--- title: "Military officers in WWI were the masters of the word ‘f**k’" date: "2022-08-19" modified: "2022-08-19" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/military-language-in-wwi-were-the-masters-of-the-fck/" categories: - "History" - "War History" - "World War I" --- # Military officers in WWI were the masters of the word ‘f\*\*k’ ![A man with short dark hair and glasses is wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and patterned tie. He is standing in front of a backdrop with text including "THE 2013 CRUNCH" and "Yahoo!]() *As proven by John Oliver on HBO's Last Week Tonight.* There are a lot of words that carry a certain weight when said by the right person at the right time. --- And you'll be sure to remember it if it's dirty enough. ### Related: Patton's famous speech was way more vulgar than the one in the movie American troops are no exception. The only problem is that from the moment we join the service, we get indoctrinated into a world of shouting and expletives. ![]() *We should all get service-connected for hearing loss. Seriously. (U.S. Marine Corps photo)* It turns out World War I was no different, and it wasn't even the beginning. Etymologists – people who study the history of languages and trace word meanings – found it difficult to follow the lineage of the word "*f\*\*k"* for a long time. The word itself is so taboo in the English language that no one would ever write it down — even for historical documentation. ![]() *And they all have Inigo Montoya tattoos. (MGM/20th Century Fox)* Luckily for us, the Oxford English Dictionary started following it in 1897, just in time for the First World War. The OED only followed the word's history but never included it in its dictionary – it was illegal to print in publications by the Comstock Act of 1873. The law stopped absolutely no one from using it in everyday speech, least of all the military troops in the trenches. Some of the OED's research includes this line from John Brophy's "Songs and Slang of the British Soldier: 1914-1918." > "It became so common that an effective way for the soldier to express this emotion was to omit this word. Thus if a sergeant said, 'Get your f---ing rifles!' it was understood as a matter of routine. But if he said 'Get your rifles!' there was an immediate implication of urgency and danger." Sometimes what you don't say really *is* as important as what you do. ![]() *Somewhere out there, there's a smug First Sergeant, nodding their head.* The definition of the word itself survived intact from its initial meaning, "to have sexual intercourse with," and has been similarly pronounced and spelled since its first appearances in the 16th century. OED found mention of the word as "*fuccant*" in a "scurrilous" Latin-Middle English hybrid poem, called "*Flen Flyys,*" about what local monks did with the wives of the nearby town of Ely, and thus why they did not get into heaven. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()