Dream with Our Eyes Open

The Young Lady recently introduced me to Mock the Week, an improv comedy show based on current news topics. It's available on YouTube. Between the laughs, I found myself thinking about their use of the word "shag" (like Austin Powers says - and apparently it existed as British slang before those movies as well) and how very nice it it to have an alternative ...

to fuck and screw. Because those can be just nasty words sometimes: people say "Fuck you!" and "Screw that!" in anger, but as of yet, shag still means nothing but "have sex." And it's useful and kind of fun to have a word that just means that, without all the angry, hurtful connotations.

Although for all I know, in Britain, maybe the word does have more negative connotations. Still, when I watch a "Mock the Week" clips, I find myself laughing whole-heartedly at lines involving it in a way that I wouldn't in they were saying fuck. Of course it could be just the novelty, I suppose.