It’s so true

From Oracle Bones, by Peter Hessler, who was a foreign journalist in China:

[Background: Hessler is being told the story of why Mr. Xu, the owner of the cornstarch plant he is visiting, started a second plant after being forced out of his first one.]

I was growing more interested in meeting Mr. Xu. I wanted to see exactly what kind of clearheaded, cold-hearted, calculating man would start a cornstarch plant as revenge against his enemies.

“It’s always like that with politics,” Mr. Wang continued. “You always get fucked by your deputies. That’s politics. If you want to be president, you have to fuck up your competition. If you’re a mild, nice guy, then you’ll get moved out. They fuck you.”

Wim and Kees [Dutch representatives from the corn processing machine company sponsoring Hessler's article about the plant] jumped every time Mr. Wang used the word “fuck.” Mr. Wang’s English was excellent, but he was one of those foreigners who had learned the language without becoming aware of what happens when you use the word “fuck” three times in one paragraph. What happens is that Dutch people jump.

-Hessler, p. 111

Or, as some of my students found out, your teachers and classmates look shocked. Or your roommate has to come make an apology to the whole class for teaching you that word without explaining when it is appropriate to use it. Truly, these situations are often hilarious. One of the best presentations (in terms of entertainment value) I ever saw one of my Level 1 students at MSU give went like this:

“This is keychain in shape of a pig. It is very funny. When you squeeze its ass, the shit comes out.”

And indeed, everything he said was completely accurate, and followed the instructions on how to use descriptive language.