Love is a four-letter word

This phrase stuck in my mind as the speedboat was revving its engines and taking our party to a nearby islet for lunch and snorkeling. I was listening to my latest ipod mix and the Metallica song with that phrase in the lyrics played as we sped across the Andaman Sea. Love is a four-letter word makes total sense for first language english speakers but no sense to the majority of the rest. The four-letter connotation is lost on them. So I tried to explain and of course got stuck with frowns. Love is not a four-letter word I heard one say. Another said that love is the longest four-letter word. A third that making love was a four-letter word! To easen the frowns I tried to find some middle-ground by saying that love may well be the most universally accepted expression of selflessness to be so selfishly abused. Even the ones who hadn´t already, frowned on hearing that one. But we were getting away from the four-letter word aspect. By my frown count I sensed that the people onboard did not really equate love with #”%*! I just feel that these days love has a hard time keeping its value. My feelings on that? You guessed it – a four-letter word!