fuck

You're right. That is good. Thanks for the link!

I just read a fantastic article in The New Republic that has a lot to do with this word. Here, read it, it's good.

I've seen some crazy etymologies, but this one surpasses them all, sheer awesomeness.

Word History: The obscenity fuck is a very old word and has been considered shocking from the first, though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in code because of its unacceptability, is in a poem composed in a mixture of Latin and English sometime before 1500. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, "Flen flyys," from the first words of its opening line, "Flen, flyys, and freris," that is, "fleas, flies, and friars." The line that contains fuck reads "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk." The Latin words "Non sunt in coeli, quia," mean "they (the friars) are not in heaven, since." The code "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" is easily broken by simply substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now: i was then used for both i and j; v was used for both u and v; and vv was used for w. This yields "fvccant (a fake Latin form) vvivys of heli." The whole thus reads in translation: "They are not in heaven because they fuck wives of Ely (a town near Cambridge)."

Aside: FUCK did not start out life as the acronym: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

..when you need stronger words to comfort you on the waves of life. I believe strong words can not harm you - or anyone else - if your heart is pure and you understand, that the f-word is only a tool to get you through a heck of a moment. To me swear words and the like are some sort of an instant verbal gratification. I use the f-word fluently. In Finland it's a v-word. Sounds much worse in Finnish. Trust me, I know.

Is there anything it CAN'T mean?

Celebrity lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower's comprehensive book "The F-word" is worth a read. Good book, but by the thousandth variation, the f-bomb loses some of it's power.