Is it an endearment – or just another profanity do you think? When you hit your thumb with a hammer the natural tendency is to shock the world with spouted words of offence. There is a need to share the hurt, the pain. According to Marshal Lumsden “At no time is freedom of speech more precious”. I guess it is unlikely that you will respond with Oh Love!

However, the number of four letter profanities is many and out proportion the longer. Indeed I can think of few that are: two is my total at present! Is this because by their nature they need to be short, nasty and brutal?

I am, of course, taking into account words like FECK – which has found a loop-hole in the U yet it serves the same purpose. Its real meaning is effectiveness value or vigour. There have been other euphemisms which are feckless and fool no one: fark. freak, frick, fook and fug to name a few and these are just the F words! There could be just as many C words but I can’t be bothered to research them.

Any word that appears in a sentence without adding to the meaning is an expletive. It is there to add feeling. So what about the endearment ‘love’? If used as such, it is a useful word, like baby, duck and dear but what, when it is used with a tone that is sarcastic and derogatory, how do you think and feel about it then?

5.2

Linking to Paula’s Love Me February 5. Click through for the rules if you too would like to join in …

Published by TheHiddenEdge

I love words - they communicate so much or so little depending on how you use them. Come and explore my thoughts with me in this, my learning journal. View all posts by TheHiddenEdge