The Minority Report

I can’t help it but the word “fuck” is one of the best words in the English language. Whether you think it started as an acronym for “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” or just comes from the Germanic “fuk” (“to strike”), you have to agree it’s very utilitarian.

Here is an example of it being used to describe a very common error condition (from the DailyWTF).

“I was using a map and route planner program for EVE Online when I got this message,” Matt writes. “I guess that’s an apt name for an exception.”
Wosl’d Besu Saodwici -- The Daily WTF

I couldn’t help but giggle when I read that one today. So in the spirit of our shared DailyWTF (Daily “What the Fuck”) here are some resources regarding that very excellent of words.

List of films that most frequently use the word “fuck”

Jane’s Guide to Proper Cussing:

The word “fuck”, unfortunately, has entered the mainstream. It’s unfortunate not because it’s not a useful (and even occasionally beautiful word) but because its use among people who are not really cool enough to say it has diminished its rebellious nature. Face it — we don’t want to hear pubescent teens or Bill Gates say fuck. Never mind that they’ve done “it” — the word is rarely about “it” anymore — and it’s certainly not about wearing hideous jeans halfway down your ass, or even dominating a world market.

The word “fuck” is about being ethically outraged, or full of righteous passion, anger, or emotion. Losing a video game, or being found guilty of monopolizing, hardly qualifies as ethically outrageous or righteously passionate, angry or emotional. Uncool people, of course, don’t know these things, so they totally fuck up a perfectly good word, and sound like complete idiots when they do.

Now that I’ve shared rule #1 of the word “fuck” — that you should be cool enough and passionate enough to use it properly — let’s move on to rule #2. It’s fucking. Not fuckin’. The full ing is crucial to proper usage, which is? Let’s review — to express a state of being ethically outraged, or full of righteous passion, anger, or emotion. Without the “ing” this otherwise strong word loses much of its muscle and becomes weaker, watered-down slang.
Jane Devin » Jane’s Guide to Proper Cussing

Snopes debunks the old claim that “fuck” is an acronym:

Claim:   The word ‘fuck’ derives from an acronymic phrase, either ‘For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’ or ‘Fornication Under Consent of the King.’

Status: False.
snopes.com: Etymology of Fuck