Nice Ways To Say Bad Things Linda Berdoll
Very Nice Ways to Say VERY BAD THINGS
An unusual book of euphemisms
Linda Berdoll
Very Nice Ways to Say Very Bad Things g
w g w
Very
Nice by Very
ways to say
Things
An Unusual Book of Euphemisms Linda Berdoll
Copyright © 2003, 2007 by Linda Berdoll Cover © 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Internal design © 2003 Carol Sue Hagood Internal graphics © 2003 Carol Sue Hagood and Johnny Alvarez Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without …show more content…
Others suggest the French word foutre, to thrust, and even firk (English 1600’s), to beat or to lash. However it originated, it has been in use and considered a vulgarity the better part of a millennium. As an intensive, Webster’s calls it meaningless. There are those who would disagree. To avoid inciting an affronted swoon by the more sensitive souls of society, acronyms have been embraced in place of a number of phrases that include the “f” word. Specifically, we have GFY, which instructs one to do something anatomically impossible (Go Fuck Yourself ); GFU, a moron (General Fuck-Up); and NFW, an implausibility (No Fucking Way). Related acronyms include SNAFU, a cynical expectation of any situation in which the military is involved (Situation Normal, All Fucked-Up); FUBAR, unrecognizably mussed (Fucked-Up Beyond All Recognition); and there is the sarcastic BFD (Big Fucking Deal). Additionally, when one has been indisputably wronged, one has been RF—Royally Fucked (also known as the king’s elevator—the royal shaft). Just for the record, a flying fuck is what one does not give, not airborne copulation. And abso-fucking-lutely means beyond a shadow of a …show more content…
To grasp one elbow and raise a fist is one of the commonest insult found worldwide, but is not universal. That title must go to displaying one’s naked backside. Anthropologists say mooning predates Braveheart and, loosely translated, meant “eat shit.”
After the fall of Bagdad, we saw Iraqis beating the tar out of portraits and statues of Saddam Hussein with their shoes, revealing to westerners one of the strongest insults of their culture—that of sticking the sole of your shoe in someone’s face. As there are any number of variations of armpit, bicep, fist, finger, thumb, nose, crotch and spit . . . maneuvers to express disrespect in different cultures, if one must hail a cab, say, in Greece or New York, do so with all due caution.
32
An unusual book of euphemisms
Linda Berdoll
Very Nice Ways to Say Very Bad Things g
w g w
Very
Nice by Very
ways to say
Things
An Unusual Book of Euphemisms Linda Berdoll
Copyright © 2003, 2007 by Linda Berdoll Cover © 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Internal design © 2003 Carol Sue Hagood Internal graphics © 2003 Carol Sue Hagood and Johnny Alvarez Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without …show more content…
Others suggest the French word foutre, to thrust, and even firk (English 1600’s), to beat or to lash. However it originated, it has been in use and considered a vulgarity the better part of a millennium. As an intensive, Webster’s calls it meaningless. There are those who would disagree. To avoid inciting an affronted swoon by the more sensitive souls of society, acronyms have been embraced in place of a number of phrases that include the “f” word. Specifically, we have GFY, which instructs one to do something anatomically impossible (Go Fuck Yourself ); GFU, a moron (General Fuck-Up); and NFW, an implausibility (No Fucking Way). Related acronyms include SNAFU, a cynical expectation of any situation in which the military is involved (Situation Normal, All Fucked-Up); FUBAR, unrecognizably mussed (Fucked-Up Beyond All Recognition); and there is the sarcastic BFD (Big Fucking Deal). Additionally, when one has been indisputably wronged, one has been RF—Royally Fucked (also known as the king’s elevator—the royal shaft). Just for the record, a flying fuck is what one does not give, not airborne copulation. And abso-fucking-lutely means beyond a shadow of a …show more content…
To grasp one elbow and raise a fist is one of the commonest insult found worldwide, but is not universal. That title must go to displaying one’s naked backside. Anthropologists say mooning predates Braveheart and, loosely translated, meant “eat shit.”
After the fall of Bagdad, we saw Iraqis beating the tar out of portraits and statues of Saddam Hussein with their shoes, revealing to westerners one of the strongest insults of their culture—that of sticking the sole of your shoe in someone’s face. As there are any number of variations of armpit, bicep, fist, finger, thumb, nose, crotch and spit . . . maneuvers to express disrespect in different cultures, if one must hail a cab, say, in Greece or New York, do so with all due caution.
32