Look I think this swearing in a book title to get our attention has had its day.
Maybe it’s because I am a bit of a prissy missy at heart, but to me the F word loses its impact when it is overused.[ Although I confess I have used the word myself but that is only in relation to cyclists and never to their faces – always to their bums].
To me, the swearing lost its impact after a while, as I used to say to the young fat lawyer when he kept retelling the same tedious joke
“It was funny the first time”
But now when I browse the self-help bookshelves, I can scarcely see a title without the f**** word in it.
Mark Manson’s book has been on the bestselling non-fiction lists for ages now. Absurdly I didn’t have to buy a copy because my husband’s best friend bought me a copy of the book for Christmas – now there’s a story in itself. Why the f******would he do that? Sorry about that, but reading the book is like going to a Billy Connolly concert, you just can’t help swearing for the next week.
Swearing aside, and there is a lot of swearing in this book, his point is that we must ration the things that we give a f**about.
In other words, he suggests we reserve our angst for what really matters like family, friends, health, anything that is important to you – and you say fuck to everything else. Or as my Mum once said when the young fat lawyer threw my front door key onto the roof of the garage.
“Choose your battles dear”.
We save our fucks for what really matters particularly those people who have stayed around long enough to give a fuck about. We should be comfortable with the fact that we don’t have to feel comfortable all the time. We don’t have to give a fuck about anything that doesn’t seem important.
Clark Gable said the same thing years ago in the film “Gone with the Wind”
Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.
