I know, it's quite versatile. It's more of a sentence enhancer than a curseword. I guess it's because of it's harsh sound (ck, like ch or sh in other words), and the fact that "fuck" often denotes something of the sexual nature, and sex is something taboo in the western word, for some odd reason.
It was originally an acronym used by the police force in Ireland, when public indecency was a serious offence. hence "Found Under Carnal Knowledge"
That Irish thing is probably an urban myth. As for the word "fuck", it is probably the most overused word in the English language. It is just a space-filler used by people who don't have the imagination to express themselves in any better way. They just insert the word "fuck" everywhere, thinking it somehow makes them sophisticated or worldly.
I thought it was "Fornication Under the Consent of the King" or something like that.... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Yaba Daba! :m:
Oh, must be an urban myth then. Come to think of it I read it in "The Book of Useless Information", so credibility factor = nil.
False conclusion. That one doesn't use their imagination to avoid the word doesn't mean one lacks imagination.
` My Doubleday dictionary states that the word fuck is derived from the Germanic verb fucken, meaning to strike or penetrate. Merriam Webster online - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fuck offers this: Etymology: akin to Dutch fokken to breed (cattle), Swedish dialect fokka to copulate. I've heard "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" as well - I think associated with witches' alleged cavorting with "Hellspawn" - but perhaps the acronyms all came after the fact. For the most part, I am in the camp that considers the liberal use of this term to be an indicator that someone has little capacity to offer anything more elaborate, but what the fuck do I know ? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
************* M*W: Being a verbophile, I say it was never intended to be a bad word. It referred to bad behavior i.e., criminal behavior. It probably originated in Europe as I believe it was also used in England prior to Colonial America. So that's how the famous acronym F-U-C-K (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge) came to be used. The charges for adultery, fornication, and crimes of a sexual nature, were shortened and hung around the necks of the guilty while they were locked in stockades for their crimes. It is related to the scarlet letter "A" which represents adultery. Interestingly, the scarlet letter "A" was usually put on women adulterers when the men they fornicated with went Scot-free.
Yes there is a big urban myth about the word. Some say it was a Old English ancronym for "Fornication Under Consent of the King," or "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge," or "Found Under Carnal Knowledge." Although there is the "suggestion" that "Supposedly during the time of the pilgrams, when the stocks were a common form of punsihment, the criminals crime would be written above the stocks. Instead of writing Aldultery, they used the acronym For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge or F.U.C.K." http://tafkac.org/language/etymology/fuck/fuck_etymology_of.html ""Fuck you". There is also the one about the archers who had their middle fingers removed in medieval times to keep them from properly aiming their arrows; however; they would defiantly raise their mangled hands to the enemy and claim they could still "pluck yew"." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_etymology None of these are true! According to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the word is "akin to Dutch "fokken" to breed cattle, Swedish dialect "fokka" to copulate, circa 1503." The consensus is that it is of Germanic origin "ficken" or Old Germanic verb "focken" meaning to poke or punch, because there are many cognate (derived from) words in the German language that are similar to it today. "A possible etymology is suggested by the fact that the Common Germanic fuk-, by an application of Grimm's law, would have as its most likely Indo-European ancestor *pug-, which appears in Latin and Greek words meaning "fight" and "fist". In early Common Germanic the word was likely used at first as a slang or euphemistic replacement for an older word for "intercourse", and then became the usual word for "intercourse". Then, fuck has cognates in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Dutch fokken (to thrust, copulate, or to breed), dialectical Norwegian fukka (to copulate), and dialectical Swedish focka (to strike, copulate) and fock (penis). A very similar set of Latin words that have not yet been related to these are those for hearth or fire, "focus/focum" (with a short o), fiery, "focilis", Latin and Italian for hearthly/hearthling, "foc[c]ia/focac[c]ia", and fire, "focca", and the Italian for bonfire, "focere". But these words came from New Latin, centuries after Middle Dutch. There is perhaps even an original Celtic derivation; futuere being related to battuere (to strike, to copulate); which may be related to Irish bot and Manx bwoid (penis). The argument is that battuere and futuere (like the Irish and Manx words) comes from the Celtic *bactuere (to pierce), from the root buc- (a point). An even earlier root may be the Egyptian petcha (to copulate), which has a highly suggestive hieroglyph. Or perhaps Latin "futuere" came from the root "fu", Common Indo-European "bhu", meaning "be, become" and originally referred to procreation." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck Fuck! How the hell should I know?
Slang words were not derived from abbreviations or acronyms until quite recently for the very simple reason that the majority of the population could not read and write until quite recently. Any such English-language etymology dated to the 19th century is patently false. The etymologies given are correct. It goes back to ancient respectable words in proto-Germanic, which was spoken by the original Teutonic tribes in Scandinavia sometime before 1000BCE and was brought to the temperate part of Europe sometime after that but before the rise of the Romans. Shit is also a respectable old word, with cognates in German and the Scandinavian languages. Respectable words become obscene and obscene words become respectable, that's the way the vagaries of language operate. "Breast" and "leg" were considered obscene in victorian times.
I heard that it was derived from a really old term (from Anglo Saxon or some form of Old English) for a simple process used in planting seeds well prior to the Norman conquest. A pointed instrument was used to make a hole in the ground, into which a seed or seeds would be dropped. The hole would then be filled with dirt, usually by stepping near the hole. An Englishman claimed that this process became archaic, but the term was retained to mean copulation in later Anglo Saxon. He further claimed that somehow the original etymology was forgotten or erroneously changed. The explanation sounded good to me. I wonder if there is any way to research this. Possibly by trying to find ancient Old English or Anglo Saxon words used in farming and planting.
Those who belive that use of the word "fuck" is a indicator of a small mind or an indicator of a small vocabulary are very, very wrong. To put it another way: "You're a moron." "You're a fuckin' moron." Now, which sentence had more emphasis? Which had more meaning? Which is going to catch your attention faster to alleviate the problem of said moronicity? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Say it loudly, and proudly: "Fuck You!".
Almost any adjective or adverb could be inserted to provide additional emphases, if it were commonly understood to be used for that purpose. I bloody well know I am right about this. The interesting question is why we chose the ones we do? I suggest they innately have interest, cause excitement, etc. when used in their literal sense and this easily transfers to make them useful as non literal emphases adding adjectives. I know I am dead right about this also. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! PS - that is a smashing obvious idea.
