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Warning: This article contains very strong 'ducking' language that may offend some readers.
Respectfully, I love a good solid well delivered profanity.
I have a fond proclivity for the expletive F**K, which is a verb, a noun, an adjective, a modifier, an interjection and also a conjunction.
"A lot of people say it's a lack of vocabulary that makes you swear. Rubbish. I know thousands of words but I still prefer f***." Billy Connolly Comedian
Obscene language (not Tourette's) is a clear reflection of our emotional state from; fear, joy, frustration, humour, surprise, anger, passion and more. It is also a reaction to the physical stimulus of pain resulting from an injury e.g. a stubbed toe. Strong language can be spontaneously generated from our brain's limbic system or calculatedly consciously created from our language centres.
Lewd language can bring solidarity across genders, cultures, politics, generations, communities and socio-economics.
I adore the way that we mask expletives with encryption e.g. 4 Letter Word.
I enjoy our idioms e.g. Swear like a trooper.
I marvel at the way we excuse our cursing e.g. Excuse my French.
I enjoy the use of letters and numbers to resemble cuss words e.g.
13itch.
And who can resist a cool acronym? WTF.
At the start of psychotherapy sessions clients often think that it is inappropriate to swear and they often mask their feelings or don't express them fully. A well-judged apt swear word uttered by a Psychotherapist can unlock the therapeutic process enabling the readjusting of a power imbalance by enabling a client to experience and express their true self.
Sometimes in life to simply acknowledge with a validating exclamation of F**K!!!!! is restorative.
Disclaimer – I am sensitive to my clients and respect their age/stage/belief systems – so please don't think I Eff & Jeff all the time in therapy.
In my opinion the only other thing that can convey as much as the swear word F**K is the Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage MEME which lends itself too so much meaning.