Wordie: Fuck: Comments

Comment by reesetee, 7 months ago

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:34:09 +0000

You're right. That is good. Thanks for the link!

Comment by chained_bear, 7 months ago

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:54:26 +0000

I just read a fantastic article in The New Republic that has a lot to do with this word. Here, read it, it's good.

Comment by seanahan, 8 months ago

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:15:25 +0000

I've seen some crazy etymologies, but this one surpasses them all, sheer awesomeness.

Interesting. From Dictionary.com

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:41:33 +0000

Word History: The obscenity fuck is a very old word and has been considered shocking from the first, though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in code because of its unacceptability, is in a poem composed in a mixture of Latin and English sometime before 1500. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, "Flen flyys," from the first words of its opening line, "Flen, flyys, and freris," that is, "fleas, flies, and friars." The line that contains fuck reads "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk." The Latin words "Non sunt in coeli, quia," mean "they (the friars) are not in heaven, since." The code "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" is easily broken by simply substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now: i was then used for both i and j; v was used for both u and v; and vv was used for w. This yields "fvccant (a fake Latin form) vvivys of heli." The whole thus reads in translation: "They are not in heaven because they fuck wives of Ely (a town near Cambridge)."

Aside: FUCK did not start out life as the acronym: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

There are days...

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:00:44 +0000

..when you need stronger words to comfort you on the waves of life. I believe strong words can not harm you - or anyone else - if your heart is pure and you understand, that the f-word is only a tool to get you through a heck of a moment. To me swear words and the like are some sort of an instant verbal gratification. I use the f-word fluently. In Finland it's a v-word. Sounds much worse in Finnish. Trust me, I know.

Comment by tankexmortis, about 1 year ago

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 13:14:49 +0000

Is there anything it CAN'T mean?

Comment by John, about 1 year ago

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:49:52 +0000

Celebrity lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower's comprehensive book "The F-word" is worth a read. Good book, but by the thousandth variation, the f-bomb loses some of it's power.