(Editor's note: offensive language throughout)

By Lisa Richwine and Jorge Garcia

LOS ANGELES, Aug 5 (Reuters) - What the f---? The

F-word, once seen as the most shocking expletive in the English

language, has become commonplace in pop culture.

"Deadpool & Wolverine," the R-rated Marvel film from family

friendly Walt Disney ( DIS ), features the word "fuck" more than

100 times. Taylor Swift sings it 18 times in just one song on

her hit album "The Tortured Poets Department," and many other

pop stars utter it freely.

As its public usage has increased, the word has undergone

what language experts call a "semantic shift," or a change in

meaning over time, said Roy Peter Clark, a writing teacher and

author of several books on writing.

He points to a scene in "My Lady Jane," a drama series on

Amazon's ( AMZN ) Prime Video streaming service. A girl who

appears to be roughly 10 years old uses the word as her older

sister is about to be beheaded under orders from Queen Mary.

"Fuck Mary," the girl says.

Putting the F-word in the mouth of a child actor, Clark

said, shows it has become less taboo over time.

"It's used in so many different ways, some that are clearly

very negative, and other ways that are humorous, and other ways

that are mischievous and other ways that are emphatic," said

Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit

focused on media. "It has become less negative."

A British study published in 2021 found that "fuck" was the

most-used swear word and was particularly popular with teenagers

and young adults. A 2023 study published in the Journal of

Pragmatics sought to understand how its usage had evolved.

Comparing conversations among British teenagers in the 1990s

and 2010s, researchers Robbie Love and Anna-Brita Stenstrom

found less slinging of the F-word as an insult, or as a term for

sexual intercourse.

The word was more likely to appear in phrases such as "what

the fuck?" and "for fuck's sake," they found. Teens tossed the

word around in friendly conversations.

Karen North, a psychologist and professor of digital social

media at the University of Southern California's Annenberg

School, said habituation likely has made the word less jarring.

"Anything that you experience over and over and over again,

you're desensitized to," North said. "If you're in a room that

smells very bad, then after a few minutes you don't smell it."

With language, "if you keep hearing the F-word, or any

particular inflammatory or emotional thing over and over and

over again, you'll start desensitizing because your senses get

used to it," North said.

Many people still find the F-word highly offensive. Its use

is often cited by politicians to ban books such as J.D.

Salinger's 1951 novel "The Catcher in the Rye" in schools and

libraries, Clark noted.

At Disney ( DIS ), executives offered "nothing but support" after

seeing the foul language in the new "Deadpool" movie, said Kevin

Feige, president of Marvel Studios. They understood that the

raunchy humor was a key to the success of two earlier "Deadpool"

movies made by Fox.

When Disney ( DIS ) bought the Deadpool character as part of a deal

with Fox, Marvel filmmakers decided "we were going to stay true

to the spirit of what Deadpool is," Feige said.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" was rated R in the U.S. and 15 in the

UK, a signal to parents that it was not intended for young

children.

Audiences embraced the movie, which racked up the biggest

opening weekend of the year with $211 million at U.S. and

Canadian box offices. Total global sales reached an estimated

$824 million through Sunday.

For the Deadpool character, the F-word "makes sense, and if

it wasn't there, it wouldn't feel right," said 22-year-old

Marvel fan Gaige Johnson from Michigan.

Another Marvel fan, Diana Alvort from Mexico, laughed when

asked if there was too much swearing in the film.

"Fuck that," she said. "Come on, it's a fun movie. Let's not

get so serious. You know, there's moments for everything and so

I don't have a problem with that. Just enjoy it."