f-bomb

[Justin Wells]

--- Tom Kysilko <pds at VISI.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Kysilko <pds at VISI.COM>
> Subject:      f-bomb
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My informal sense it that I am hearing "f-bomb" much
> more frequently than
> "f word" nowadays -- perhaps because there is a
> greater need for an
> expression referring to f word tokens than the f
> word type.  In spite of
> this need, however, the earliest instance I could
> find in Google Groups
> (cited below) dates from 1990.  I'm interested in
> what Larry Horn or any of
> the active antedaters have on it.  It's not in the
> post-1999 archives.
>
> >Subject: Re: A little philiogy [sic]
> >Newsgroups: alt.sex
> >Date: 1990-10-29 16:35:49 PST
> >
> >As I understand it, (or at least what I read in a
> Carl
> >Sagan book), the "F-word" derives not from Italian
> or
> >English, but from the German "fokken," apparently
> meaning
> >to strike.
> >
> >Now I took high-school German and don't remember
> this
> >word, but I think that's what I read.  I also
> recall
> >an article saying that the etymology of the f-bomb
> >has been labeled "hopelessy unclear" by
> etymologists.
> >
> >But what the fuck do I know, anyway?
> >-D
>
>
>    Tom Kysilko        Practical Data Services
>    pds at visi.com       Saint Paul MN USA
>            http://www.visi.com/~pds
> I am new to this group, and I have been hesitant to
reply to anything since my knowledge of linguistics is
quite limited.  I am a student in a Linguistics class,
so I am just learning about the subject.  Regarding
the origins of the "F" word, though, I have read about
different origins of this word.  I have read that it
is from the Dutch "fokken," which means to breed, as
in cattle.  Also, I have seen that it may be from the
Swedish "fokka," meaning to copulate.  I could be
wrong on this, but I am merely presenting what I have
read.




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