<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/d4b9d0ac-8de1-428f-8c64-93ded7af20be/BECB7245-B517-4955-8D14-92BE742F1E93/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.slate.com/id/2167992/nav/tap3/" href="http://www.slate.com/id/2167992/nav/tap3/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.slate.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.slate.com/id/2167992/nav/tap3/"><H1>Whence the !@#$?<SPAN class="subhead">How a dirty word gets that way.</SPAN></H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.slate.com/id/2167992/nav/tap3/"><P>A <A target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/media/05decency.html?hp">federal appeals panel</A> on Monday said the FCC could no longer slap indecency fines on broadcasters who accidentally allowed the word <EM>fuck</EM> on the airwaves, <A target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/business/05decency-warning.html">arguing</A> that these days the word <EM>fuck</EM> is commonly used to express frustration rather than sexual obscenity. How did <EM>fuck</EM> and other words get so dirty anyway?</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.slate.com/id/2167992/nav/tap3/">They were born that way, for the most part. <EM>Fuck</EM> has always been an offensive word, though its exact origin is unclear. It's related to words in Dutch, German, and Swedish, and the etymological meaning has to do with moving back and forth. The first known evidence of the term is found in an English and Latin <A target="_blank" href="http://www.bartleby.com/61/95/F0349500.html">poem</A> from before 1500 that satirized the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England. In the line "<EM>Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk</EM>," the author replaced each letter of the unprintable words with the preceding letter in the alphabet: "They [the friars] are not in heaven, since they fuck wives of Ely."</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/BECB7245-B517-4955-8D14-92BE742F1E93/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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