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Motherfucker (also contracted forms mother and mofo and, phonetically, in [African-American] vernacular speech, muthafucka) is a common insult and profanity in the English language and is widely considered obscene and [inappropriate]. By virtue of its history of usage, motherfucker generally is regarded as [African-American] in origin. Literally, it accuses one of violating, perhaps, the oldest taboo known to humankind, incest. However, as with most epithets, its use is pejorative, rather than literal. Historically, it was a vicious taunt, a damning insult -- and a veiled allusion to the destruction of black male familial hegemony under chattel slavery. The power of the word was that it attacked one's sense of manhood. Regardless of its historical or cultural context, however, many consider motherfucker the mother of all curse words. The cause of countless barroom brawls and streetfights, it is purported to have sparked at least one prison riot.

Motherfucker has taken on additional meanings through continued use, its evolution being shaped primarily by, again, the [African-American] community. It has come to mean a formidable or inexorable force, as in the threat: "Payback is a bitch, but revenge is a muthafucka." It is also an expression of disgust or contempt: "Now, ain't that a muthafucka!" Motherfucker also has come to be used in some circles as a general pronoun.

The initials M.F. became a common, more polite substitute for motherfucker, as did the term Maryland farmer in the 1960s and 1970s. The result is an oft-recounted, if somewhat apocryphal, tale of the clueless Maryland Farmers [Association] writing a letter of protest to a prominent African-American in the news. It seems he called a Capitol Hill politician a "jive Maryland farmer," and the association's members were mightily offended.

The growing use of motherfucker in American popular culture may mean the term through time has become less offensive to some, but some see its increasing ubiquity as a sign of the general coarsening of [American society].

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