A fucking brilliant formulation
From a Steven Pinker essay on the emotional power of swearing:
As it happens, most expletives aren’t genuine adverbs, either. One study notes that, while you can say That’s too fucking bad, you can’t say That’s too very bad. Also, as linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out, while you can imagine the dialogue How brilliant was it? Very, you would never hear the dialogue How brilliant was it? Fucking.
21 October 2007 1:27 PM
Comments
You know this post has changed my life for-fucking-ever.
How brilliant was it? Fucking.
Posted by Elanor on 22 October 2007 3:42 PM
When I read that sentence, my first thought was, "Have I heard Elanor say that before? I feel like she must have."
Posted by Jeff on 22 October 2007 7:10 PM