For some reason, using the entire word "fuck" was shocking in a odd way for me. It's sending mixed signals- it's sounding harsh not funny. I personally think it could be stronger with a nice headline not using it- this idea is really awesome.
There is something off in the relationship between the whole written word and the "ideals" of NASA. I love this, but I think it's a little over-the-top with the whole word being written out.
I can't send this to a niece or nephew with a clean conscience!
Don't be so fucking american. Swearwords are not not to be used. They serve its function, and here it is part of a well crafted site which is trying to make a point.
edit: Though I agree with harrywincup that the wtf-approach at first seems like nasa did nothing good.
This site doesn't make a point via swearing. In fact all it does is further dilute the word which is useful when needed. The site's format has been done before and basically is an improved take on a Did You Know? concept. The facts, the ratings make it interesting. The fucks make it childish. Children misuse words and curse just to hear themselves curse. Adults communicate the right thing for the right reasons at the right time.
If everything is fucked then nothing is fucked. If everything is WTF then nothing is WTF.
A) Why did you think he is American? You can find cusswords distasteful and be from another country.
B) Why do you think he doesn't like the F-word? It's possible to respect a word for its emotional power while thinking it gratuitous or counter-productive in some cases.
> A) Why did you think he is American? You can find cusswords distasteful and be from another country.
A squeamishness around swear words ('cussword' is not a word I've ever heard a non-american use) is I'm afriad one of the perceived traits of America by other english-speaking nations, so from a purely Bayesian point of view it's an assumption he could make with some confidence. Just like we (Englishman here) don't understand why one arab would get unspeakably offended by another arab hitting him with a shoe unless someone told us that it was the highest insult, culturally (it is not apparent that this is the most insulting thing you can do in and of itself, it's a conditioned, learned response). There is a quote, attributed to lots of people, but seemingly either George Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde, that Britain and America are 'two nations divided by a common language'. There is real incomprehension and bafflement in the UK, for example, that a swear word or nipple on US tv seems to cause comparable levels of outrage to a shooting spree.
So, I wouldn't jump down the GP's throat too much, even if his assertion was put forward rather abrasively.
> or example, that a swear word or nipple on US tv
> seems to cause comparable levels of outrage to a
> shooting spree.
Welcome to America, where people will flock in droves to show their support of anti-gay marriage attitudes[1], while none of those people will lift a finger to volunteer at a soup kitchen to help out people that actually need the support.
The purpose of the swearword "fuck" is to signal that you are passionate and emotionally unrestrained about something, with a slight underlying threat of violence. Can someone explain why that is appropriate on this well crafted site?
Sure it is. It's "incredible versatile" if you want to express how angry you are about something, because you can basically use it as either a drop in replacement or an intensifier for any word you want, but the common meaning is to express your emotional state. Look at the examples on wiktionary, for example.
As for "what the fuck" being a well established idiom - I guess that depends on your demographic, but I don't see it showing up much in the respectable media, or in academic papers.
Anger is not the only use case for the word "fuck", nor is expressing an emotional state. Really, there's a fuckload of other fucking examples; enough to make one tired as fuck just fucking thinking about them, so I won't enumerate them here (those readers who give a fuck can now exclaim "thank fuck!").
"Respectable" media are beholden to their advertisers, who in turn are concerned that specific demographics might be scandalised by certain words and affect their bottom line. I don't think HN or much of the internet fits into this category.
Academic papers are an interesting case. I suspect their avoidance of the word fuck is a combination of their inherited sense of propriety and the fact that such an ambiguous word as "fuck" rarely has a place in scientific writing.
OK, don't fucking list all the fucking examples, fucking give one fucking single fucking example where fucking is used to fucking express something other than fucking anger, you fucking fuck.
(Other than belaboring the point, an example of which I have just given)
The first question that emanates would be on the order of "What's ESA?" No one in the world knows what it does.
Cheap shot making with pejorative intentions doesn't move forward the debate that we ,as a race,ought to do more in advancing our collective knowledge. Petty bickering doesn't help.
I just put up an alternate to wtfnasa called wtnasa (what the NASA) - http://wtnasa.com/
I hope this is something you would send to your niece with a clean conscience :)
There is something off in the relationship between the whole written word and the "ideals" of NASA. I love this, but I think it's a little over-the-top with the whole word being written out.
I can't send this to a niece or nephew with a clean conscience!