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Well, It Is In The Dictionary: Boehner Reportedly Aimed 'F-Bomb' At Reid

By Mark Memmott
Published January 2, 2013 at 8:45 AM CST
House Speaker John Boehner (right) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the White House in April 2011. Last week, they weren't so chummy.
Olivier Douliery/Pool
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Getty Images
House Speaker John Boehner (right) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the White House in April 2011. Last week, they weren't so chummy.

Politico's long "tick-tock" account of "the fiscal cliff deal that almost wasn't" is getting lots of attention this morning because of this vignette:

"House Speaker John Boehner couldn't hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday. ... 'Go f— yourself,' Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present."

Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix for The Washington Post, wonders if that will be "the abiding phrase of the fiscal cliff deal."

Of course, it's not as if that word is never heard in Washington (we're looking at you, vice presidents Biden and Cheney). And it's so common that "f-bomb" now has its own entry in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

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Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
See stories by Mark Memmott