There is ongoing (and amusing) debate in the comments on how many "Sekhmet you fucker" posts there have been. By my count, it is thirty-six, not counting things like "Sekhmet, you freak" and the like. The original, first post (as far as I can figure it, without reading the whole blog from scratch) can be found here, dating back to January of 2007.
FYI, the 'you fucker' thing is a Hawaiian slang deal. See, the Hawaiian language doesn't have profanity per se. Profanity is all about tone of voice and usage and expression. So words that on the mainland would cause shock and dismay are flung about with great humor, very casually. I once watched a kid nail his dad with a water balloon, and his dad laughed like crazy and yelled 'you fucker, you!' (it sounded like 'yoo fucka, yoo!') and it was taken the same way as a dad on the mainland calling his kid a goof or a monkey or something. Not a big deal. So, back in 2007 when I found Sekhmet laying on my yarn, well, there you go. I've kept at it over the years because, well, she is a fucker.
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6 comments:
My husband was a sailor for 6 years and his language was um, salty . My girls grew up hearing the word fuck and fucker all the time. As long as no one said fuck you in an angry way, no one cared. It's a word
Thirty-six? That's all? Heehee!
Oh, profanity is just words, after all. I explained to my kids two things: first, certain words were considered so bad when I was growing up that not even the "greasers" used them, and when my kids used them on me, the effect was as tho' I'd been slapped...shocking enough that I couldn't hear anything for a bit. (So I couldn't hear what the profanity had been about!)
The other: profanity is very useful when one is angry; casual usage weakens the effect dramatically. Best to save it for when you really need it.
So: if you really get mad at Sekhmet, "you fucker!" isn't going to do it. You might have to throw something instead.
Okay, that explains a lot. I was a bit confused by the frequent use of the eff word in the movie "50 First Dates" (set in Hawaii), but I see now it is a cultural thing. I grok it now.
Aaahh... now see, I'm so glad you explained the Sekhmet, you fucker thing. I have to admit that I thought it was somewhat... well, odd that you called your cat a fucker for doing very catlike things. But the "Yoo fucka yoo" story put it in a whole new light for me. And gave me a good chuckle. On another note, some time back you were talking about native american cooking and stated that the natives didn't have onions, and it threw me, because here in upstate NY we have something that I grew up calling "wild onions" that look more like a green onion, but smaller, like chives actually, and if you mow them they really do smell like onions. I always assumed, though I have no way of actually knowing, that the native americans used them to flavor their dishes as we would our onions. Any thoughts on this?
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