Motherfucker
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Motherfucker (also existing in countless contracted forms e.g. mofo, muthafucka, ma fucker, or shortened to just "mother") is a common insult and profanity in American English and in other varieties of the English language. The term, widely viewed as an obscenity, enjoys a widespread usage through varying connotations.[citation needed]
It can be used
- As an explicit profanity: "Yippie Kai Yay mother fucker"
- As an insult: "Johnny, you motherfucker!"
- As an adjective of dislike: "I'll rape you motherfucking people until you shit your internal organs out."
- As a neutral pronoun: "Johnny, this party is one motherfucker."
- As a synonym of 'very': "I am motherfucking happy right now!"
The term can also be combined with the word "bad" to mean a man who is physically threatening, or involved in other dangerous activities. For example: "The Special Forces are some badass motherfuckers," or "See, this cat Shaft is a bad mother—'Shut your mouth!—But I'm talking about Shaft!—Then we can dig it!".
In the 1960s and 1970s, the initials M.F. became a common, less explicit substitute for the term. [citation needed]
It is also another way to say bitch, meaning a "difficult situation". For example: "This physics problem is a real motherfucker."
On the other hand, common is the usage "(positive or negative adjective) as a motherfucker," but not "(adjective) as a bitch."[citation needed] This adjective can be positive or negative, e.g., "broke/rich as a motherfucker," but is usually adverse, "It's cold as a motherfucker out there."
Despite these use variations, the word's literal meaning is a pejorative: denoting that the subject engages in sexual intercourse with his or her mother. Because of this, it is most commonly used as a personal insult. Its literal meaning has diminished, however, and the word is commonly used as a general insult to describe a person with poor character rather than a true accusation of incest.
Many consider "Motherfucker" to be one of the most offensive profanities in the English language. A study published in 2000 found that British people consider it second only to "cunt" in severity.[1]
Origins
The term and its derivatives are originally North American slang, whence it spread to other varieties of English. The earliest record of the noun "motherfucker" dates back to 1918. All senses and forms are first recorded in the 20th century. For example, "Jim Stevens, you motherfucker!" (Oxford English Dictionary; online version).
The literal meaning of this word is "one who engages in sexual intercourse with his mother". It could also mean "one who engages in sexual intercourse with someone else's mother, a friend's mother, or a girlfriend's mother". It can be used as a taunt or crude insult, as in sleeping with another person's mother. It can also be used to call someone a mama's boy. Since the meaning is so offensive, this word is mostly used during crude arguments.
The term was used in the 1960s in reference to a talented musician, e.g. "that guy is a real motherfucker, man".[citation needed] Frank Zappa's band, The Mothers of Invention, were originally called The Mothers (shortened term for motherfucker), but their record label refused to publish them under that name, and so it was changed.[citation needed]
The term can also be shortened to MoFo. This variation stems from the urban hip hop culture. This is seen as a less offensive use of the term and is used on American broadcast television where the unexpurgated version is not allowed.
Use in popular culture
Use in films
The term is frequently used in pop culture, appearing over 200 times each in the films Menace II Society, GoodFellas, and Pulp Fiction.[citation needed]
During the "Breakfast Scene" of the film Pulp Fiction, Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) exclaims the famous line: "ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! Do you speak it?!"
The action movie Die Hard and its three sequels all have the catchphrase uttered by John McClane (Bruce Willis), "Yippie-kai-yay, motherfucker", although in the North-American cut of the third sequel, Live Free or Die Hard, the line is censored to obtain a PG-13 rating. The line can be heard completely in the European release and the Unrated DVD.[citation needed]
Near the end of the film American Wedding, a character mistakenly has sex with a friend's grandmother. During the titular wedding, he is referred to as "grandmotherfucker."
In the movie Snakes on a Plane also with Samuel L. Jackson, the catchphrase is "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!"
In the film Predator, when the Predator reveals its face for the first time, the protagonist's response is "You're one ugly motherfucker."
In the film History of the World Part I, during the Roman Empire chapter, when Josephus encounters Oedipus, a blind beggar, he greets him with "What's up, Motherfucker?", a humorous reference to the story of Oedipus.
