How times have changed.

I remember a time when the word "bloody" was too hot for radio.

The problem with some words is that they lose their impact through gratuitous overuse.

It's reasonably acceptable to use "the F word" as an exclamation point but most tend to use it as a comma.

It's funny how most of you say that this word is a crude way to describe sexual intercourse but unfortunately I feel you are wrong.

The word F-U-C-K is in fact a real word and stands for 'fornicate under the consent of the king.

It dates back to early time when a girl was married the couple had to seek permission from the king to fornicate.

Having said this I use it and I can tell you it is most likely the best known word in the world and, sometimes it is the only word that works.

' sometimes it is the only word that works.'

In my house it only works in that it results it mouths being washed out with soap. Unfortunately the raw sewerage flows from the TV from time to time before I can turn it off. Good reason I suppose to get rid of it.

You're simply wrong regarding the "modern" meaning of the f word.

Sexual intercourse has MANY respectful words that describe it. The f word is NOT one of them. I'm not saying people shouldn't use it habitually if they are THAT neanderthal, it's their right to do so if they choose.

But pleeeeeeeaaaaase, don't pretend the f word means something it doesn't mean. It IS a crude way to describe sexual intercourse. It's a fact of life, when people wish to refer respectfully to sexual intercourse they have a whole heap of other terms they can easily use. Some people approach sexual intercourse with respect.......other people just want a F; so be it. But at least, UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE: It's amazing the number of adults, usually "men", who can't grasp that difference; they're probably too busy grasping their you know what.

The f word makes an impact because it's CRUDE. That's a "fact" of life!

Rechtub,

I think someone has been pulling your leg! If any King in history had to give permission for a couple to consummate their marriage he would never have been able to go away to war or rule his kingdom...let alone beget future kings and queens for his country. Besides which, in days when it could take a person three days to travel twenty miles, leaving ones farm to go traipsing about the country trying to find the king on his travels would have led not only to congested roads but to famine in the land!

The main objection to such a theory however, is that the word fornicate means to commit adultery. If a couple were married they would not be fornicating.

As I said in a previous post, the word in question is very old and its origins into Old English stretch back a long way. It's usually agreed that the word came to England with the Vikings or even earlier so it well predates the word fornicate which emerged from the Latin around the 13th century.

Thanks Romany.

I wasn't having a go at you even though on re-reading my last post it may have appeared as such.

It is certainly an interesting topic - the origin of words - and you are certainly the more learned on matters of language. :)