Oedipus
While recording a spiel about how tough the rhododendron is, I used the term 'mother%&*@er'. Actually, it sounded more like ‘mofo’. Of course, for the public post, I wrote 'tough customer'. (Posted March 6, 2019)
I asked a friend who is learning English what he thought of the word as Americans use it. He was appalled upon hearing it the first time because he translated it literally into a compound word. After having watched many movies though, he realized most of its meanings to be innocuous.
I stopped to think about this word. Not only is it used as pretty much any part of speech, but it never conveys the dark concept it implies. Unless, of course, you're Oedipus.