When politicians gave a F*ck

It is amazing that 4 letters can cause such an offence. The word ‘fuck’ is really one of the commonly used words in the English language. Yet so many people get offended by it.

One place where fuck really is still a taboo word is in politics. However , just like any other man or woman, politicians are human beings(believe it or not) They too sometime slip up. or rather Freudian slip up.

This just a bit of a summary of the use of that four letter word in politics.

In 1965, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson said to the Greek ambassador Alexandros Matsas when he objected to American plans in Cyprus, “Fuck your parliament and your constitution. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea. Greece is a flea. If these two fellows continue itching the elephant they may just get whacked by the elephant’s trunk, whacked good”.

Former British Secretary of State for Defence Denis Healey reported that the penultimate High Commissioner of Aden (1965–1967), Sir Richard Turnbull, stated that, “When the British Empire finally sinks beneath the waves of history, it will leave behind it only two memorials: one is the game of Association Football and the other is the expression ‘Fuck Off’.”

During debate in February 1971 in the House of Commons of Canada, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau mouthed the words “fuck off” at Conservative MP John Lundrigan, while Lundrigan made some comments about unemployment. Afterward, when asked by a television reporter what he had been thinking, Trudeau famously replied: “What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say ‘fuddle duddle’ or something like that?”. “Fuddle duddle” consequently became a catchphrase in Canadian media associated with Trudeau.

The first accepted modern use in the British House of Commons came in 1982 when Reg Race, Labour MP for Wood Green, referred to adverts placed in local newsagents by prostitutes which read “Phone them and fuck them.” Hansard, the full record of debates, printed “F*** them”, but even this euphemism was deprecated by the Speaker, George Thomas.

During the George W. Bush presidency, a vehicular bumper sticker with the words Buck Fush (a spoonerism of “Fuck Bush”) gained some popularity in the US.

In June 2004, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney told Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, “Go fuck yourself.” Coincidentally, Cheney’s outburst occurred on the same day that the Defense of Decency Act was passed in the Senate.

In February 2006, Premier of the Australian state of New South Wales Morris Iemma, while awaiting the start of a Council of Australian Governments media conference in Canberra, was chatting to Victorian Premier Steve Bracks. Not realizing microphones were recording, he said, “Today? This fuckwit who’s the new CEO of the Cross City Tunnel has … been saying what controversy? There is no controversy.” The exchange referred to the newly appointed CEO of the recently opened Cross City Tunnel toll road within Sydney.


In 2007, U.S. Senator John Cornyn objected to John McCain’s perceived intrusion upon a Senate meeting on immigration, saying, “Wait a second here. I’ve been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You’re out of line.” McCain replied “Fuck you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room.”
In April 2007, New Zealand Education Minister Steve Maharey said “fuck you” to a fellow MP during parliamentary question time. He apologized shortly afterwards.


In December 2008, recorded telephone conversations revealed Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich trying to “sell” an appointment to the Senate seat that Barack Obama resigned after being elected president. In the phone conversation, Blagojevich said in reference to his power to appoint a new senator, “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden and I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing.” In the recorded conversations, Blagojevich also referred to Obama as a “motherfucker” and repeatedly said, “fuck him”. When speaking of the Obama administration’s request that Valerie Jarrett be appointed as Obama’s replacement, Blagojevich complained, “They’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.” Blagojevich also said Tribune Company ownership should be told to “fire those fuckers” in reference to Chicago Tribune editors critical of him.


In December 2009 in Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish Parliament), Paul Gogarty responded to heckles from Emmet Stagg with the outburst, “With all due respect, in the most unparliamentary language, fuck you, Deputy Stagg. Fuck you.”Gogarty immediately withdrew the remarks and later made a personal statement of apology. Reporting of the outburst quickly spread by media and the Internet.A subcommittee of the Dáil’s standing committee on procedure and privilege produced a 28-page report on the incident.


On March 23, 2010, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden whispered into President Barack Obama’s ear, “This is a big fucking deal” when referring to the U.S. health care reform bill. His words were picked up by microphones and video.


On May 3, 2010, Canadian senator Nancy Ruth advised representatives of women’s groups to “shut the fuck up” on access to abortion, in the run-up to the 36th G8 summit.


In late 2012, the then-U.S. House Speaker John Boehner was visiting the White House, where he saw then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the lobby. Boehner was under great stress about the impending fiscal cliff, and Reid had also accused him of running a “dictatorship” in the house. Boehner saw Harry Reid, pointed his finger at him, and told him, “Go fuck yourself!”

In late 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte reacted to the European Parliament’s criticism over the prevalence of unsolved extrajudicial killings incurred in his “War on Drugs” which he lashed out at EU politicians, singling out those from Britain and France, calling them “hypocrites” and accusing them of being responsible for the deaths of thousands caused by their ancestors during the colonial period.[54] Upon making an obscene hand gesture, Duterte stated that he told EU politicians, “When I read the EU condemnation I told them ‘fuck you.’ You are only doing it to atone for your own sins” and “They do not want a safe Philippines. They want it to be ruled by criminals. Oh, well, I’m sorry. That is your idiotic view”.[55] Duterte also said, in response to growing international criticism, the “EU now has the gall to condemn me. I repeat it, fuck you.”

On August 5, 2019, Beto O’Rourke after learning of a mass shooting in his home town of El Paso, Texas stated “He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the fuck?” referring to Donald Trump when asked for his reaction to the shooting.


During a virtual live telecast Senate hearing on August 21, 2020, Senator Tom Carper shouted: “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” over a video chat that was being broadcast nationwide.

During his October 9, 2020 appearance on The Rush Limbaugh Show, U.S. President Donald Trump stated in a threat to Iran, “If you fuck around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are going to do things to you that have never been done before.”

So next time you slip up. just remember you are not the only one.

Dord-What’s in a word?

dord-1

Dord is a noun in physics and chemistry that means density. Well not really, although it was in the dictionary for 5 years as a valid word.

This was the perfect example that even the brightest minds can make mistakes and also that you should not always believe everything you read..

On February 28, 1939, the word ‘Dord’ was discovered to be an error in the second edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary published in 1934. Dord is an example of a ghost word or a word that was never actually used but appeared in dictionaries.

This spooky apparition is known among lexicographers as a “ghost word.” It didn’t exist, but there it was, on page 771 of the dictionary. And there it stayed until 1939, when an editor figured out what was happening and wrote this note declaring dord to be “&! A ghost word!”
dord

But for some reason the change wasn’t made until 1947.

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Source

Smithsonian