Welcome to the @#$1@!4 newsroom

i still thought he ran off to fire lake.

 

In 17 years in some large newsrooms I've never cussed.

(Shit, that's not even close to being goddamn fucking correct.)


Sidebar: Years ago, I was at a place where they outsourced the delivery method of the paper and gave the truckers an opportunity to apply for other jobs. Some of them landed in the composing room. (For those of you old enough to know what a composing room is). Man, those fuckers, er truckers, could cuss. They could make a sailor wince.

 

Until about a year ago, we were still using Apple G3s. Your assumption that we liberally F-bombed the building would be correct. One guy used to grit his teeth and yell through them, "you fucking son of a bitch," then smack his monitor. The highest of comedy.

 

I once smacked the side of my Mac so hard it caved in the plastic.

That got me a talkin'-to from IT.

And a better computer three weeks later.

 

After a college football team - who my boss at the time hated - won a game that was going to fuck up our deadline, he punched his desk, screamed the fuck word a couple of times and then punched a cubicle wall behind us.
Normally it would have been no big deal, but he hit the cubicle wall so hard it fell over and knocked a bunch of shit off of an advertising chick's desk.
The next day we were asked what happened and we, of course, said the cleaning people must have done it.

 

I used to swear about things, back when I thought things should be better. Now that I know they won't improve, I try not to waste time swearing about it.

I tried the swear jar, at a nickel per profanity, and one night I pulled out two bucks when a page crashed and stuffed them into the jar, unleashing a nice long string. Whereupon a reporter grabbed the jar and said, "You're short."

After that, I cashed in the jar. But I swear less, because it's ultimately futile.

 

One is a creative use of a compound word that isn't in itself profane to express frustration, anger and an assortment of emotions.

There usually are better ways to express yourself than using profanity. Sometimes, however, foul words are about the only way you can both express frustration, anger and an assortment of emotions AND feel satisfaction from doing so. Sometimes, they get the point across in ways that non profane words can not.

"Look, I'm giving you your last warning. You must make deadline or else." vs. "You'd better fucking make deadline or you're fucked."

Which gets the point across better when someone's on the verge of losing a job because of chronically missed deadlines?

 

Can you say Tourette's Syndrome?

 

It's more profane if you pair it with a pronoun ...

I've got to read that Luciano book. That anecdote was golden

 

fuck
–verb (used with object) 1. to have sexual intercourse with.
2. Slang. to treat unfairly or harshly.
–verb (used without object) 3. to have sexual intercourse.
4. Slang. to meddle (usually fol. by around or with).
–interjection 5. Slang. (used to express anger, disgust, peremptory rejection, etc., often fol. by a pronoun, as you or it.)
–noun 6. an act of sexual intercourse.
7. a partner in sexual intercourse.
8. Slang. a person, esp. one who is annoying or contemptible.
9. the fuck, Slang. (used as an intensifier, esp. with WH-questions, to express annoyance, impatience, etc.)
—Verb phrases10. fuck around, Slang. a. to behave in a frivolous or meddlesome way.
b. to engage in promiscuous sex.

11. fuck off, Slang. a. to shirk one's duty; malinger.
b. go away: used as an exclamation of impatience.
c. to waste time.

12. fuck up, Slang. a. to bungle or botch; ruin.
b. to act stupidly or carelessly; cause trouble; mess up.

—Idiom13. give a fuck, Slang. to care; be concerned.

 

It's a fantastic book. I laughed hysterically throughout the whole thing.

 

Luciano actually wrote three or four books, IIRC. Every one of them was comedy gold.
Kind of tragic, actually, considering how he went out.