Literature / Precision F Strike

"BOBBY THERE'S NO SEATBELT ON THAT FUCKING THING!" I screamed. It was the first time I ever used that particular word, so far as I can remember.

— Nightmares & Dreamscapes, "The End of the Whole Mess"

In the introduction to his memoir The Answer Is Reflections On My Life, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek says that, now that his memory is fading in his old age, he feels he's "in the same boat as Mark Twain, who in his seventies said he remembered only things that never happened. If that occurs here, tough shit." (The next line reads, "Revelation #1: Alex Trebek swears.")
Aurora Cycle: Tyler Jones doesn’t swear, as is mentioned several times throughout the first book. Until he does, near the end, when Cat is telling him to leave her behind on Octavia after she’s been infected by the Ra’haam.
“Furthermore,” Ty continues, in his best parade-ground voice, “I shouldn’t have to remind you that I’m your superior officer. So if you’re considering laying down here, if you even think of cashing out on this drop, I’m going to kick your ass so hard the lump in your throat will be my fucking heel, is that understood?”
The Empirium Trilogy: After Corien shows Audric and everyone attending his wedding a vision of what happened to his father, Audric takes Rielle aside to confront her about the lies she's told. Ludivine keeps trying to stop the conversation, but Audric- someone who isn't prone to swearing- essentially tells her to shut the fuck up.
Ludivine: Stop berating her and listen to me. Corien is coming, and he's close. We should be sending out every last soldier to bolster the city's defenses against him. And I should be searching for him rather than standing here keeping you from hurting each other. I suggest we talk about this later.
Audric (angrily): Fuck your suggestions. We're talking about this right now.
In Good Omens, Aziraphale, an Angel, actually says a very emphatic "Oh, fuck!" just before he dies. Almost. It was the first such instance in 6000 years. Everything about the character is the antithesis of a curse, so a hardened Cluster F Bomber will still burst into shocked giggles. Incidentally, this is easily the most obscene moment in the entire book.
- The book has also spent the entire time up until the actual swearing mercilessly Lampshade Hanging the fact that he doesn't swear wherever possible, in lines like, "Oh dear," muttered Aziraphale with the practiced ease of one who has spent six thousand years not swearing ..." This helps to lend the appropriate amount of gravity to the moment when it does occur.
- Prior to The Long Earth, there were precisely two F-words in Terry Pratchett's entire works. The other is spoken by Kin in Strata.
The Heroes of Olympus: Except that the word "freaking" is used instead of the normal phrase. Going toe-to-toe against an ice goddess is definitely a Moment of Awesome for Leo.
Leo: "See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It. Freaking. Melts."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy
- Mostly Harmless, spoken by Arthur to Ford, at the end of the worst day of his [Arthur's] life.
- The Narrator gets one in Chapter 25 of So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish in a tangent about the nature of Arthur's sexuality (read: if he actually had one):
  "This Arthur Dent," comes the cry from the farthest reaches of the galaxy, and has even now been found inscribed on a deep space probe thought to originate from an alien galaxy at a distance too hideous to contemplate, "what is he, man or mouse? Is he interested in nothing more than tea and the wider issues of life? Has he no spirit? Has he no passion? Does he not, to put it in a nutshell, fuck?"
  Those who wish to know should read on. Others may wish to skip on to the last chapter which is a good bit and has Marvin in it.
  - This is especially effective because it's the first time the word "fuck" is said in the entire series. And this is in the fourth book, in a series that is remarkably tame (the worst language before that is the word "shit" ... once). But it really carries much more weight when Arthur says it in Mostly Harmless because he is normally impressively tolerant of Ford Prefect's nonsense up to this point. In comparison, when Ford says it later in the same book, it's done casually and no one is supposed to care.
  - Only in the American edition. Elsewhere, the word "fuck" first appears in the previous book, in reference to the award for "Most Gratuitous Use of the Word 'Fuck' in a Serious Screenplay".