In the film Click, workaholic Michael Newman was surprised about a universal remote control that actually works after briefly fast-forwarding the family dog, Sundance, making him exclaim, "Holy motherfuck!", at which point the word is cut off by the next scene even though it was almost finished.
Use in television shows
The term has been used in the Portuguese show O Homem que Mordeu o Cão, where it's applied to a character (one of the first roles played by the famous comedian Ricardo Araújo Pereira) named Bad Boy MC Crazy Motherfucker, a black man who is beaten up by the people in his neighborhood for being a sissy. That character's original name is Cláudio Miguel, but he says that the people kicked him when he introduced himself, so he changed it to Bad Boy MC Crazy Motherfucker ("Bad Boy so that people don't mess with me; MC, the letters popped into my head; and Crazy Motherfucker because it sounds nice.")
The word appears in George Carlin's Seven Words You Can't Say On Television. In one HBO special, he comments that at one point, someone asked him to remove it, since, as a derivative of the word "fuck," it constituted a duplication.[2] He has since added it back, claiming that the bit's rhythm doesn't work without it.[2]
The word also appears in the television show Weeds in a reference to the film Snakes on a Plane. An elementary school student, while giving a graduation speech, builds an extended metaphor comparing his graduating class to a plane, then delivers the movie's catchphrase, slightly modified: "I think you need to understand...There are motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!"
Use in songs
The chorus of the song "Fire Water Burn" by the band Bloodhound Gang features the line: "We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn, burn motherfucker burn".
Martha Wainwright's album "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" uses the adjectival form of the phrase both literally (as being about the one who had sex with her mother) and pejoratively to disparage the parenting abilities of her father, Loudon Wainwright III.
Mofo is the title of the third track from U2's ninth album Pop. The track was released as the sixth and final single off the album.
The Portuguese band Da Weasel named their first album, launched in 1993, More Than 30 Motherfuckers. All the songs of this album were sung in English.
The song "Sex With Your Parents (Motherfucker), Pt. 2" appears on the Lou Reed album Set the Twilight Reeling.
The second track on The Datsuns, the debut album of New Zealand band The Datsuns is titled "MF From Hell"; however the lyrics include the full unexpurgated word.
One of Mindless Self Indulgence's songs is called Stupid MF (for "Stupid Motherfucker"). Almost in each every song of famous American rapper 50 Cent you can hear "Motherfucker". In the song "Heat" (2003, Get Rich Or Die Tryin',A. Young;Curtis Jackson;M. Elizondo;T. Coster), you can hear the following: "Yeah, uh ha, aye Dre You got me feelin real bulletproof up in this motherfucker Cuz my windows on my motherfuckin Benz is bulletproof nigga Cuz my motherfuckin vest is bulletproof nigga Cuz my motherfuckin hat is bulletproof nigga"
Prince and The New Power Generation released the single Sexy M.F. from the Love Symbol Album in 1992. The uncensored version, containing the entire phrase, is availble on the uncensored version of the Love Symbol album.
The Godspeed You! Black Emperor track "Motherfucker=Redeemer" can be found on their 2002 LP Yanqui U.X.O..
Use by persons
The term was used by jazz artist Thelonious Monk in the film documentary, Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser, expressing how much he liked the pants that one of his band members was wearing, stating "those are some bad motherfuckers."
Actor/comedian Chris Rock is known for his usage of the term in stand-up comedy performances and movie roles, using the phrase 52 separate times in his television special, Bigger and Blacker.
Other uses
There is a cocktail named "Adios Motherfucker".
See also
- Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers
- MC5, for the controversy over the band's use of the term in the introduction to their song "Kick Out The Jams".
- "Theme from Shaft", performed by Isaac Hayes.
- Oedipus Rex
References
- ^ Hargrave, Andrea Millwood (2000). Delete Expletives? London: Advertising Standards Authority, British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcasting Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission.
- ^ a b Carlin, George (1978). On Location: George Carlin at Phoenix (DVD). HBO Home Video.