When is "effing" offensive? When it's used emphatically, according to Ofcom. Or so the media regulator concluded in ruling on 52 complaints about The X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger describing last year's eventual winner as James "effing" Arthur, ahead of a do-or-die performance to stay in the talent show. Ofcom recognised that it is not in itself a swear word, being a substitute for the F-bomb, but ruled that Sherzinger's "emphatic" use made it offensive. ITV, which had previously had to warn the former Pussycat Doll about using the word "frickin", put it down to "differing levels of offence that a US and UK audience may attach to this particular term". So a flipping heck's out of the question, then?