- Zaphod's use of "Belgium!" when they're in the ice cave in the original radio series is an example in-universe — he'd never normally use such strong language unless something was really wrong, and it prompts Ford to take the situation seriously.
  - Speaking of Belgium, the use of the word "Belgium" as an expletive is, in the books, established when Arthur runs afoul of a movie star who is extremely proud of having won an award for the most gratuitous use of such in a movie. There is a hilarious exchange revolving around Arthur trying to make sense of what's so offensive about the word Belgium..
  - Only in the American edition. Elsewhere...
- "The Award for the Most Gratuitous Use of the Word 'Fuck' in a Serious Screenplay"^note
Cursing is almost non-existent in books from the Gwendalavir Universe, making the following line from the first volume of Les Mondes d'Ewilan hysterically funny :
Salim: "[...] deign tell me why we're working ourselves to death hiking through this fucking piece of shit country even though you could transport us to our destination in a blink ?"
Ewilan: "Hiking through what ?"
Salim: "Through this arid land of which the inhospitable rocks assault my feet and exhaust my patience, was it not what I said ?"
In Peter David's Star Trek novel Vendetta, a Federation ship (not the Enterprise) sees the Planet Eater doing its thing, and an Ensign swears and then he apologizes to the captain, since that's frowned on; but the captain says that, no, that's quite all right; that's really the best way to describe the situation.
In the Star Trek: Vanguard novel Precipice, a civilian character warned against helping a pre-warp culture fight the Klingons responds "Fuck the Prime Directive". Possibly the first use of the f-word in the entire Trekverse.
In Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Yvaine whispers fuck in very small letters just after hitting the ground. It is the only rude word in a book otherwise full of rich, subtle, poetic language.
In Larry Niven's Known Space series, an example from the Beowulf Schaeffer short story "Flatlander", with Lampshade Hanging.
Bey: Have you noticed in me a tendency to use profanity for emphasis?
Elephant: Not really. Why?
Bey: It's goddamn radioactive out there.
Harry Potter:
- In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Aunt Marge sneaks in a Precision Bitch Strike. She compares Harry's alleged behavioural problems and his mother's alleged similar traits to dog breeding: "If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup." Harry then realises it's a stealthy Your Mom joke aimed at him, promptly setting up the next plot points in motion.
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Morfin Gaunt calls his sister a “slut” in a flashback, which is only time that specific word is used in the series. Ron had previously used the less crude term “scarlet woman” in the fourth book.
- Another Precision Bitch Strike occurs in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — by sweet Molly Weasley of all people. "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
- Up to Deathly Hallows, both Harry and Ron have used profanity at least once, but here, Hermione finally gets her turn to talk like a sailor, with such words and phrases as "damn", "complete ass", and basically the wizarding equivalent of "holy shit" (read: "Merlin's pants!").
- The word "bastard" also gets used twice in Deathly Hallows without it having been used in any of the other books (unless you count a single mostly-obscured instance during the Quidditch final in Prisoner of Azkaban). Right before the climax, Aberforth Dumbledore calls the Muggle boys who attacked his sister as a kid for doing magic such and then Ron punches Malfoy during the climax and calls him "a two-face bastard".
In Misery the writer Paul is being held hostage by the insane fan Annie, who dislikes swearing and prefers using Gosh Dang It to Heck! nonsense-words when she is angry. Paul soon learns that despite how frightening and cruel she normally can be, he should be truly terrified of her whenever she actually swears.
In the Doctor Who Expanded Universe novels, when the Eighth Doctor is frustrated he usually says things like "fiddlesticks" and "sugarmice". But due to being widowed, getting his heart torn out of his chest (don't worry, he has another one), generally having a very bad time of it, suffering from severe nightmares, and having to deal with two formidable villains at once, he starts feeling pretty stressed and refers to one of said villains as a "son of a bitch." Also used to play up the weirdness of a "Freaky Friday" Flip situation.
In Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Juan Rico's first day of boot camp introduces Sergeant Zim, whose first act is to rant for several consecutive minutes on the various shortcomings (moral, mental, and physical) of the recruits, never once repeating himself or using profanity. Zim reserves profanity for when he's really serious. Rico spends most of the monologue wishing they had had someone with Zim's command of language on his debate team at school.
The Catcher in the Rye: the graffiti at the school, near the end of the book. Notably, Holden is fine with saying "goddamn" and "sonofabitch" without a care in the world, but seeing a "FUCK YOU", especially at a school, really gets under his skin.
In the Watership Down novel, just as the heroes are about to attack the Warren of the Snares, Fiver, who is timid by nature, screams "Embleer Frith" — which translates roughly to "Stinking God" (and is roughly equivalent to "Goddammit!"), to get them to stop.
- Later in the book, Bigwig tells Woundwort to "Silflay hraka, u embleer rah" — this translates to "Eat shit, O Stinking King".
  - Though this may not qualify, as Bigwig isn't exactly the most timid of characters. In fact, this scene, while also qualifying for a Moment of Awesome, establishes him as the biggest, meanest, most dangerous rabbit in the novel. Which is saying something, considering who Woundwort is.
Warrior Cats: In Moonrise, Leafpool exclaims "Mouse dung!" (which is essentially the cat equivalent of "Dammit!") shortly after failing to catch a mouse. She never really pseudo-swears at all, and is usually polite, so it was likely done to convey how ThunderClan has been effected by the extreme shortage of prey and how desperate they are for food.
- Tallstar refusing Tigerstar's demands and publicly calling him a "piece of foxdung" ("piece of shit") in The Darkest Hour seems to carry more weight, being said by the stereotypically meek WindClan leader, and only makes it more of a Moment of Awesome for him.
Robin Hobb uses the F-word only a very few times in her books, meaning each has maximum impact. Towards the end of the Realm of the Elderlings novel Ship of Destiny, after Kennith rapes Althea, her nephew Wintrow defends him, causing Althea to scream at him: "Fuck you, Wintrow!"
Star Wars Expanded Universe, Dark Nest Trilogy. You know things are bad when Luke Skywalker swears. He'd forgotten there were small children present.
Luke Skywalker: Kriffing slicers! Kriffing history!
Ben Skywalker: Dad? What's 'kriffing'?
Luke Skywalker: [calms himself] Nothing. A bad word. Your mother won't be happy I said it in front of you.
- Ben tends to throw profanity around fairly freely when in annoying situations (as long as there's no one around; all right, his parents are exceptions, but the point stands), but if it's not the kind of profanity you usually see in a Star Wars book (almost always mentioned in passing and not actually printed), you know something very bad happened. The last sentence of the leading quote for this page, which is best summarized as "Oh crap, the Sith are back" is about as profane as you can get while still staying safe for work.
In War And Remembrance, this word is only used once, by Janice Henry to a Japanese grocer right after the Pearl Harbor attack.
Honor Harrington:
- Honor herself, being an Officer and a Lady, never uses profanity. But when she does, it's a tactical Precision F-Strike with no survivors.
- Queen Elizabeth III uses "cluster fuck" to describe her feelings on Solarian Admiral Byng's idiocy at New Tuscany in Storm from the Shadows. Her Majesty is also not known for swearing.
- Admiral Allen Higgins, normally quite an affable fellow, uses one in War of Honor to make his feelings abundantly clear during a discussion with his chief of staff.
  "No more of my people are going to be killed in a battle we can't win anyway."
  "But, Sir, if you just abandon the yards, the Admiralty will—"
  "Fuck the Admiralty!"
In Contact, Ellie Arroway typically sticks to "Holy Toledo!", but after the Very Large Array finally picks up on what looks like a genuine message from extraterrestrials, she takes a moment to retreat to her office, closes the door behind her, and whispers "Holy shit!"
