On “WTF”

It must seem to anglophones of every era that the English language of their generation is being horribly cheapened by the next. No doubt the English were appalled by the coarse Gallic smack-talk that began to invade their sturdy Anglo-Saxon dialect along with the Normans themselves in 1066.

Still I can’t help but feel that something truly degrading is happening now to the language of William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and James Baldwin, abetted by an Internet culture that immediately rewards any abbreviation, minimization, and meme-ification of written expression. And perhaps the best (and worst) expression of the new unexpressiveness is the usage of “WTF”.

This linguistic atrocity first struck me in 2011, when Sarah Palin publicly responded to Barack Obama’s recent State-of-the-Union Address. (If you don’t remember Sarah Palin, think Marjorie Taylor-Greene without the civility.) She mocked a slogan Obama employed in that speech, “winning the future”, telling an ABC interviewer, “there were a lot of WTF moments through [sic] that speech.” By this she meant statements that were so incomprehensible or horrifying that it would cause a normal person to involuntarily interject…well, you know.

And what exactly were these incomprehensible, horrifying statements? Obama specifically tied “winning the future” to four policies: government investment in new technology; government investment in transportation and IT infrastructure; public education reform and investment; and cutting the budget deficit through a combination of spending cuts (including a freeze on total domestic spending) and tax increases.

WTF!

One could argue (and many did) against each of these ideas. But “WTF” is no argument—it is the end of argument. It is a smug declaration that one’s opponent is obviously too stupid or radical to deserve arguing with.

A friend of mine—whose political views I would call moderately conservative—recently criticized Texas Senator Ted Cruz for travelling to Cancun in the midst of a severe winter storm that caused millions of his fellow Texans to struggle without some or all of electricity, heat, or water, while still in the midst of a pandemic. “WTF?” was one response to this perfectly reasonable post.

Now, this “WTF” was not an appalled reaction to Cruz’s behavior. No, it was an expression of outrage against criticizing Ted Cruz for what he did. What’s wrong with going to Cancun (commented the commenter)? I would too, if I could! WTF?

So any opinion, any situation, however evidently reasonable or innocuous, would seem to be WTF-worthy. Just look at Yelp. This restaurant charges extra for chips and salsa? WTF?!

The strong language of yesterday is continually turning into the everyday usage of today. I read that the writers of the HBO Western series Deadwood liberally used explicit 21st century obscenities in dialogue because purely authentic speech would have sounded comically mild. What the tarnation!?

But I have to wonder how much room is left for the cheapification process to continue. Once a disagreement over the pettiest issue calls for a WTF, then what is left to describe something truly horrific? “Did you read about that slaughter of innocent villagers by a neighboring clan? WTF!” It already sounds meaningless.

So next time you’re tempted to respond with a WTF, ask yourself, “do I really need to? Wouldn’t it be better to explain why I disagree?”

Really now…WTF!