Letting Your Fuck Flag Fly

Tony Russo
5 min readDec 17, 2021

Trigger warning: This story contains frequent use of the “F” word.

I’ve always said that flags are bumper stickers for your house, but I never took seriously the idea that people would start turning bumper stickers into actual flags.

Now, before anyone reaches for pearls to clutch, saying, “Fuck X” where X is the current president has been part of the American political dialogue for a long time.

I remember seeing “Fuck Bush” bumper stickers early in this century. “Fuck X” has since replaced Don’t Blame Me I Voted (other party) bumper stickers. This story isn’t about national politics or whether or not a U.S. president deserves a fuck flag.

What I want to look at is whether “fuck” now has normal word status, or if it only is acceptable in flag and bumper sticker form.

For example, if there were kids playing out in front of the house and I were to politely ask, “Hey, kids, where the fuck is your mom/dad?” would the parent have any right to object to my use of the language?

Comfortable as Fuck

I don’t mind using “fuck” in regular conversation. It bothered my dad when he was alive and continues to bother my mom. I believe they think it’s crass, that it indicates a moral or at least social failing on all of our parts when used in mixed…

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Tony Russo

Pencil-sharpening enthusiast, journalist, author of “Dragged Into the Light” https://amzn.to/3bLQ0Wi