In The Girls Guide To Hunting And Fishing, the main character works for an annoyingly put-together, professional, well-educated type, and mentions that all this makes hearing her Precision F Strikes like seeing a strong man cry.
Inverted in the Shadowrun novel Night's Pawn, where the main character's occasional use of the word "fuck" has such an impact because he's the only person who still uses such an antiquated swear word. A member of the opposition even calls it "quaint".
Mercedes Lackey's By the Sword. In a series full of Oh, My Gods! and Unusual Euphemisms, when Kero starts her Insignia Rip-Off Ritual by declaring "I've never heard such a crock of shit in my life", it certainly grabs your attention.
In Fragment, the President of the United States gets one of these, when the Henders Island natives appear on screen, revealing that a nonhuman race of intelligent beings exists and has befriended the camera crew.
In one of the Garrett, P.I. novels, Garrett is startled when his friend Morley says "Shit!", as Morley doesn't often use non-elven profanity. Circumstances, however, make it appropriate, as a carnivorous dinosaur just stuck its head in the window of the coach they're sitting in.
Used throughout David Weber's Safehold series. It's rather telling when the first line of dialogue from one of the Sinister Minister antagonists after their plan to destroy the protagonist kingdom fails spectacularly is "Who the fuck do these people think they are?"
In The Handmaid's Tale: "My red skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body." She goes on to explain that that is the only word that she can think to describe it, since other terms for sex wouldn't really fit how weirdly dispassionate it is, while "rape" doesn't apply because she's technically consenting.
In The Bartimaeus Trilogy we get sparing cases of "damn" and "hell," and then one case when a minor character called Jane Faraar a bitch, which she takes as a compliment. Of course, this could also be a bit of a pun, since she is probably a werewolf.
In the Temeraire novels we have a book and a half of swear words no stronger than damn or hell and then suddenly we get the line "Fire, fire you fucking yellow-arsed millers!"
The Dresden Files is rarely very shy about a few swears here and there, but some characters are less prone to bouts of language than others. In "The Warrior", a short story from the anthology Side Jobs, Michael, a devout Catholic man who never in the main books of the series said so much as "hell" or "damn" — and has repeatedly reproached Harry for using same — delivers the line: "The son of a bitch hurt my little girl." Coming from him, it's so shocking that even Harry is taken aback.
- When Harry really, REALLY needs Molly to shut up, he does this. He also slags trashcans and brings a small ball of plasma up to her face with the stated intention of keeping right on going, but it was probably the swearing thing.
- Inverted in Cold Days, which probably has more uses of the word in a single chapter than in the entire rest of the series to that point. Possibly another sign of the detrimental effect of the Mantle of the Winter Knight on Harry?
- Near the end of Battle Ground, Michael is so pissed off at finding out that the White Council has just kicked Harry out of the organization that he spits out the line "Those fuckers." Harry is so shocked that he actually falls over, and can only listen as Michael then follows up with a several minute tirade of curses in a dozen languages.
In Gun, With Occasional Music, the First-Person Smartass narrator ends one chapter, when he's just figured out something vital about his case, with "It was time to quit fucking around."
While the Nightside series doesn't exactly shun profanity, one stellar example of this trope appears in The Good, The Bad And The Uncanny, when Walker has the gall to speak approvingly of duty and responsibility to a woman who's lost all three of her sons to duty, one way or another. She tells him to fuck off, and John Taylor nearly bursts into applause when she does so.
Used in Goth Girl Rising, the sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Also a Wham Line, as it reveals why the otherwise unrestrained Kyra (the eponymous Goth Girl) has issues with the f-word.
"I WANT DOMINGO MONTOYA, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
In Crysis: Legion, normally mild Dr. Gould decides that the best analogy to describe the Nanosuit's intended purpose against the Ceph is gay rape on hanging flies. It Makes Sense in Context, but everyone in the vicinity, even the moaning-in-pain wounded, is Dumb Struck.
