The attention-grabbing effect of this language can be attributed to the fact that the lexeme "fuck" is an expletive, a dysphemism for sexual intercourse (though this is subject to context - some social groups may find this term a pleasing substitute for "to have sexual intercourse") and falls within the semantic field of taboo.
Despite "fuck's" capacity to incite shock amongst an audience (the degree of this varies between different social groups as notions of taboo can be highly subjective), its potential is waning. If the Australian Sex Party's advertisement campaign for the recent Federal Election is any indication of the social climate, you can now say "fuck" on TV.. just not for very long. From that point you can say "fuck" and its present and past participle counterparts "fucked" and "fucking" over 200,000 times on Youtube.
Further evidence of the contingent nature of social attitudes and the way in which they manifest themselves in notions of taboo and obscenity can be found within the research done by the Advertising Standards Bureau every few years to gauge what kind of language producers can get away with on television. In 2012 "bullshit" and a scarcely bleeped out "fuck" were shown to randomly selected viewers and their reactions were gauged. By measuring the comparative degree of offensiveness of "bullshit" and "fuck" versus "fat arse" and "bloody idiot" which were tested in 2007, and the fact that a "very high level of community concern about all of them" according to the chief executive of the Advertising Standards Bureau, Fiona Jolly, Australian television viewers are becoming harder to offend.
Based on these recent findings and keeping in mind the general trajectory of expletive words in our language and culture, there will likely come a time when it will be okay to say "fuck" in situations where the aim is not just to elicit covert prestige amongst your peers.
Fucking brilliant. xxx
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