Harrop: Have frequently flying ‘f***s’ lost impact in speech?

By Froma Harrop / Creators.com

I asked my dear friend Mimi whether a lady can ever use the F-word. Mimi is a product of old guard propriety, which to me, makes her an impeccable source on these matters. Mimi’s answer was short: “No.”

But she wanted to elaborate. “Well,” she added, “I’ve just started using the word s•••.” If you knew Mimi, you’d understand what an enormous accommodation that was to the 21st century.

The F-word is in the Oxford English Dictionary, fully spelled out and taking up nearly two columns. The word’s not new. The dictionary suspects it dates back to Middle English. It notes that “f•••” has been regarded as “a taboo-word for centuries” and “until recent times not often recorded in print but frequent in coarse speech.” As you undoubtedly know, it refers to copulation.

I confess that I’ve blurted it out on rare occasions; and mainly for literary effect. I never use it in ordinary conversation and certainly not in published writing.

I asked my editor at Creators Syndicate about this and other rules governing words her writers may use, specifically the word “damn.”

“Good question!” Alessandra Caruso wrote back. “AP does suggest avoiding profanity — including ‘damn’ — unless absolutely necessary, so my recommendation would be to use ‘darn’ or some other G-rated alternative.” She added, however, “If you do wish to use ‘damn,’ I would send it through with an editor’s note (as opposed to, let’s say, the F-word, which I would send through as ‘f•••‘). Hope this answers your question.”

It did. But while I would never use “f•••” in my journalism, I long wanted free rein to use “damn.”

True, Clark Gable’s last line in “Gone with the Wind” was nearly cut because he said “damn”; as in “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” But that was 1939. Who gives a damn about damn these days?

The F-word is something else. It’s still jarring to hear it thrown around the street by well-groomed young people. And too often it detracts from meaningful conversation in movies and streaming series. The writers probably think of it as a way to make a character seem tough. Humphrey Bogart didn’t need it.

The 1951 American classic “The Catcher in the Rye” raised more than a few eyebrows when its young protagonist used the F-word. The author J.D. Salinger’s intention was to underscore the kid’s phony bravado.

It was distracting for the rich Roy children in “Succession” to say “f•••” more often than they said “and,” especially because the writers also blessed their conversations with clever thoughts. Perhaps that, too, was intended to show bravado.

“Will & Grace,” the first network show to feature openly gay men, made history again when, in 1999, a character used another F-word, in this case referring to the anti-gay slur. Sponsors pulled out, and the episode vanished.

Interestingly, the Katy Independent School District in Texas canceled a visit by noted novelist Emma Straub over her use of the F-word on social media. Odd that Straub would do that, given she is a noted writer of children’s picture books.

Many younger online political commentators throw around the F-word with abandon. The obscenity often seems placed to make their insights sound more exciting than they are.

The “Star Wars” franchise was recently warming up to set off the F-bomb in its latest offering. The plan was to let it burst from the mouth of Maarva Andor without even a “pardon my Middle English” in front. Disney said nope. And so “F••• the empire” was rewritten as “Fight the empire.”

How the Galactic Republic feels about this, we do not know. Maarva may be irked, but not me. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a fig.