The Kingdom Keepers: In the 4th novel, Wayne says "Damn" while demanding to check if Maleficent has escaped her cell at the end of the book. This is coming from a novel where no curse has ever before been written and rarely implied and "OMG" is stated out loud in place of the more blasphemous alternative.
Sylvia Plath's eloquent, haunting poem "Daddy" ends with "Daddy, you bastard, I'm through."
In Marilyn French's The Women's Room, Mira - in contrast to other members of the group - swears so little that the group find it hilarious when she tells them to 'go fuck themselves', which she sees as passing a sort of initiation test. Ben realizes just how angry Mira is with him when she screams, "FUCK OFF, BEN!"
An Elegy for the Still-living contains a few.
Masoch: Piss and fuck. Wade in muck. Death.
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card has a select few swears, particularly a conversation between Miro and Jane.
Miro: I thought you were my friend.
Jane: I am. I can read your mind.
Miro: You're a meddling old bitch and you can't read anything.
In Septimus Heap, in Syren, when Septimus is trying to get a Sealed door open to rescue people trapped behind it:
Septimus: I'll have to do a reverse ... not so easy without a Darke talisman. Rats
Prince Roger: Captain Armand Pahner's every word is precision strike, so whenever he does swear, it is fucking surgical. And you know the fecal matter has most definitely hit the pneumatic impeller.
In the Stephen King novella The Body (later filmed as Stand by Me) 13-year-old Gordie is neglected by his parents, who are lost in a fog of grief since his brother died. One day his mother is dreamily reminiscing about the brother on a day when Gordie's been through some severe stuff and his response is, "Yeah, that's a real bitch." His mother doesn't notice.
- Truth be told, it's a staple in any Stephen King novel. He's particularly fond of using the phrase "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on" in several of his novels.
The Great Gatsby: Owl-eyed man's funeral oration briefly conveys Gatsby's sad life and death.
"The poor son-of-a-bitch," he said.
Roald Dahl had a tendency to insert the occasional mild vulgarity into his stories:
- The Centipede from James and the Giant Peach: "Of course I'm not talking to you, you ass!"
- Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: "I stood there shouting 'Burp, you silly ass, burp or you'll never come down again!'"
- Taking into account the age of the stories and the fact Dahl was British, the term isn't as vulgar as it seems. What Americans term "ass" for the backside a Brit would typically go "arse" instead. "Ass" in this case is short for "jackass" (or donkey), which is meant to imply the insulted is simply an idiot.
Philip Larkin's infamous poem "This Be The Verse" starts off with "They fuck you up, your mum and dad." (there is a second F-strike in "But they were fucked up in their turn...")
The Bible, in the original Hebrew, contains one in 1 Samuel, when King Saul figures out that Jonathan is actually trying to assist David. The Living Bible, for instance, translates Saul's harsh words thus:
Saul: You son of a bitch! Do you think I don’t know that you want this son of a nobody to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother? As long as that fellow is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!
- In a New Testament example, the Book of Acts includes an instance where someone tries to offer Peter money for a place in a then-new faith now known as Christianity. The Message offers this translation of Peter's quick rebuke:
Peter: To hell with your money! And you along with it.
- Saint Paul's letter to the Philippians also supplies one, though it is understandably downplayed in most translations: In Philippians 3:8, while discussing how the things of the flesh are no longer valued by him, he makes this pronouncement: "For [Christ's] sake I have let everything fall away and now consider all garbage, if instead I may gain Christ." The Greek word often translated "rubbish" or "garbage" in that passage is in the original Greek texts actually "σκύβαλον" ("skubalon"), a crude term that according to legitimate Biblical scholars actually carries the meaning of "dog shit". Needless to say, this is one passage where no completely accurate translation, getting across Saint Paul's actual intensity, could ever be proclaimed from the pulpit.
