, itm, tmi, fomo, btw<\/em>, and the latest one I learned last week: jomo<\/em> \u2013 the joy of missing out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when people are stuck for a word, any word, and the letters haven\u2019t been tried and tested, the one that rhymes with cluck and duck and buck seems to fit the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mourn how terminally ill language seems to be, when it is so important \u2013 after all, it is the method of communication and has been since the advent of man – should we not make the effort to speak it properly and teach our children to do so? We have worked to pay many thousands in school and university fees \u2013 should we not expect a better return on our investment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would be interested to hear what others think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy days!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anything used beyond the bounds of moderation becomes mundane, and gross overuse is downright irritating, possibly offensive. All writing coaches admonish their charges constantly to avoid [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[171,174,173,172],"class_list":["post-1673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-thoughts","tag-alanbennet","tag-charlesdickens","tag-johnsteinbeck","tag-patconroy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1675,"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673\/revisions\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glendawarburton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}