Fuck, Fuckin', Fuck...

This one is not about my sex life, this is about cussing.

I work in a lot of places and with a variety of people. When I am working as a rigger in Orange County, I am always surprised how much casual cussing takes place. I know the word Fuck can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, and pronoun. But I am rarely surprised by it.

I cuss. Sometimes a lot. It may depend on if I am driving on the 405. If that is the case, the words I am using are usually compound words. "Dickweed" has been moving up the ranks (though I haven't figured out a specific meaning) and there's the ever popular "Fuckbrain." Which is pretty self explanatory.

But whenever I work in Orange County with the riggers there I come back watching what I say a bit more. I am always surprised with the amount of cussing I encounter, though I shouldn't be after working there this long. Here's an example of a conversation. Dan was telling me he was going to go 4 wheeling over the Memorial Day holiday. "I gotta go home and fucking pack. Then I gotta got to the fucking bank and get out $500. I need to get a shovel and a fucking axe and ratchet strap them to the fucking bumper." I don't think he had any idea he was cussing that much. The word was meaningless to him. It was an adjective. That's all.

I was working with some kids last week. And I watched what I said, but their definition of cussing was much higher than even what I was watching out for. I said to Reno, who I have known his entire life, that I would "kick his ass" and a little girl said, "Take that back!" I didn't know that both the word "ass", and the threat of violence was the "no no." I can take Reno in a fight, I'm sure of that, but he knows I'm not serious and would jump in front of a train to save him.

The riggers in Orange County aren't stupid. Some didn't go to college maybe most. The things they work on 100 feet in the air take a different kind of smarts. It's not verbal. It's spatial. Figuring out what lengths of wire rope are needed to hang a motor while balancing on a piece of steel is different than working in an office. It's like longshoreman or teamsters. It's a macho world with a lot of ego and bravado. The riggers who are stupid or incompetent get sorted out very quickly and never do the job again.

It's an interesting character study... But shut the fuck up.