Everywhere: The 'F' Word

The other day I heard a song by my favorite country/rock singer- songwriter, the one, the only, Hank Williams, Jr.

“All my rowdy friends have settled down…"

That wasn’t it.

It was a song I never heard him sing — “The F Word.”

Hank’s catchy chorus goes like this: No, no, in country music, you just can't say the 'F' word Oh, we've come a long way but it's best if that one's not heard Oh, we've had some hells and damns But we don't say '*itch,' we say, 'Why, yes ma'am.'

'Cause in country music, you just don't use the 'F' word I’m not a hypocrite. I use it at times, depending on how many morons I may run into on any given day, but I try not to do it in public.

In fact, if I were honest, my use of the word began back in at least the eighth grade because I can remember using it as an adjective to describe a junior high science teacher I didn’t like, not knowing he was standing right behind me as I spoke. Not a good day.

Hank’s song came to mind while I was watching a Netflix show the other day, which has several seasons up, all centered on playing QB in the NFL. Guys making $55 million a year, like Bengals passer Joe Burrows.

The camera also includes his wife and young child.

In the stadium’s family booth, during a postseason game, there is Joe’s wife tossing out the F bomb while her husband is throwing a completion.

Not sure how many other kids were around, but she knew the camera was rolling.

I was thinking, can anyone see Roger Staubach’s wife speaking that way back in the day?

Much less, Tom Landry, a Mission, Texas, native.

Boxers in View

At most awards shows these days, if they’re not on network TV, the F word will always surface by some presenter, man or woman, as if saying it makes them a rebel. Really? In 2025?

Should it matter? In the end, it’s only a word, but it’s also a metric as to the general state of our culture’s well-being, I think.

I thought of that the other day – the state of our culture -- when I saw a guy walk by with his pants halfway down his rear, as if he was really proud of his boxers and wanted the world to see them.

No, thanks. Nice blue pattern, but why did he feel the need to show them off, as they encased his rear, as he was leading his two young boys down to the fishing pond?

I’m also seeing more bumper stickers on SUVs these days with at least one word of profanity.

On the political stage, disparate groups are throwing the F Word at each other as if it can really do some serious damage if they say it often enough.

“F you.”

“No, F YOU and everyone else who votes like YOU.”

And on and on it goes.

For Hank Jr’s song, the Outro reads like this:

“Some of these guys say it five hundred times

“But in country music you don't use it one damn line

“Oh, in country music, we don't say the 'F' word”