Justin Trudeau drops an F-bomb but if we really think about it, why does it matter?

THURSDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — Justin Trudeau has done it again. By again, we mean giving the Conservatives another opportunity to be the family values guys while the formerly pot-smoking Trudeau — according to the Tories — is showing his usual lack of judgment.

Trudeau did a guest stint at a charity boxing match and, in making his comments in the ring before the fight, got a bit carried away and used the ‘F’ word, for which he later apologized. In modern terminology, he dropped an F-bomb.

Did he really need to say he was sorry?

OK, the ‘F’ word has not yet reached the point where it’s acceptable in public speech. It is, of course, widely accepted, and common, in everyday private conversation.

Listen to any two people under the age of 70 talking on the street or in the coffee shop, and the F word is going to be heard, possibly several times, possible in every sentence or two.

Yet it remains verboten in formal circles. Why? Because it is.

If one thinks about it, it’s a strange phenomenon. It is not a racist word. It does not describe any part of the human anatomy. It vaguely refers to the sex act but increasingly has become a simple, meaningless adjective.

One might just as well say, “So I went to the blue garage the other day to pick up my orange truck and the purple mechanic says to me the yellow engine has blown a chartreuse valve and I say how much is that going to beige cost me and he says how the indigo do I know?”

The meaning would be just as clear.

The F word has been around since about 1475, maybe longer, and after all this time we’re still afraid of it. Several languages claim credit, perhaps reluctantly, for its origins. There are various theories, none proven, about it being an acronym.

All we know for certain is that the word remains a vulgarity, a way of emphasizing a particular point. In Trudeau’s case, he enthusiastically told the crowd, “I’m going to tell you, there is no experience like stepping into this ring and measuring yourself. All the — your name, your fortune, your intelligence, your beauty — none of that f—- matters.”

You see — even The Armchair Mayor News can’t say it out loud. Or, more accurately, doesn’t have the b—s to put it in writing. And that, we’re ashamed to say, only confirms that the F-bomb is a bad word, no matter that it is used maybe a hundred gazillion times in everyday language.

Which makes Justin Trudeau an everyday guy, with no more poor judgment than anyone else. He simply said publicly what the rest of us do in private conversation every day of the week.