Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The History of the F-word

This is topic The History of the F-word in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 05-03-2004, 05:13 PM:

http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/history.htm

not sure if this has been already seen here, it's amusing, NSFW.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 05-03-2004, 05:55 PM:

William,

Although I do not use the word at all in my daily conversation, I must admit I kind of enjoyed the site you had linked. I personally find the word very crude and have noticed many very young people including high school students using it a lot lately. If I ever used that word when I was a teenager, my parents would have made sure I was 'grounded' for a month! They really had nothing to worry because the word was very seldom used in the fifties. In fact, I wonder if it ever existed at that time because I do not ever recall hearing the word when I was a very young man.

-Claude

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-03-2004, 06:40 PM:

quote:
If I ever used that word when I was a teenager, my parents would have made sure I was 'grounded' for a month!

Which suggests that if Quentin Tarantino had grown up in 1950s Hawaii, he'd still be incarcerated now!

Content aside, the simulated film 'scratches' and 'dirt' used to suggest age and authority made me fucking mad! [Mad]

My favourite f-word anecdote happened at a screening at the National Film Theatre in London, in, I would guess, '95 0r '96. The director Roy Boulting was introducing a screening of his 1943 WWII propaganda film Desert Victory, about the Battle of El-Alamein. The audience consisted of about half-and-half regular NFT members plus a couple of school parties, who quickly got pretty bored at Boulting's somewhat rambling recollections.

Things perked up when he described how he was 'embedded' with a US Army tank crew who were retreating ahead of Rommel's troops to gather intelliegence and allow Boulting to film. The tank broke down in the middle of the desert, whereupon one of the soldiers worked against the clock to try and repair the engine before the Germans caught up with them. After looking under the bonnet, recalled Boulting, the soldier looked up from the engine '...and do you know what he said?' [cinema full of half-asleep schoolkids] '...He said, 'the fucking fucker's fucking fucked!'' Needless to say, this octogenerian film-maker had the kids' total attention from then on in.

I later heard from the National Film and Television Archive person who had organised the screening that Boulting had put away the best part of a bottle of whisky before taking the stage.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 05-03-2004, 06:54 PM:

That made the "office" rounds about 15+ years ago in paper form.

It was really funny to see it put on "film" much like the 16mm McGraw-Hill instructional films I used to see in High School...dirt, scratches and all.

Thanks for the link & the laff, William! [beer]

>>> Phil

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-03-2004, 06:54 PM:

I've quit using the f word most of the time, but it still fits in occasionally for shock value.

My ex-partner in the theatre biz used to have a "fucking" version of every film company, such as "Uni-fucking-versal," "Para-fucking-mount" or "M-G-fucking-M." Whoever we owed money to that week, basically.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-03-2004, 07:28 PM:

All this time I thought it meant Fornication Under the Consent of the King. [Confused]

- Mark

PS - That's the funniest f***ing thing I've seen in a long time! Thanks for the laugh! [thumbsup]

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 05-03-2004, 09:22 PM:

quote: Mark J. Marshall
All this time I thought it meant Fornication Under the Consent of the King.

And Van Halen aside, it doesn't stand for "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" , either.

-Aaron

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-03-2004, 09:33 PM:

I remember a paper which described the various uses of the F-word much in the same way as that amusing Flash flick.

However, after watching several episodes of "Deadwood" on HBO, I have grown really tired of the F-word, as well as the other way overused curse on that show: "c**ksucker."