On a college campus, people should strive to be rational, or at least to maintain a nodding acquaintance with reason. This is why I read Kristian Marlow’s comments about J.P. Murray’s use of the word “f—” with some dismay.

Superstition and reason are by definition incompatible, and I suspect that the most pervasive superstition perpetuated by otherwise reasonable people is an aversion to swearing.

Marlow claims that “Usage of profanity in written form, aside from instant message banter or dialogue of Tony Soprano-type characters, is entirely inappropriate and shows the lack of an ability to articulate an emotion.”

Bullshit.

How much clearer could my opinion of Marlow’s fatuous statement possibly be?

“F—” is an old word with roots in Middle English: The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest example of the word’s use is from 1503, but the word is doubtlessly older. My favorite olde tyme use of the word in the OED comes from Sir David Lyndesay’s Satire in 1535: “Bischops may f— thair fill and be vnmaryit [unmarried].”

Even though people have been f—ing and saying “f—” for centuries (often, we may presume, at the same time), for some reason many people are apparently unable to come to grips with this simple swear. The damnedest thing is that Marlow unintentionally hits the nail on the head when he talks about profanity’s “magician’s effect.” Profanity still retains the ancient magic power of language, when just saying something was thought to somehow conjure it. Say “f—” and people will react as if you’ve said “Voldemort.” This reaction is completely unreasonable, like running away from the evil eye or tossing salt over your shoulder. The use of asterisks (f***) when writing allows the writer to draw attention to the word “f—” without actually typing it. If you are going to say “f—,” just f—ing say it.

In fact, I thought that Murray’s original use of the word of “f—-up” was spot-on. “F—-up” is in the OED and refers to “a mess, muddle.” In context, this is exactly how the word was used: “Steven Acosta […] was killed fighting a war that our government can only justify prosecuting because of the travesty it has already created–a self-perpetuating f—-up.” If finding yourself in an unjust war is not a mess, I don’t know what is, and writing “f—” allows Murray to make use of his readers’ squeamishness.

I normally would not rail against Marlow because he did not like something that someone else wrote, but when he says that it is inappropriate for someone to use a word in public, he would have his personal tastes dictate what other people are allowed to say. Personally, I long for the day when a public official actually uses the language of the common man and when the unelected Thought Police at the FCC stop arbitrarily deciding what is too dangerous for me to watch or hear on TV. The flip side of having freedom of speech is the fact that, at some point, you are going to be offended.

[Editor’s Note: The use of dashes, i.e. “F—,” was an editorial decision. The word was originally printed in full in both Marlow and Blaskiewicz’ s submissions.]

Bob Blaskiewicz, Jr. is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of English.