A Dirty Word? To err is human; to 'screw up' is part of the language. "I think I messed up. I screwed up," President Obama said on Tuesday, the day that Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer withdrew their nominations for top administration posts. The leader of the free world quickly learned that everything he says is analyzed, torn apart and pored over. Oh, and turned into headlines. Perhaps the casualness of "screwed up" will raise only the most proper of eyebrows these days.
Here's a video clip from last year that aired on 60 Minutes in which he uses the phrase "screwed up." "I don't think I've gotten too screwed up through the process."
We change the F-word in the more vulgar alternative to "screw" when we want to censor ourselves. Especially around children, whom, I would imagine, envision a screw– twisted.