I don't give a stuff

[Leslie Decker]

>

> The new Battlestar Galactica used 'frak'.
>
> On Oct 27, 2010, at 12:36, Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
>> Subject:      I don't give a stuff
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> In the Aussie TV soap Neighbours (episode 6033 and going strong), the
>> word "stuff" is used instead of "fuck" in all cases when real-world
>> English speakers would say "fuck" or "fucked": I stuffed up; stuff
>> you; I don't give a stuff, and so on. Is there an equivalent and
>> equally versatile euphemism on American television?
>>
>> (In the unlikely event that you're wondering: Yes, I watch Neighbours.
>> It's the only TV show I watch, and I watch it every day with my
>> daughter. Is it trash? Yes. It is fun? Yes. Is it a waste of time?
>> Hell no. When my mother was dying of cancer in Amsterdam many years
>> ago, she got hooked on The Bold and the Beautiful. We spent her last
>> few weeks together, so sometimes I ended up watching this show too. It
>> used to irritate me to no end that she was wasting precious moments
>> watching undiluted drivel. When I finally told her that I absolutely
>> hated every minute of the The Bold and the Beautiful and suggested she
>> watch something else, anything else, she said, "I'm the one who's
>> dying here and if watching a silly show once a day gives me some
>> pleasure in my last few days in this godforsaken planet of ours, why
>> the hell shouldn't I?" Impeccable logic. I ended up enjoying quite a
>> few episodes of the Bold and the Beautiful with my mom. And now I
>> enjoy Neighbours with my daughter [my wife Véronique refuses to watch
>> this crap]. But I digress...).
>>
>> So what's the American TV equivalent of "stuff" and "stuffed" with all
>> its declensions and semantic permutations?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Paul
>>
>> Paul Frank
>> Translator
>> Chinese, German, French, Italian > English
>> Espace de l'Europe 16
>> Neuchâtel, Switzerland
>> paulfrank at bfs.admin.ch
>> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>>
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