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The In-fucking-credible Stress Syllable Test

Posted by Ampersand | October 20th, 2007

From Mind Hacks:

As an aside, once, whilst drinking with a psycholinguist (say that after a few pints) I was taught a useful way of quickly working out the stressed syllable in any English word - something which is apparently called the ‘fuck test’.

Simply insert the word ‘fucking’ into the word, as if you were using the swear word for emphasis, and the syllable that follows the ‘fucking’ is the stressed syllable.

For example, absolutely -> abso-fucking-lutely. The stressed syllable is the third: i.e. absolutely. It works for every multi-syllable word I’ve found so far.

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10 Responses to “The In-fucking-credible Stress Syllable Test”

  1. Tom Nolan Writes:
    October 20th, 2007 at 2:45 am

    I doesn’t seem to work with “unbelievable”. You say “unfuckingbelievable” not “unbefuckinglievable” - or don’t you?

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  2. L33tminion Writes:
    October 20th, 2007 at 6:17 am

    @Tom: I’ve heard both.

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  3. Sailorman Writes:
    October 20th, 2007 at 7:21 am

    Well, holy fucking shit. That’s a fun trick, even if it’s not 100% for me (I say unfuckingbeLIEVable, not unbefuckingLIEVable)

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  4. Doug S. Writes:
    October 20th, 2007 at 11:28 am

    That can’t possibly work for a word that has the accent on the first syllable.

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  5. Tom Nolan Writes:
    October 20th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

    Doug

    You’re right, but so is Ampersand’s source: clitic “fucking” cannot be euphoniously fitted into a word which has tonic accent in first place. Try it: “parafuckingnoid” “imbefuckingcile” - just doesn’t sound right, does it? Such discomfort is an indication that the word begins with an accent or is a monosyllable.

    I’m going to start using this in poetry classes.

    “Come on Agatha, you can work out what metre that is - The Afuckingssyrian came fucking down like a fucking wolf on the fucking fold. That’s right, they’re anapaests!”

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  6. Hectora Writes:
    October 20th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

    Seems like it works with initial-syllable-accents to me: you just have an overriding urge to say “fucking paranoid” rather than “parafuckingnoid,” aye? Must be an initial-syllable accent.

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  7. Ledasmom Writes:
    October 21st, 2007 at 8:54 am

    I tried this on “ampersand” and came up with “am-per-fucking-sand”. Is there a secondary emphasis on the final syllable of “ampersand”, which I have always pronounced with the first syllable stressed?
    I then tried it on “moderation”, producing “mo-der-fucking-ation”, and concluded that this test identifies a stressed syllable but not necessarily the primarily-stressed syllable in a word.

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  8. Tom Nolan Writes:
    October 21st, 2007 at 11:03 am

    Ledasmom

    I don’t think “amperfuckingsand” really works - that is, I don’t think anyone would say it spontaneously. In my own exchanges with the owner of this blog, for instance, I always found myself muttering “fucking Ampersand” under my breath, and NEVER “Amperfuckingsand”.

    Modefuckingration doesn’t really count - the tonic accent is actually on the penultimate syllable, which is where it fucking should be. Sorry, I mean “which is where the ‘fucking’ says it should be”.

    It’s a pity Robin Williams didn’t use my scansion system in “Dead Poets’ Society”, don’t you think?

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  9. Stentor Writes:
    October 21st, 2007 at 11:30 am

    It’s an interesting factoid that the “fucking” always gets placed before the stressed syllable. But I find it weird to have it presented as a trick for locating the stressed syllable — in what context would you know a word well enough to accurately place the “fucking,” but not well enough to locate the stressed syllable just by saying the word to yourself?

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  10. Finally « Twisting & Transisting Writes:
    April 28th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    [...] By TW 1.) I can write in iambic pentameter.2.) Girls’ [...]

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