Funny, as a child the worst word you could say was fuck. It was as powerful as lightning. It brought silence to the schoolyard. It was a word that would leave both kids and adults frozen, their mouths gaping in the shape of an "O". It was a word of power, of defiance, it embraced taboo. As a child it signified the unknown. It was a word of mystery.
40 some odd years and countless R-rated movies later, the word has lost it's power. Now it seems every one can cuss like a sailor and nobody even bats an eye. "Fuck you!" isn't even offensive, firstly, because the giver or the receiver of the phrase are probably very unlikely to be fucking each other. So one can't even imagine it pertaining to you.
So what is the new "fuck"? What word has the power to stop someone, make them reflect, and then react with revulsion? What word implies ostracism, personal pain and ridicule? A word that says you're lazy, gluttonous, and deserve ostracism? A word filled with shame. The word is FAT. Fat is personal, fat is real, fat is tangible. We see fat, we feel fat. Fat is something we know. Prove me wrong: go out to the street and say to someone, after a brief glance say; "you're fat". Their mouth will fall open, they will look down in shame, they will be in shock.
Trust me, in joking I called someone fat. It basically ended our friendship. I was drunk, thought it would be a witty bon-mot to her making fun of my name.
She asked "is it was okay if I called you Kirky?"
At 43 I don't really like anyone to put an infantile modifier to my name so I replied: "is it okay if I call you fat?" She walked away and we haven't really spoken again.
I should have just said: "Fuck you, my name is Kirk". We would probably still be friends.
40 some odd years and countless R-rated movies later, the word has lost it's power. Now it seems every one can cuss like a sailor and nobody even bats an eye. "Fuck you!" isn't even offensive, firstly, because the giver or the receiver of the phrase are probably very unlikely to be fucking each other. So one can't even imagine it pertaining to you.
So what is the new "fuck"? What word has the power to stop someone, make them reflect, and then react with revulsion? What word implies ostracism, personal pain and ridicule? A word that says you're lazy, gluttonous, and deserve ostracism? A word filled with shame. The word is FAT. Fat is personal, fat is real, fat is tangible. We see fat, we feel fat. Fat is something we know. Prove me wrong: go out to the street and say to someone, after a brief glance say; "you're fat". Their mouth will fall open, they will look down in shame, they will be in shock.
Trust me, in joking I called someone fat. It basically ended our friendship. I was drunk, thought it would be a witty bon-mot to her making fun of my name.
She asked "is it was okay if I called you Kirky?"
At 43 I don't really like anyone to put an infantile modifier to my name so I replied: "is it okay if I call you fat?" She walked away and we haven't really spoken again.
I should have just said: "Fuck you, my name is Kirk". We would probably still be friends.
