WHO'S RIGHT - DICTIONARY OR NATIVE SPEAKER

<<Anyways, the word "motherfucker" is such an offensive word. I dont know how people could come with it. Nobody can imagine to fuck their mothers even in their dreams never mind in real life. So what is the purpose of such a word in the language?>>

You just answered your own question, Boy -- it's designed to be outrageously offensive. But it's so common that we don't really take it literally these days -- we just know that the person uttering it is really REALLY emphatic!



<<I don't like the term "son of a bitch".......it's one Americanism which is not used this side of the water, thankfully. How did it originate? How come the bad actions of a man is reflected on, or is the result of, the character of his mother?>>

Hey, WE didn't invent THAT concept, Damian: Shakespeare's favorite epithet in many of his plays was "whoreson" .....

And I do believe I heard Simon Pegg say it in Shaun of the Dead ... a very British movie....

<<And I do believe I heard Simon Pegg say it in Shaun of the Dead ... a very British movie....>>

Sorry -- by "it" I meant that other supposed "Americanism", motherfucker. Not son of a bitch. I was off on the wrong tangent. ;)

Which Webster? Merriam-Webster, Webster New World or Random House Webster?
(There're too many WEBSTERS in America. As a foreigner, I'm often misled by the WEBSTERS when buying dictionaries.)

The entry of 'son of a gun' in M-W's Collegiate 11th Dict.:

usually used as a mild or euphemistic alternative to 'son of a bitch'; sometimes used interjectionally to express surprise or disappointment

In M-W's Unabridged Dict.:

1: SON OF A BITCH - sometimes used interjectionally
2: a small firework in the form of a tablet that emits a loud crackling sound when scraped on a rough surface

I think a dictionary's a dictionary. The words pretty much mean the same in all of them! I can't imagine getting too excited over which publisher compiled them....