I'm not really fond of flies. It just so happened that I took fancy with them because of one quote I've read somewhere when I was in highschool and then I adapted it:
Don't judge a shit by the flies that hover around it.
Flies I don't like, shit I like.
Shit's been part of my language. Shit's been part of my lifestyle. In fact, it's even become part of the household, as if just changing my t-shirt or socks.
I say, shit's a universal word.
My life has never been as convenient as now if not for shit. Shit's been saving me when everything else fails to convey my thoughts. I say, "shit" when I'm pissed off. "Shit" when I'm amused. "Shit" when I'm scared. "Shit" when I'm excited. Shit shit shit shit. No word has been so versatile as shit. Not even its synonyms: "dung" sounds so hollow, I can't even imagine myself saying it when I'm excited. "Feces" is too gross, it makes me think of the real thing. "Scat" is, well, it sounds like a name.
But shit's foreign.
I am a proud Filipino, so why not use "tae"?
"Tae", in the context of the Filipino language, is not a cuss word. It's as typical as "tabo" (no pun intended).
That then leads us to the ultimate Filipino cuss word, "putang ina mo," which is translatable to English as "motherfucker."
I didn't use the former until I was in my senior year in highschool. Looking back, I think it was a significant turn of my emotionally unstable life. I was too enraged that moment that I swore "putang ina." When I went to college, apparently, that cuss word turned out to be just as ordinary as any other word. In fact, it has been as highly regarded as "shit." What's more is that it has borne out a lot of variations, from spelling to inflections: "tangina," "tang-ina," "po-tang-ina," "tanginamo," "ina-mo," etc.
As far as I am concerned, I've never heard of "motherfucker" being used from around me. From my own point of view, I think it's pretty long? I mean, if I'm really mad, I'd practically pick the monosyllabic "shit" over the four-syllabic "motherfucker."
But here's another cuss word, which is also rarely used (compared with the "shit" and "putang ina mo") but pretty much popular in the West: "son of a bitch."
The first time I heard the "son of a bitch" was, I think, when I was about five and I had to ask my mother, "Ma, what's son of a beach?" while picturing in my head an island with a coconut tree, which is a design in one of my white t-shirts then.
When I was in grade two, my classmate sitting in front of me, kept showing me the finger (as if to brag) as he was repeatedly saying "fuck you." At that time, I already knew that "fuck you" is a cuss word, something that is bad. But I had no idea it would be as harsh a cuss word as I would have learned years later. Right now, I'm reserving the "fuck you" with the finger for special occasions only. Perhaps, when I'm already abroad. Probably in the middle of a roadrage or when caught in a bar incident. Situations that right now, would seem impossible to picture myself getting involved. But who knows what the future could turn me into?
One amusing thing about us is how we apply our creativity even to cuss words. "Puta" from "putang ina mo" had come out with a lot of variants: "po-ta," "po-tek," "poo-tek," "po-teek," "putik," or "putakte."
I've also learned of one combo in college: "pakshet," a combination of "fuck" and "shet" (the retard variant of "shit"), although you wouldn't want to think about it (which I did and well, it's just too unthinkable), you just use it.
The bottom line is shit's been my favorite cuss word.
What's yours?
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