Another Tuesday Voice: The origin of the f-word

Julius Fučík

Assuredly not content-free!

By Geoffrey Dean

Today [Monday, March 31], when I did a search for info on the band director and march composer Julius Fučík (1872-1916) (think Bohemian Sousa and pronounce FU-chik), Google revised one of my search terms. This led me for the first time to Uncyclopedia: The Content-Free Encyclopedia, by way of the following sentences in its article on marching bands (search terms in italics):

In 1933, Adolf “The Crippler” Hitler became the first band dictator director – ahem, directator – to utilize mind control in the first “Band...I still need to evaluate the trumpets...fuck.”

    I had never before heard of Uncyclopedia, and my first thought was, Wow, THIS is an elaborate April Fools joke. I may have to wait until tomorrow to confirm this, but it just seems like too much of a coincidence. My other thought was, Sigh, I wish I had found time to take Moristotle & Co. up on concocting a yarn for this glorious day of tongue-in-cheek, twinkle-in-eye humor.

As I write this, I’m consoling myself by getting a bang out of listening to some jaunty Fučík marches, which are certainly humorous and fun-loving in their own way.
    The serious side of Google’s grammar gaffe is also the funny one, because Google is actually spot-on in its Fučík-fuck conflation. According to the Swear By Me Dictionary of English-Language Obscenities, the f-word in its original connotation is said to have caught on in the U.S. following a well-known American’s 1880s visit to Prague. The American was so delighted by the performances of the local brass band that he hired the ensemble to serenade his favorite Bohemian prostitute. As she heard the band play, she exclaimed, “Fučík! Now that’s good music!”
    Later, at the climax of their next sexual encounter, he in turn exclaimed, with a hint of parodying American sarcasm and a large dose of mispronunciation, “Fuck! Now that’s good sex!” Apparently the prostitute never corrected him, and so the name stuck.
    Let me assure you, I did NOT read this on Uncyclopedia!
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Copyright © 2014 by Geoffrey Dean

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