Has anyone besides me noticed the ramped up use of the F-word in everything from Facebook memes to the titles of books to television shows? I think I first noticed it a couple of years ago, but it has seemed to have gotten extreme. There are now popular books out there with this word in the title, lots of memes floating around, and it just has gotten to the point where I can’t go more than a few minutes online without seeing it. That being said, I still don’t think I’ve been desensitized to the word, and it bothers me almost every time I see it.
Not that I haven’t used that word in appropriate conversations. I think many of us have. And I am by no means a prude. I write erotic romance, for goodness’ sake. I have described things in my books that would make people blush. So that isn’t what bothers me about it. I think it started out being “edgy” to use the word. A lot of young bloggers did it, and it sort of caught on. But it’s not just the young ones doing it now, and it is definitely not “edgy” when everyone is doing it.
I’m a writer. I make judicious and effective use of words to get my ideas across. As a writer, the use of the f-word may show that I am uncreative, unimaginative, or lacking in vocabulary. There may be very specific instances when the f-word is the right word to use, but that should be so rare that the word, when heard, should have a very specific purpose, and create a specific type of feeling or reaction in my reader. When everything uses the f-word, it loses any effect it might have had in expressing emotions. Are we really saying what we need to say when the only word we can find to use is the f-word?
I suppose some people have been normalized to it, so it doesn’t bother them the way it does me. For me, I have not been normalized to it. It is a specific word to use in very specific situations, but not blanket-used.
So, how do you feel about the use of the word? I know I have friends who completely disagree with me, but I also can’t justify using the word extensively when I have so many other words to use, which say things with much more detail than one four-letter word. What do you think?