Posted on 02/16/2009 8:37:05 AM PST by MyTwoCopperCoins
Barack Obama made political and racial history by becoming the first African-American to occupy the White House.
Now he has made semantic history of sorts by being the first American president - or indeed the first American holder of any high public office - to go on record as using a common euphemism for the taboo f-word.
In a television interview, Obama admitted he had ‘screwed up’ after two of his nominees to the fledgling administration withdrew following disclosures regarding unpaid taxes.
Did the squeaky-clean St Barack screw up over his ‘screw up’? The halo that Obama’s myriad devotees worldwide have invested him with already had a rakish tilt in that this otherwise perfect ‘maha- purush’ is known to smoke, which in today’s health-conscious climate is as near to a cardinal politically incorrect sin as you can get.
The president’s use of the camouflaged f-word will at most give the symbol of his saintliness a jauntier angle. Indeed, many who noted his use of the term - and who might on occasion use the word themselves - may not be aware of its sexual connotation.
As a verb, ‘screw’ has several meanings: to fasten with a threaded pin; to turn one’s head or body sharply; to ruin or render ineffective; to have sexual intercourse.
Of course, when used in conjunction with ‘up’, screw takes on the meaning of having made a mistake, or goofing up, which is the sense in which Obama used it. But when used by itself, as in the exclamation ‘Screw!’, it has become a socially acceptable alternative to the f-word when used to express annoyance or frustration.
Will the presidential use of the term - though admittedly in a different context, in that of having made a gaffe - give further social legitimacy to ‘screw’ used as an expletive?
The fact is that the ‘screw up’ usage derives from this sexually-charged meaning of the term. For ‘screw up’, read - or rather, don’t read - ‘f**k up’.
The linkage might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. Fig-leaf designers are forever on the lookout for permissible synonyms for the f-word which arguably is one of the most emotive words in the English language, capable of expres-sing the entire spectrum of emotion from anger to awe, contempt to admiration, astonishment to weariness.
Though this omnibus versatility has ensured its widespread use in informal discourse, it has long been banned from polite or formal communication, thanks to verbal prudery.
Such censorship has led to the creation of ingenious verbal loopholes. In his iconic 1948 war novel, The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer resorted to coining the replacement ‘fug’ to thwart verbal vigilantes who might try to get his book banned on grounds of indecency.
That ‘fug’ of unknowing has, of course, long blown over in not just the realm of literature but also in films and the more hardboiled of American TV serials, such as the award-winning The Sopranos.
However, the English-language news media worldwide have, through a policy of self- censorship based on consideration of public sensibilities, refrained from enlisting the f-word into their vocabulary. But despite this - or, perhaps, because of it - there have been several media speculations of kosher substitutes for the banned f-word.
Several years ago, Time magazine suggested the word ‘swive’, which means exactly the same as the f-word and which was in common and socially accepted use in Shakespeare’s time after which it had fallen prey to semantic Darwinism which rendered it extinct.
Recently the TOI carried an agency report about American thriller writer Robert Crais having invented ‘frack’ as an f-word badli in his latest book.
The quest for the admissible f-word continues. And Obama’s loose ‘screw’ just might give it a bit more impetus.
The O is just trying to look like a common man, which he definitely is not.
Jive talk from the ‘hood, down in the ‘hood they know what he meant, and he meant what he said.
America better wake up to this screw loose.
Chavez in drag.
“Did the squeaky-clean St Barack screw up over his ‘screw up’?”
squeaky clean, my arse.
he’s a slimy Chicago thug politician, bent on implementing leftist/socialist/marxist policies.
He’s a dirty liar and a closet muzlim and America hater who will attempt to use fascist tactics to further his totalitarian agenda and bring down this great country.
He’s a bad person.
Screw him.
Look for the MSM to start using “screwed up” like a trendy fashion statement.
We are so screwed.
Well look, you just can’t give someone “the finger” unless the “F-word” goes with it. It just doesn’t feel right.
Every day Obama gives half a turn to the screw he is driving into America.
he is our first indonesian president.
I’m sure he had to clean it up to use the term “screwed up.” One thing that all lib/dems have in common is their base language.
I thought the same thing when I heard him say that. As a kid I got yelled at all the time for saying “cripe”. My dad took it as another way of saying Christ and that was not allowed. Didn’t like “oh fudge” much either.
Nothing we can do about the turd world ignorants, focus on smart people.
Yes that might be a little racists, but it's also true. It's us against them now.
> Barack Obama made political and racial history by becoming the first African-American to occupy the White House.
Well, he’s certainly the first African to occupy the White House — that much is proven. I’ll withhold judgment on the “American” bit until he shows his Birth Certificate. The real one.
Someone ought to ask Larry Craig about that.
The phrase “screwed up” has lost all connection to the source of the word “screw” in the phrase.
I don’t know anyone who considers it that way any more.
Kinda like the word “suck”. Or how about “geez”. Someone said it was short for “Jesus” and said it was like swearing.
I see it as short for “Gee Wiz”.
And besides, the meaning of a word mainly lies in the intent of the speaker and secondarily in the mind of the hearer. Everywhere I’ve heard the words “screwed up”, neither of those two interpreted it to even suspect the connotations the author is giving it.
I’m no Obama supporter (quite the opposite, big time), but people need to choose their battles here. My pastor even used the word “friggin” from the pulpit once. Now that one is fresh enough to have bothered me. “Screwed up”? Not so much.
I work with an Indian fellow (a naturalized US citizen) who is an devoted Obamite.
Nearly every morning he seems vexed and sadly disappointed that his hero Zer0 hasn’t yet changed the world. He seems completely baffled and mystified that the markets have collapsed since Zer0’s election. His faith in Hope and Change is pathetically childlike.
It gives me no end of pleasure to see a committed Obamite in this sorry state.
And no, he does not know I’m a conservative because I’m scrupulously careful with my personal politics in the workplace.
Speaking of turd world, did you notice Congress wants Buy American strings on any materiel bought with stimulus funds, but has no such restrictions on labor?
This is assuming that the turd worlders will be legal, and join the union.
FDR is the father of the modern labor union, starting with the UAW. FDR believed he could fix the economy by driving up labor costs. He used the union thugs as his enforcers.
A screw up is ordering regular coffee and getting decaf
A screw up is pumping regular gas when you want premium.
0bama is a duplicitious liar with zero moral character
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