In Dave Barry in Cyberspace, a series of commands in English are typed into a DOS prompt in a vain attempt to get the computer to do something except print "BAD COMMAND OR FILENAME". Until:
A:> F**K YOU
BAD COMMAND OR FILENAME, A**HOLE
The title character of the E. E. Cummings poem "i sing of Olaf glad and big":
"I will not kiss your fucking flag"
A Series of Unfortunate Events :
- Anyone catch "Get in the damn jeep"?
- A spanish translation renders that line as "Metanse al jodido jeep!" which translates to "Get in the fucking jeep!"
  - The Lemony Narrator himself lampshades this immediately afterwards, apologizing to readers for having Olaf shout for the kids to "get in the damn jeep".
Up to Professor Cole’s lecture, Murderess comes across as a fairly tame and rather typical teen drama novel with some fantastic elements. As soon as Lu tells him her last name, however, things take a turn for the darker, and he openly calls her a bitch.
In The Last Ship, Thomas, a very prim gentleman, delivers one of these when several other characters begin arguing with each other.
"And if everyone did, is anyone suggesting we start some sort of fucking treasure hunt to find as many of those pockets as we can before our fuel runs out and we end up wallowing in some sea somewhere?"
In Sweet Valley Confidential, a disastrous dinner party chapter ends with mother Alice hollering, "Ned! Bring out the fucking cake!" Nope, this is not your little sister's Sweet Valley.
Erica Jong coined the term "zipless fuck," in the novel Fear of Flying.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe invented (or rather popularized) the MOTHER of all F bombs in "Götz von Berlichingen". (He's a German, so it's rather an A bomb: "Leck mich im Arsch.")
- Hilariously played with in a dramatic 2014 TV version: "IM Arsch? Shoudn't be that AM?"^note "Hey, I just made a slip of tongue! It wouldn't write history anyway!"
Played with in the SF novel "Amped" by Daniel H. Wilson. "Sheep fucker!" It's not meant as insult, but only as a distraction for a reaction test (the protagonists mech gear passes the test easily).
In The Witling, Yoninne drops a Precision G-D Strike early on, when she and Ajão finally realize why they never had a chance against the Azhiri: "Teleports. They're goddamned teleports."
In Heart of Steel, Alistair Mechanus thinks the f-word only twice in his side of the narration, once in frustration and once in extreme rage.
In Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, Argilla has an emotional outburst after being told about the nature of Atma causing her to say that The Church can go fuck itself. This serves as an indicator not just to how much she has changed, but how everyone has changed and awoken to something called emotions.
In A Civil Campaign, Ekaterin manages to do this with the word "twit". She is such a Proper Lady that this is the equivalent of a much stronger curse word from anybody else. Also, the fact that she says this in front of the Council of Counts that is in full session adds to the effect.
Deliberately used in-universe in the Horus Heresy novels. Three people, including an elderly and refined scholar, are getting the hell off Prospero in A Thousand Sons; when two of them start bickering, the elderly scholar advises them to "shut the shitting hell up", then admits he was using the language to get their attention.
In Wolf Hall, Cromwell is trying to get into a room that has Henry VIII and the Holy Roman Ambassador in it at a particularly sensitive moment, when Henry's privy gentlemen accost him in their costumes for the Christmas revelry. Cromwell remains polite and pleasant, but his inner monologue betrays how pissed he is:
Prime Christmas game: let's fuck about with Cromwell.
Horatio Hornblower relies mainly on the Narrative Profanity Filter to describe how its cast of sailors express themselves, and the title character himself rarely even gets that because he is loath to show open emotion (both to keep his men from realizing he's worried and thus losing morale and because he's self-conscious) and prefers not to curse in general. Usually the swearing doesn't get worse than mild blasphemies like damn and hell. So the clearest proof of Hornblower's aggravation with losing the wind in The Happy Return is when the narration notes that "the Lydia, so graceful and willing under sail, was a perfect bitch under tow."
