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February 11, 2004

It's not just individual dirty words that caught author Jonathan Chamberlain’s attention. It was the grammar. "You can 'fuck somebody up,' but you can't 'fuck somebody with.' Which phrases are transitive and which are intransitive, and what does that mean in practice? ... This is why a book that provides a detailed deconstruction of the language is needed," Chamberlain explains.

posted by SideDish at 05:36PM UTC [trackback] (8 comments total)

I'm working on an anecdote for my blog (wendellwit.com, blatant plug) about umpteen years ago when I was encouraged to go up on "audition" night at an L.A. comedy club. I kept getting invited back as I tried different material every week (Seinfeldian observations one week, Mort Sahl political the next) until I did a 'dating' monologue that included a sexual incident inspired by a friend (the same one who first pushed me onstage at the comedy club), and the club's owner took me aside afterward and uttered the ridiculous statement: "It's usually okay to use the word 'fuck' on our stage, but not as a verb..."

posted by wendell at 06:52PM UTC on February 11, 2004

Well, I think it is true that people are less offended by what the fuck?! than they are by did you fuck?!.

posted by rustcellar at 08:43PM UTC on February 11, 2004

And you can, in fact, "fuck somebody with" any number of things. You can never use "with" simply as an adverb, with any verb, except in the American Midwest.

posted by rustcellar at 08:50PM UTC on February 11, 2004

Thome dayth I with I wath a wabbit!

[Only then i'd have to eat carrotth, ptui.]

posted by beeswacky at 09:07PM UTC on February 11, 2004

Both "fuck somebody up" and "fuck somebody with (something)" are transitive. So endeth the grammar lesson.

posted by Wolof at 10:40PM UTC on February 11, 2004

...and of course, it should properly be "talk dirtily"...

posted by flashboy at 12:15AM UTC on February 12, 2004

wendell, you had a blog umpteen years ago?

posted by languagehat at 04:33PM UTC on February 12, 2004

Uh oh, busted by languagecop...
I'm working on an anecdote for my blog (wendellwit.com, blatant plug) about umpteen years ago when I was encouraged to go up on "audition" night at an L.A. comedy club.
There WILL be an entry on my CURRENT blog about something that HAPPENED umpteen years ago...
If I'm not too grouchy, I'll also tell about how Robin Williams mistook me for a gay tennis player (at the same club)...

posted by wendell at 08:51PM UTC on February 12, 2004

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