The "F" word

The word that used to be uttered only by drunken sailors is now an every day word. I may be a bit of a Susie Sunshine, but I'm no prude. I've been known to cuss up a blue streak in my life. I am not proud of this kind of behavior, but I understand that when you hit your thumb with a hammer, there are only a few words that will actually make you feel better. The F-word being almost as good a remedy as a kiss from mom. Yet, even I was a little shocked to hear a young girl in the grocery line yesterday say to the older woman she was with (her mother?) "what the 'F*#!*' is wrong with you?" Yikes!

I saw the same girl a few minutes later, waiting near the parking lot. Perhaps for the mother to bring the car closer for said younger woman to load the groceries in the trunk, who knows? I can only surmise that this girl was having a bad day. She was not smiling; in fact, I got the distinct impression she might punch an innocent bystander in the nose as easily she could cuss her mother.

I've tried giving this cusser the benefit of the doubt. I know I've been mad enough in my life to say the "F" word and more. Perhaps she wasn't feeling well. Maybe her mother had just told her some upsetting news. Maybe some other girl had written a nasty-gram and posted it on U-tube. Still, I feel sad for a young person who looks and acts so totally unhappy.

Was it a "f"luke or seredipity that just as I'm up to writing about the letter "F" I came across one of my children's books entitled "Fun is a Feeling"? It's a happy little book full of wisdom and "f"antasy and "f"anciful illustrations.

The story's enlightened main character is a smiley-faced juggler wearing purple pants, a Bob Marley hat and pointed fairy shoes. According to this wise man who is part acrobat and part psychotherapist:
"Fun isn't something or somewhere or who;
It's a feeling of joy that lives inside you."*

Then he goes on to explain in a don't-worry-be-happy kind of sing-song rhyme, that "fun can be found wherever you go."
"It's all what you make it.
It's all what you see.
Only you can create how you want it to be.
The next time you're bored make a smile from your frown,
Just stand on your head, and you've turned it around!"

Or, you can follow the advice of Miles, in Risky Business, who as I recall danced in his underwear, not pointy toed shoes:
"Every now and then say, "What the f*#!k."
"What the f#!*k" gives you freedom.
Freedom brings opportunity.
Opportunity makes your future. " **
I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is, that girl at Publix is going to have some kind of future.

Some other "f"un "F" words:
Fahvergnugen
Frick and Frack
falafel
faffle
faerie, faery, fairy
farkleberry
fiddlefaddle
fastidious
festive
firecracker
fudge
fiddlesticks
fart
forklift
fedora
fox
Fiat
flacid
flamingo
My new "f"un "f"riend "F"ather Georges singing happy birthday to my sweetie in "F"rench (also in Arabic, and Italian!) It was "f"antastic!

"F"arewell for now,
Merry ME



* Fun is a Feeling,Chara M. Curtis, Illumination Arts Publishing Company, 1992
**Memorable Quotes from Risky Business. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086200/quotes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Every Little Bit Helps

Image
UPDATE:  I'll be picking a winner on Thanksgiving Day. So make a donation and leave your name in the comment section below.  ME UPDATE:  I see a tiny problem but it should be easy to fix. Commenting anonymously doesn't get your name in the drawing. And there's no way to tell Anonymous A from Anonymous B. Are you different or the same? I need to be able to get back in touch with you somehow. We can exchange email addy's later. But please at least leave your name. If you still comment as Anonymous, just say your name in the comment.  You can use first name and last initial. Or last name alone. Or an Alias. Just so I can get your name in the hat. And really, thank you. Thank you again and again. Merry ME _____ I always breathe a sigh of relief when a storm veers away from Jacksonville.  At the same time it's hard not to feel guilty that it went somewhere else.  I was in no way prepared for Hurricane Sandy. Like a lot of others, I felt like the...
Read more

An Easter Miracle

Image
How is it that after someone you love dies, time moves on even when it feel like its standing still? Philosophers, poets and writers have tried to answer that question since time began. I don't have the answer. I just know that, by what I can only imagine is the Grace of God, it does. When you heart is broken into something resembling a 1000 piece jig saw puzzle and there are no directions on how to put it together, somehow it mends. When some else dies and it cracks again, God stitches the old wound and the new wound together into a patchwork of healed scars. Fifteen years ago, when I watched my mother draw a breath then counted the seconds before she took another but none came, I sat by her bed and tried to imagine being a motherless child. Then I did what any kid would do, ran down the long hospital corridor sounding the alarm. "My mother isn't breathing." "My mother isn't breathing."  Want to see doctors, nurses, CNAs, and cleaning ladies tur...
Read more

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY BLOG PARTY

Image
In honor of women everywhere ... Welcome to the International Women's Day Blog Party (Turn up the sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuB3_HLcFfk ) International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. To this end, this party is a way to honor those special ladies who have inspired us and made us better than we ever thought we could be. It is with gratitude and pride I welcome you to my blog. I'm anxious to hear your stories and celebrate your choices. All you have to do is go down to the bottom of this post and click on the comment section. That will take you to another page where you can write your tribute in the space provided. You can use your Google/Blogger user name or remain anonymous. There is nothing to join. If you choose to post anonymously please leave your name in the comment section so we'll all know who you are. When you're through hit publish and voila your lady is o...
Read more