“Don’t give a f#@&”

Note: This post was originally published in a slightly different form on Fritinancy, my Substack newsletter.

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“DON’T GIVE A F#@&” shouts the headline on a two-page ad in a recent Sunday New York Times. Instead of giving a f#@&, we’re instructed to “give an e.l.f.” — to substitute a three-initial brand name for a four-letter taboo word.

“DON’T GIVE a F#@&.” New York Times, November 2, 2025, page A9. Photo: Nancy Friedman.

E.l.f. is a cosmetics brand — the initials stand for eyes, lips, face, and the name is pronounced as an acronym, elf — that calls itself “a different kind of beauty company.” (Where is the entrepreneur bold enough to launch “the same kind of beauty company”?) Founded in 2004 and based in Oakland, California (my hometown!), e.l.f sells its potions online, in U.S. retail chains such as Target, and in brick-and-mortar shops in 17 other countries. The company has partnered with singer-songwriter Alicia Keys on a sub-brand, Keys Soulcare, and recently made headlines for its $1 billion (!) acquisition of Rhode, Hailey Rhode Bieber’s line of “edited, efficacious, and intentional” skincare and makeup products.

How “different” is e.l.f.? Here’s the facing page of that ad:

Sweary links #27

Well, this is embarrassing: It’s been five years since we last published one of these link roundups. Obviously, we’re overdue for an update. Equally obviously, we’re not going to cover all the newsworthy sweary things that transpired between June 2020 and June 2025. We’re obsessive but not deranged. 

Here, then, is the best of the latest. Got a tip for us? Leave a comment here, or tag us on Mastodon or Bluesky. (We are no longer on Twitter/X.)

“Smut”

“Some people have a way with words,” the comedian Steve Martin used to say, “and other people . . . uh, not have way.” Tom Lehrer very much have way. The American musician, mathematician, and songwriter, who turns 97 today, is the creator of nearly 100 satirical songs, almost all of them written in the 1950s and 1960s, whose popularity, as a Wikipedia entry puts it, “has far outlasted their topical subjects and references.” The canon includes “Fight Fiercely, Harvard” — one of Lehrer’s earliest compositions, written when he was an undergraduate at that institution — and “We Will All Go Together When We Go,” a hymn to nuclear Armageddon. (“There will be no more misery/When the world is our rotizerie.”)

The anthem nearest to our hearts here at Strong Language Central, though, is of course “Smut,” which like Lehrer himself is celebrating a significant anniversary this year. Although the lyrics reflected a set of social and legal circumstances specific to mid-1960s America, their sentiment has proved to be timeless. In honor of its 60th anniversary and Tom Lehrer’s long, remarkable life, here’s our salute to “Smut.”

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“Type shit”

This is a guest post by Heddwen Newton, an English teacher and translator based in Germany and the author of the English in Progress newsletter. The post originally appeared on the English in Progress website.

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I curate a newsletter that keeps up to date (or at least attempts to keep up to date) with Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang, and “type shit”, also spelled as “type s”, “type shi” or “type shiii”, threw me for a loop when I found it on this teacher’s ban list:

Via Reddit

Apparently, the young ’uns are saying it to affirm whatever was said before. Here’s an example given by a Reddit user:

Jesse Sheidlower answers our questions about “The F-Word”

Lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower has been researching and writing about fuck for a fucking long time: nearly three decades. He’s also been an invaluable resource for the Strong Language blog since our very beginnings (almost ten years!). To celebrate the publication of the fourth edition of his magnum opus, The F-Word, we asked Sheidlower to share with Strong Language readers a bit about the book’s history, his research process, and what he likes to do when he’s not reading and writing about fuck. The interview was conducted over email.

[Read an excerpt of the new edition of The F-Word.]

[Buy The F-Word]