The Art of Swearing & The Thick Of It

WARNING: This post will contain strong language. Just so you know.

In an earlier post here, I mentioned the beauty of swearwords and said that the two people I love hearing swearing most are Terry Hall and Stephen Fry. Let me correct that: It's actually Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker in Armando Ianucci's brilliant The Thick Of It (and the spin-off film In The Loop). The characters in this series are constantly swearing, employing rude similes and extremely visual metaphors – but no-one more so than Malcolm Tucker, the undisputed star of the show. I think it helps that Peter Capaldi is Scottish, it just makes it sound even better (same goes for his side kick Jamie aka 'the crossest man in Scotland').
I must say I only recently got into the series, because I always thought it's one of those programmes that use insults and foul language to get cheap laughs – how wrong I was! I began to be more interested in it when it was mentioned on Fry's Planet Word (and you should know me by know – if Stephen Fry approves, it's worth checking out!). When I learned that the shows has its own swearing consultant (how cool is that?!) and actually contributed a new word to the dictionary, I thought it would be worth giving it a try. Of course there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of swearing, especially the wonderfully versatile fuck, but it's not just mindless abuse – it's actually art! The language is extremely creative, incredibly well-paced and some of the similes and metaphors or nicknames are simply hilarious! It's not just the swearing though, there sometimes are dialogues that are brilliant on their own, completely without swearing – but the foul language just adds that extra bit of brilliance.
I do hesistate to put a youtube compilation on here, because some of the figures of speech lose their impact when taken out of context and put together into an endless stream of abuse and fucks. However, clickhere for some very creative examples (all Malcolm Tucker, though the other characters have great lines too, he usually gets the best ones). And one that works all the time, Tucker's Law:

Just listen to the rhythm of that, just stunning! It all comes together, the two most powerful swearwords (more on those in my next post), a great pace and rhythm and a gorgeous Scottish accent! 
Though sometimes, the build up is very important, just to let that little bomb explode skillfully at the end:

These are only a few examples, they're even funnier in the context of the show & when you hear the delivery.
So if you're okay with swearing, I do implore you: Go and watch it!


I'll be analysing the beauty of swearing more closely in my next post.
Until then,
Fuckety- bye