Holy cow! 100 alternatives to saying 'f*ck'

 By 
Andrea Romano
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

There are far more colorful ways to saying the F word.

Graphic artist Sneha Keshav doesn't necessarily dislike swearing, but she is fascinated by how saying the word "fuck" has affected our vocabulary.

"I sometimes feel our vocabulary is stunted thanks to this convenient word. The idea is to not as much eliminating the word but adding fun alternatives to one's arsenal of colorful language," said Keshav to Mashable.

Originally from Mumbai, India, Keshav studied in the branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. SVA had their own version of Michael Beirut's "100 Days Project," a graphic design challenge that asks participants to create one thing for 100 days straight.

"My love for typography dictated the outcome of the project. I thought the 100 days project would be a great opportunity to play around with typography with no restrictions or design brief," she said.

Day 99/100 #tamingofthefuckery No 100 day project is complete without crediting the man behind it. I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Beirut in Chicago and it seems apt to celebrate the penultimate day of this epic journey with his idea #the100dayproject #100days #thegreatdiscontent #typography #typegang #todaystype @todays_type #svampsbranding #handdonetype #handdonetypography #handtype #handlettering #handdrawn #slowroastedco #typematters #typespire @slowroastedco #typedaily #thedailytype @9gag #9gag @boredpanda #boredpanda @typepost @typographie_ #thefinelab A photo posted by Taming of the Fuckery (@tamingofthefuckery) on Jul 13, 2015 at 6:08pm PDT

Keshav was also inspired by another Instagram artist, @project1in4, who champions mental health awareness through minimal sketches. Through this artist, Keshav became more aware of insensitively used words like "bipolar" and "retarded" in everyday conversation -- which made her realize how often we use the F word in often unnecessary ways.

However, Keshav doesn't believe anyone needs to totally ban the word. "There no denying that it's a powerful and impactful word," she said. "At the same time, an unconscious overuse of it can be fuckin' annoying (see what I did there)?"

Instead, she hopes others will become more self-aware (and maybe more creative), just as she did. In fact, most of her alternatives came from people she knew, especially older people. "Old people have really fun ways of working their way around the word fuck," she said.

Keshav's colorful series can be seen on Instagram and Tumblr.

[nggallery id="23694" layout="list" title="top"]

The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
These newsletters may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. By clicking Subscribe, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!