When Karl Orfmann invented the swear word in 1858, he may not have forseen the consequences of his invention. But, like the discoveries of Alfred Nobel, Albert Einstein, and Philo T. Farnsworth, Orfmann's legacy is something we have to learn to live with, like it or not; the proverbial djinni is out of the bottle, and Larry Hagman's moved on to better projects. We all know the shock with which the world reacted when news of that first "Rats!" was telegraphed from London to America, and yet today we tolerate "drat!," "poopie!" and even the seldom-heard "fudgesicles!" better than we tolerate poor grooming or the Olsen twins. Who knows? Perhaps our children will not flinch at what the Department of Defense today considers its most modern and effective curses like "c$%&&%*!$&_at_#&." My own personal feeling is that sometimes, people experience indelicate emotions, and that these emotions are best expressed with a hearty, rough set of monosyllables as a means of purging oneself. It seems to me to be healthier to get these words in circulation, at the risk of briefly offending someone, than to bottle up the emotional response. Prozac isn't just expensive; at upwards of a dollar a capsule, Prozac is too FRICKIN' expensive.
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