http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,844116,00.html The declining shock-value of fuck. Some miscellaneous quotes:
“Ethnic slurs are regarded as the taboo,” agrees Ayto. “Nigger is far more taboo than fuck or even cunt. I think if a politician were to be heard off-camera saying fuck, it would be trivial, but if he said nigger, that would be the end of his career.”
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Further verification that fuck is, well, fucked, comes from Andrea Wills, the BBC’s chief advisor on editorial policy. “In research, 50% or more people said the words that should never be broadcast are cunt, motherfucker, nigger, Paki and spastic. Young women also don’t like whore, slag and twat. But fuck wasn’t on the list.”
The final line in the story (from a “middle-class west London mother”): “I’d rather my children said fuck than toilet.” 01:35
