The catch phrase "What the f***" is used prominently in the movie Risky Business from 1983. And as everyone probably knows, the phrase has become a standard part of the jargon of the Internet age under the initials WTF.

I heard somewhere that it was only with its use in Risky Business that the phrase was invented and popularized. Can someone tell me if that's true or not? Was it Risky Business that invented the phrase, or was it in use before?

It was used LONG before Risky Business came out.



Cat

i bet some wiseacre started saying "what the hell" somewhere around the year 500 BC and then wtf was pretty much begging to be coined to go one further.

A fun story in my family is that when my Dad was born my Grandfather asked "What the f**k was wrong with his head." That was back in the 50's.

(He had a cone head... it popped in to shape shortly after.)

I thought it was invented by an army drill sergeant. 

i thought it was invented by meg tilly. ???

i thought it was invented by meg tilly. ???


You have Meg Tilly on the brain!  See a doc. :P

i tried, but my doctor looks like meg tilly. it's weird.

i tried, but my doctor looks like meg tilly. it's weird.


Meg Tilly is a fine actress and a good writer too,i've read her two books,Singing Songs and Gemma they're hard to read,the theme on both being sexual abuse,but really beautiful writing.

MegTillyIdous is spreading , RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!!

;)

meg fever -- catch it!

i'd heard meg had sorta gone on to become sorta this searching person, which i think is cool. sorta a carrie fisher-esque transformation.

annoying ass bass player's wife is named meg. she despoils a fine name!

meg fever -- catch it!

i'd heard meg had sorta gone on to become sorta this searching person, which i think is cool. sorta a carrie fisher-esque transformation.

annoying ass bass player's wife is named meg. she despoils a fine name!



Won't Kim get jealous?



Cat

The catch phrase "What the f***" is used prominently in the movie Risky Business from 1983. And as everyone probably knows, the phrase has become a standard part of the jargon of the Internet age under the initials WTF.

I heard somewhere that it was only with its use in Risky Business that the phrase was invented and popularized. Can someone tell me if that's true or not? Was it Risky Business that invented the phrase, or was it in use before?


Whoever told you that thinks the world began in 1980.

The line I always think of first from RB, featured in all the trailers at the time, is Miles (Curtis Armstrong) exclaiming:
I don't believe this! I've got a trig midterm tomorrow, and I'm being chased by Guido the killer pimp!

Dream sequence--
Joel's mom: Please Joel, do what they say, just get off the babysitter!

The great synth music in that seen is a pared down version of "Exit" by Tangerine Dream ("Exit" was their 1981 album, and TD did all the incidental music for RB),
credited on the soundtrack as "No Future/Get Off the Babysitter."

Most of the songs used in the movie (Bob Seger, Muddy Waters, Journey, Prince, Phil Collins, etc.) made it onto the soundtrack record, but not the song with the phrase "risky business" in it, "Swamp," by Talking Heads.  Licensing issue, most likely.  Springsteen ("Hungry Heart") and The Police ("Everybreath You Take") weren't on the soundtrack either.  The latter, of course, was EVERYWHERE in 1983!

I'm sure the etymology of the phrase "What The ****" is out there reliably sourced on the Internet, but it might take me 100 google searches to find it. Googling W-T-F with any combination of words is a dubious prospect!
:D

Won't Kim get jealous?



Cat
:(

alas, no, i fear kim will react to learning of my love for meg tilly by continuing to be unaware of my existence. :( :(

It is what the Captain of the Titanic said when the ship hit the iceberg.

actually, i think he said, "wtf. we hit an iceberg? well, don't that just beat all. figures on top of all the other st i gotta worry about we'd hit an iceberg."

A fun story in my family is that when my Dad was born my Grandfather asked "What the f**k was wrong with his head." That was back in the 50's.

(He had a cone head... it popped in to shape shortly after.)


  I know what your grandpappy was talking about.  Among the first things I noticed after my son was born was the shape of his head after mom squeezed him out.  I called him 'football head' for awhile, much to mom's chagrin...

It is what the Captain of the Titanic said when the ship hit the iceberg.



Actually, I think he said, "Oh s**t".




Cat

  I know what your grandpappy was talking about.  Among the first things I noticed after my son was born was the shape of his head after mom squeezed him out.  I called him 'football head' for awhile, much to mom's chagrin...


Yeah, I think it's pretty common. I know I had a cone head for a few hours before it *twwwwwhhhhccckk-pop* 'ed, in to place.  ;D

It is what the Captain of the Titanic said when the ship hit the iceberg.

Goes back way further. 

Job said it numerous times in the original book.  It just didn't sound so hot in Latin mass, so the church elders dumped it!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/znaika.gif

Goes back way further. 

Job said it numerous times in the original book.  It just didn't sound so hot in Latin mass, so the church elders dumped it!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/znaika.gif


Ah yes, that is my favorite...And low, a little child shall speak the truth, "what the fu*k?"

Ah yes, that is my favorite...And low, a little child shall speak the truth, "what the fu*k?"

Quoth the raven: "What the f**k?"

Actually, I think he said, "Oh s**t".




Cat
Prior to the collision, the Captain of the Titanic was asked by the barman "Would you like any ice in your cocktail drink?"

I'm sure the etymology of the phrase "What The ****" is out there reliably sourced on the Internet, but it might take me 100 google searches to find it. Googling W-T-F with any combination of words is a dubious prospect!
:D



There is a classic on the word f*** and it's many uses.  As you say, though, it's a tricky thing to google for.  It claims that the second world war brought the word into much wider usage.

Oh, so I guess the expression was around long before Risky Business came out.

It was reading this article here that gave me the impression that the phrase only became popular because of that movie:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070518.wxlfword18/BNStory/lifeMain/

"The term WTF gained popularity after it appeared in the Tom Cruise film Risky Business."

Oh, so I guess the expression was around long before Risky Business came out.

It was reading this article here that gave me the impression that the phrase only became popular because of that movie:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070518.wxlfword18/BNStory/lifeMain/

"The term WTF gained popularity after it appeared in the Tom Cruise film Risky Business."



Do they actually mean saying the letters wtf as opposed to the words in full?  Not having ever watched the film Risky Business (to the best of my knowledge) I don't know how it was used.

In Ricky Business Joel's Father does say "Sometimes you just gotta say what the heck."

Quoth the raven: "What the f**k?"







yeah, what about Shakespeare's Caesar?  "What the f*ck , Bruits?




8

From Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (The Squire's Tale) :

Therefore it behooveth hire a full long spoon, what the f***,  That shal ete with a feend.

I hadn't seen that movie, but I think I was saying before it was released.

" WTF man! Won't you listen to reason? Just because some god exalts you in battle you think you can beat the rest at tactics too. How can you hope to garner all the gifts at once?"  Polydamas, Trojan general, to Hector in Homer's Iliad.




Cat

It was used LONG before Risky Business came out.

Indeed it was Cat!! (MEOW!!)

One of my favourite 80s moves!!