Journey to Chaos: When a sweet and polite girl like Annala calls someone "a piece of shit", people take notice. Eric had never heard her swear before then.
Reaper's Gale, book seven of the Malazan Book of the Fallen: Right after having several people turn up univited in his dreams, Udinaas — already plagued by sleeplessness and general misery — demands the group move on, revealing he knows that the day and night cycle within the realm they're traversing is being controlled by Silchas Ruin's will. Clip can't help himself and inserts a quip about Udinaas being too smart for his own good and gets settled with a Precision F-Strike for his trouble by Udinaas, who usually never curses.
Clip: 'You understand too much. Did you hear me, Udinaas?'
Udinaas: 'Go fuck yourself.'
The Laundry Files: Angelton indulges in this, exactly once. Normally Angelton is in perfect control of himself and has everything planned out three steps further than anyone else. When Angelton says "Oh, dear." it is an indication that an operation has gone off the rails badly, and that the Nuclear Option is probably not enough, but the only thing we have that can make a dent. When Angelton starts reciting parts of the "shit-piss-fuck-cunt-bugger"-litany, the literal End of the World as We Know It is in all likelihood imminent.
Robin of the Cormoran Strike Novels is much less foul-mouthed than most other characters in the series - her swearing at Matthew in Lethal White when she finds out that he intercepted her "fucking calls" and later when she tells him to fuck off shows how serious the situation is. Other than at those two points, she only ever swears strongly in-character as Bobbi when she's undercover.
Touch: While most of the characters cuss fairly frequently, James is rather shocked when Peter says "fuck" in relation to Abusive Parents like Caspar's, and then feels very adult when Peter permits him to say it himself. (James then chickens out of repeating it in front of his friends.)
- In therapy, James is asked for four words that he would choose to describe his rapist. He selects "liar," "meanie," "pervert" and (quietly) "asshole," then apologizes for cussing.
From Grady Hendrix' Paperbacks from Hell: Chapter 4. As part of his trashing of the Amityville series, he writes that the third installment (Amityville: The Evil Escapes) expanded from "a simple of meal of possessed homes to an all-you-can-eat buffet of occult bullshit."
In The Neverending Story, Gmork has the next line:
Gmork: "Go to hell, you little fool! Do you want to keep me alive until the Nothing gets here?"
In Project Tau, Tau does this to Kata toward the end of the book.
Tau: I am not your fucking tool, Kata! You can't just use me!
The Knife of Never Letting Go frequently uses the word 'effing', before the real word is finally used a single time towards the end of the book, shocking the narrator and reader alike.
In Two Worlds: Bette, the "autism whisperer," treats Anthony in an even more patronizing manner than everyone else, and is highly dismissive of the idea that he might be able to communicate. When Miss Harris holds up the letterboard, the first thing he types is "FUCKBETTE."
WLT: For a book heavily involving sex, the word "fuck" is only used once, and not in a sexual context either. Rather, when Frank White first lands a job at the eponymous radio station, Roy Soderbjerg Jr. recounts a situation to emphasize the importance of being on time and aware of one's surroundings at the station, in which a former employee came to work late and hung over, and retorted "Oh fuck you" when someone told him his microphone was on when he cursed while demanding why he couldn't hear any music.
Gravity Falls: Journal 3: Ford writes "I'll be damned if I let that demon deceive me again" in one of his journal entries. Granted, it's not exactly a strong profanity, but given that the show never said anything worse than "heck," "gosh," or "darn," it still sticks out.
Legends & Lattes: While she's not shy about swearing, Viv only uses "fuck" when she wants to make a point. When Tandri talks about how she was driven from university, Viv says "Fuck those motherfuckers" to make her laugh. When her coffee shop is burned down, she starts using it again as a sign of her reverting to her Barbarian Hero instincts in the wake of losing everything.
The Princess Bride has, famously, "I want Domingo Montoya, you son of a bitch!"

Precision F Strike / Literature

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